He strolled in wearing a plain black T-shirt and gumboots. A short time later he walked out, $20,000 poorer and carrying a heavy brass bell supposedly from the merchant ship the Boyd.
But the mystery buyer bought a fake and it appears there's little comeback for him as the item was sold in good faith and the old adage "caveat emptor" - buyer beware - applies.
In 2004, Te Kopuru identity Jim Te Tuhi sold about 400 items from his collection, including a brass bell, which he said was from the Boyd and had been authenticated as such, at Thomson and Bagley Auctions in Whangarei.
The auction caused controversy at the time. Other Maori groups disputed the ownership of the bell.
But as part of its research for the 200th anniversary of the sinking of the Boyd last year the NZ Underwater Heritage Group, which has its senior members based in Northland, carried out extensive research on all Boyd artifacts.
And heritage group president Keith Gordon said the research had uncovered that the "Boyd Bell" sold at the 2004 auction was a fake.
The earliest it could have been made was 1870 - 61 years after the Boyd attack.
Maurice Cutforth, who was the auctioneer at the time, said at no time did Thomson Bagley Auctions authenticate it as the bell from the Boyd.
"As in all items we sell, we ask potential buyers to do their own homework and find out for themselves if what they are buying is authentic," Mr Cutforth said.
"Prior to the auctioning of this item I recall saying to the buyers that 'we have been given information that this bell is from the Boyd, but you must do your own examination before buying'.
"It is a case of 'buyer beware', or 'caveat emptor' as in all auction situations."
Mr Te Tuhi said he got the bell in about 1945 when he was aged about 15, from in front of a burial cave near Oturei Marae and took it to the nearby church after his father said the church needed a bell.
"It took me all day to drag it up, but they didn't want it as it had a big crack in it, so Dad told me to take it back. I didn't want to drag it all the way back again so buried it under the church," Mr Te Tuhi said.
Then in 1977 he dug the bell back up and added it to his expanding collection, before selling it.
Do you know who bought the "Boyd Bell" at auction in 2004? Contact the Northern Advocate chief reporter on (09) 470 2875.
Buyer of $20,000 Boyd fake sought
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