A bell bought for $20,000 - purportedly from the 19th-century merchant ship Boyd - has been labelled a fake.
The Boyd was attacked by Maori in Whangaroa Harbour in December 1809. Only four of the 70 people on board survived.
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, which eventually sold for $20,000 to an unknown buyer.
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 artefacts.
Heritage group president Keith Gordon said the research had concluded that the "Boyd Bell" sold at the 2004 auction was a fake as the earliest it could have been made was 1870 - 61 years after the Boyd attack.
"As part of the commemoration we carried out extensive research and did side sonar maps of the Boyd wreck and tried to track down, and document, all the Boyd artefacts," Mr Gordon said.
And when it came to the "Boyd Bell", sold in 2004, the research found at least one, and possibly two, other bells purportedly from the ship. "That got us thinking, because ships would not have three bells, so we looked closer."
The coat of arms on the 2004 Boyd Bell, and one for sale at Auckland auction house Webbs purporting to be from Boyd and selling for around $25,000, were analysed and the results were a surprise. "Both bells are not from the Boyd, they are church bells," Mr Gordon said.
"The bells were made by English bell-founder James Barwell, of Birmingham, who only made bells between 1870 and 1920."
Mr Te Tuhi said he was surprised to hear the bell was a fake as he had had it authenticated by a visiting UK naval expert and bell repairer, although he could not remember the name of the man.
Mr Te Tuhi said he sold it in good faith, having been told that it definitely was from the Boyd.
