Home > Auctions > 26 November - 1 December 2024
Ancient Art, Antiquities, Natural History & Coins
Acquired on the UK art market.
Property of an Essex, UK, collector.
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
From a family collection mostly formed in the 1940s-1950s, thence by descent.
Found Waskuk Hills, Upper Sepik, Papua New Guinea, Oceania, prior to WWI.
From the private collection of Kenneth Machin (1936-2020), Buckinghamshire, UK; with collection no.
AA26; his collection of antiquities and natural history was formed since 1948; thence by descent.
From the private collection of Kenneth Machin (1936-2020), Buckinghamshire, UK; his collection of antiquities and natural history was formed since 1948; thence by descent.
From New South Wales, Australia.
From the private collection of Kenneth Machin (1936-2020), Buckinghamshire, UK; with collection no.
AA6; his collection of antiquities and natural history was formed since 1948; thence by descent.
Accompanied by a copy of an illustrated catalogue information sheet.
From the private collection of Kenneth Machin (1936-2020), Buckinghamshire, UK; his collection of antiquities and natural history was formed since 1948; thence by descent.
See Starzecka, D.C., Neich R. & Pendergrast, M., The Maori Collections of the British Museum, British Museum Press, 2010; Grulke, W., Adorned by Nature: Adornment, Exchange & Myth in the South Seas, At One Communications, 2022; Blau, D. & Maas, K., Fish Hooks of the Pacific Islands, Hirmer, 2012. Hooper, S., Pacific Encounters: Art & Divinity in Polynesia 1760-1860, British Museum Press, 2006.
This Maori trolling lure fish hook (pā kahawai) comprises three pieces – a worked piece of polished haliotis or paua shell attached to a curved, wooden shank, and then a carved long barb. Each of the segments is held in place by tightly bound muka fibre. Such lures were used by the Maori to fish for sea salmon (kahawai). The lure would be dragged behind a fast-moving canoe to attract the prey with the haliotis shell glinting in the sun to emulate the scales of fish to attract larger fish. The technique of using a trolling lure was a Polynesian fishing technique that was brought to New Zealand by the Maori and adapted using local materials.
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
From New South Wales, Australia.
From the private collection of Kenneth Machin (1936-2020), Buckinghamshire, UK; with collection no.15, 21, 30, 31; his collection of antiquities and natural history was formed since 1948; thence by descent.
From the private collection of Kenneth Machin (1936-2020), Buckinghamshire, UK; his collection of antiquities and natural history was formed since 1948; thence by descent.
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
From a family collection mostly formed in the 1940s-1950s, thence by descent.
1969 - 1980 of 3419 LOTS



