SALE OF VALUABLE TIKI

The largest known greenstone Maori tiki was sold in London last July for a record price of £850. It is believed to have come to Europe early in the last century and until recently was in the possession of Baron Adolf Collot d'Escury of Kloosterzande, Zeeland. His grandfather who travelled and collected extensively in the South Pacific, apparently brought this remarkable piece of sculpture from New Zealand. It was sold at Sotheby's to Mr Ken Webster, a New Zealand collector in Britain. The tiki is 9⅜ inches long, is beautifully carved from dark greenstone with light flecks and is very well rounded and detailed. Several buyers bid for it. Three years ago, Sotheby's sold another tiki 8¾ inches long. But this price, quoted above, confirms the high value placed by museums and private collectors on really first-class examples of Maori art, being almost twice as much as has been paid previously for a tiki in the salerooms.