JEWELLERY, ANTIQUE AND ART AUCTION Tuesday, 30 April 2019 - 9:30 AM start

A good pre-European inanga pounamu hei tiki

Realised: $22,000 plus premium

Lot Details

of elegant proportions and prestigious colour, chin to left shoulder, hands to thighs, hour-glass suspension hole to top, semi-concealed at the front, evidence of another hole beside. The reverse inscribed with presumably a museum collection number and previous owner 'E146.283 Mrs Haigh, Amberley'. Recorded as found at Amberley, ChCh in the 1920s while ploughing farmland. H.90mm. Provenance: Private Estate Collection. Note: the inanga variety of pounamu (nephrite) is prized for its white, grey-green and blue tones, sourced particularly by Poutini Ngāi Tahu and named after the juvenile native minnow or whitebait. Registered Y3275.