TWO OF THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER TYPES OF POLYNESIAN ARTEFACTS IN THE WORLD OF COLLECTING COME TO AUCTION

Words and phrases such as ‘rare’, ‘superlative’, ‘once in a lifetime’ and Holy Grail’ are frequently bandied around in the world of art and antiques but on this occasion all of these epithets were pertinent to a recent amazing discovery by Dore & Rees Auctioneers.

A rather innocuous looking handwritten letter addressed to the office, with a photograph of a white UPVC front door, momentarily perplexed Antiques Roadshow specialists Lee Young and Marc Allum, until they realised that a couple of objects, slightly camouflaged by the surrounding brickwork, were two of the most sought-after types of Polynesian artefacts in the world of collecting.

These long stone-carved  ‘spear clubs’ known as ‘akatara’ are of a very distinct design and come from the Cook Islands. The interest they attract stems from several reasons. They were highly prestigious and owned by people of high rank. Fashioned from the heart wood of the toa tree they were immensely time-consuming to make and are regarded as amongst the finest weapons of Polynesia. These two examples of broad and narrower bladed ‘clubs’ most likely originate from Rarotonga or Atiu, each shaft distinctively decorated with two sets of eyes. 

The clubs are written about in the journals of naturalist and surgeon William Anderson, on Cook’s fateful third voyage when he was killed in Hawaii; ‘The clubs were about six feet long or more, made of a hard black wood launce shap’d at the end but much broader, with the edge nicely scallop’d and the whole neatly polish’d’. Such historic associations naturally add to the allure of these amazing creations, where their status has become both culturally important and also highly prized for their aesthetic appeal.

These two 19th century examples are not as polished as one might expect but even the story behind this is interesting.  Specialist Marc Allum visited the owner in Coventry and was amazed to hear they had been rescued from a friend’s garden in the 1970s, where they had been used to support beans!  The toa tree, known as ‘ironwood’, is a name testament to their inherent strength and durability.

These magnificent examples will be coming up for auction at Dore & Rees in Frome on Wednesday 5th December, with estimates of £10,000 - £15,000 each.