Collection Search

Pounamu hei tiki. Dark green tangiwai/bowenite, Anita Bay source. Missing most of its right leg. Head is tilted towards its left side. Relatively small eyes with some red sealing wax in evidence. Large tongue protrudes from mouth. Left hand with three fingers rests on thigh while right arm is bent around towards left shoulder. Right hand with three fingers rests on chest. There is a single suspensory straight walled perforation hole at top of the head indicating possible use of mechanical drill.

Complete tokotoko. Dark brown wood. Carved with two full-length figures on one side. Rauponga and kirikiore patterns. Paua shell inlays throughout, attached using red sealing wax (one missing). Metal band and a metal cap at the distal end. Handle is undecorated except for two curved lines on either side.

Complete patu onewa, with no tau. Drill perforation present. Butt has ornamental grooves across top. Blade smooth and in very good condition with one very small bruised chip on one edge.

Plaster cast of complete of minnow shank with a triangular cross section. It has a perforation through the head and one notch on either side of the head at the bottom of the head. The base has notches across the flat side of the shank. Cast of D27.1054

Complete argillite knife. Surface is grounded on both sides. Cutting edge is sharp and rounded, wth bevel on both surfaces. Haft end is curved.

Complete tokotoko. Carved in a twisting, corkscrew shape, with a rauponga (ridge and notch) pattern. Bird-head carving at the distal end, with projecting beak

Broken patu paraoa, broken at the butt and at the blade edge. Surface is heavily worn. Tapered toward the handle.

Complete kahu huruhuru, with tui, weka and pigeon feathers. Manufactured using whatu aho rua (two-pair weft-twining) technique with flax. There is a black strand along the left and right edges. The cloak has horizontal bands of alternating triangles, the lower five alternate between black and white triangles, with occasional triangles in green. The sixth band from the bottom is alternating green and white triangles, with the uppermost band once again alternating black and white. There is a band around the upper edge that has lost many of its feathers. There were two sets of ties along the upper edge, but they have been lost.

Broken patu onewa, part of mid-blade remaining. Broken at either end. Cross-section is lenticular.

Pounamu/nephrite hei tiki. Dark green with low translucency. Saw mark on back surface, running from proximal end to proper right arm. Head inclined to proper left shoulder. Suspension hole drilled from both sides above one eye; additional incomplete drill mark on front. Eyebrows, nose, mouth and tongue indicated. Arms akimbo with elbows accentuated and arms positioned towards rear of thighs. Three fingered hands indistinctly visible on thighs. Legs joined together with three toes indicated on each side.

Piece of worked bone. One side has an incised anthropomorphic figure incised on it, with drilled eyes. Proximal edges outlines the head and body of the figure. Other side has a small half-circular shape in one corner. Side edges are flattened. Distal end has sawing marks in an upside down V-shape and is broken off in the centre. Surface has been ground smooth.

Complete pounamu pendant. Mid-green, mid-blue, and black in colour with low transparency. Inanga variety, Westland source. Adze-shaped, with a broken and reworked proximal end. Proximal edge is rounded and reduced with shoulders. Complete suspension hole drilled from both sides, as well as a drill mark on one side indicating another incomplete suspension hole. One side edge has a small sawing mark and serrations running along the lower end, possibly an indicator of the number of generations of use. Distal end is oblique and sharp.

Pounamu/nephrite hei tiki, inanga variety, Arahura source. Head inclined to left. Right arm with three fingers and thumb on trunk, left arm with three fingers on thigh and thumb on abdomen. Brows, nose, eyes and elbow joints indicated, mouth has tongue protruding straight over lower jaw, with one tooth indicated in each corner. Finely decorated on nose. Two suspension holes each drilled from both sides, that nearest to the nose is well worn and thin towards the outside edge. The other hole is approximately in the centre of the tiki, just above the left eye. Female genitals indicated. Legs joined together with three toes each.

Complete flute. There are four perforations, three along the top, and one at the end. Groups of diagonal striations wrap around the flute. There is a crack that runs through the perforations, and others along the length of the flute.

Complete pounamu pendant. Dark green inanga variety. Surface is polished. Suspension hole at the proximal end. J-shaped, curved and rounded at the distal end.

Complete pounamu pendant. Dark green kawakawa variety. Surface is ground. Straight with rounded ends. Tapered to the proximal end with a straight suspension hole.

Complete piupiu. Garment made from flax, scraped and unscraped, dyed (black, gold) and undyed (natural). Tags fall from various levels of kaupapa. Tags have scraped and unscraped sections forming a pattern of 4 horizontal bands across skirt. All unscraped sections are incised with cuts, some horizontal, some diagonal, some with criss-cross pattern. Kaupapa is approx. 230mm long with 17 weft rows (black) of single pair twining. Waistband has 4 weft rows (3 natural, 1 gold) of double pair twining. Top of waistband is 3 ply plait from warp extensions of kaupapa. Ties at each end are extensions of 3 ply plait. One has gold and natural flax fibre worked into it, and is knotted in several places.

Complete mere pounamu. Inaka section crosses diagonally from one side to the other on blade with kahurangi pounamu extending to proximal end. Dark green, mid-yellow, and black in colour. Surface is polished. Six grooves at butt with perforated hole drilled from both sides. Both edges of hole slightly inset. String looped through hole and tied.

A model of a hoe (waka paddle). Dark brown wood. Handle is worked smooth with a knob on the butt and an oval cross-section. Blade of the paddle is diamond-shaped with a half-circular cross-section. Blade is carved with a rauponga (ridges and notches) pattern on one side and a koru pattern on the other side.

Complete seal femur. No damage evident.