Polynesian war club (or maori?)

[kronckew]

if it had been weighty and a lot cheaper i would have kept it. i saw a nice wahaika cast in aluminum auctioning on a nz site that i wanted to buy, sadly you needed a nz address to bid.

[kronckew]

had an update from the dealer i got it from. she, at my suggestion, did the red-hot pin test. it of course failed. she refunded me immediately. she said she was going to contact the dealer she got it from. she had a reply:

I spoke with the dealer who sold the club to me. He was even more shocked than I was and will be taking the club back from me. I thought he said he had bought it at a Bonhams auction but in fact it was Sotherby's! So it seems that even the most reputable experts can be fooled which makes me feel a bit less of a twit! He will of course be taking the matter up with them. It just shows how clever these counterfeiters have become and we need more than our wits about us when we buy!

we all need to have a slave riding in the back of our chariot who tells us periodically "Memento mori" ("remember thou art but mortal").

[Tim Simmons]

Unless there is some creative thinking here, this situation with Bonham's and Sotherby's is outrageous. I can only imagine that this has come about by a provincial agent. Surely not the London head quarters?

[kronckew]

i only have what she told me she was told. no real evidence. thankfully my money was returned promptly and without any arguement.

could be her dealer was the cad & was making up the prestigious provenance. i hope i hear more. getting interesting. could have been a junior appraiser. maybe heads will roll....

been a while since we had someone in the tower here...