Historian doubts authenticity of auction item

Historian doubts authenticity of auction item

Historian and AUT University Professor Paul Moon has raised doubts about the authenticity of an item due to be auctioned by Dunbar Sloane in Auckland on Monday 6 April.

Lot 101 in the auction is described as "Piece of Wooden Flagstaff Cut Down by Hone Heke - a remarkable find of great historical importance", but Dr. Moon - who wrote a biography of Hone Heke - doubts its genuineness.

"There are too many unanswered questions to allow anyone to be certain about its provenance", he says. "It comes from the Earl of Ranfurly collection, which dates from the around the turn of the twentieth century. As far as I can tell, there is nothing available about this item's history pre-dating 1897 - more than fifty years after the flagstaff at Russell was felled".

Dr. Moon points to the lack of documentary history for the piece of wood as a serious concern: "For an object of such historical significance, it should have been referred to in someone's diary, or in a letter, around the time it was collected from where it was felled, and certainly in the decades that followed. Yet, there is no mention of it until almost all the people associated with the felling of the flagstaff had died".

He also notes that there were references in local Maori oral history to the wooden post having been left in a concealed location to rot, as a symbol of the hope that British rule in New Zealand would similarly decompose. "This makes the sudden appearance of this object, decades later and in excellent condition, very odd to say the least", he says.

ENDS

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