Two long-standing Golding Young & Mawer house records were beaten with just one lot at The Bourne Auction Rooms recently.
The stick in question is actually a Polynesian to’o or ceremonial spear from the Aural Islands dating from the late 18th or early 19th century.
With global interest pre-sale the hammer fell at £58,000 and this was followed by a lovely write up in the Antiques Trade Gazette in their Tribal Art feature.
The two records to fall were for Tribal Art, previously held by an Aboriginal shield selling for £30,000 in 2012 that was repatriated to Sydney Museum of Primitive Art and also the Bourne house record of £52,000 paid for an exquisite Tiffany orchid brooch back in 1992.
Could any two things be so different?
