Post #236689 by Tiki Lee's on Wed, Jun 7, 2006 11:38 PM

I found this cool New Zealand Maori this past weekend. It's seems to be old, mostly because of the age of the items at the estate sale I bought it at, but also by the look and feel of the wood. I'd place it at about the 1970's, but it might be older. Can any of you T.C'ers place the age and/or identify it? It's about 15" tall. What is really intriguing to me is the screw-hole in the middle of the figure. The tongue was carved to deliberately split to allow the hole to be made. Almost as if it was meant to be mounted on the wall. However, there are also two holes in the bottom: one in the front and one in the back, as if it was attached to a base at one time. If that is so, then why have a screw-hole in the middle of the figure for a wall-mount? I hope one of you guys can figure it out....

By the way, anyone know who "Kauri" is? I'm thinking that this was one of those roadside souvenir carvings by locals that the tourists would pick up on their travels.

Anyway, thanks in advance for all your input!

Lee