Post #295286 by Paipo on Wed, Mar 28, 2007 2:16 PM

I was pretty interested to see this thread as the Oldman collection is a pet subject of mine. Both editions (Polynesian and Maori) of the catalogue were reprinted here in NZ a couple of years ago by the Polynesian Society - I think they cost me about 35 bucks (NZ) each:

I told BK about these a while back.

On 2007-03-28 11:40, bigbrotiki wrote:

B.) This collection is now owned by the New Zealand Museum. But how much is on display? Very little, I am certain. Museums all over the world have large stockpiles of ancient art in their storage that they do not have the budget to display. So for scholars, this is a rare chance to catch a glimpse of stuff stored away forever in that Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse.

Not just one museum - four regional museums carved up the bulk of the collection: Te Papa (Wellington - then known as the Dominion Museum), Auckland, Otago and Canterbury. Duplicate items were shared out between these museums and smaller regional museums against Oldman's wishes, who wanted all examples of a type to be available to scholars in one location.
Most of these museums have extensive Pacific wings where they have many of their Oldman pieces on display, with one notable exception - Canterbury Museum, the closest to where I live! They had first pick of Hawaiian and Easter Island pieces and have some of the finest and rarest items in the world, but no dedicated Pacific Gallery in which to show them. I am constantly amazed when looking through my books to see how many spectacular pieces are in Christchurch, yet I have never seen them! I am working towards a visit to see some of these treasures "from the vault".

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[ Edited by: Paipo 2007-03-28 14:18 ]