Description:

**First Time At Auction**

North Pacific, Hawaiian Islands, Pre-Contact period, ca. 14th to 18th century CE. A huge and heavy gray basalt adze (adz) head, probably quarried from Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The tool is made for cutting, smoothing, and carving wood. The stone was painstakingly shaped from a quarried rectangular piece of basalt by chipping at it with a hammerstone. The result of careful flaking is this useful tool: a hefty blade with a sharp, sloped edge, a thick body, and a long, rectangular tang. The tang would have been hafted to a bent wooden handle with fibrous cords and used by swinging the adze in a downward cutting motion. Adzes are called "ko'i" in Polynesia, and it seems they were traded widely; axes from Hawaii have even been found thousands of miles away in what is now French Polynesia! Size: 7.5" L x 1.5" W (19 cm x 3.8 cm)

Provenance: private Newport Beach, California, USA Collection

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#141734

  • Condition: Age and use expected weathering. Losses and chips to cutting edge, and underside of blade. Traces of old label adhesive reside on underside and top of blade. Highly polished surfaces and areas of russet patina.

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July 8, 2021 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000