Ethnographica & Tribal Art

UK auctioneer hails successful sale offering attractive investments to buyers worldwide

A selection of Oceanic hardwood clubs and shields has come for sale at Sworders in Essex on November 9-10 as part of the auction of objects from the collection of dealer Jan Ellen Finch (1952-2021) of Finch & Co.

International array of visitors will be strolling the streets during the Parcours des Mondes to peruse and buy tribal art

Aboriginal shields come in two basic types: broad shields used for deflecting projectiles and the narrow, compact parrying shields used in close contact fighting.

Overseas interest in tribal art and Doulton Lambeth wares fuelled the higher prices at Cuttlestones’ (20% buyer’s premium) Penkridge sale but it was a new outbreak of cardomania which raised temperatures of collectors across England.

Sperm whale teeth, acquired from mammals that had beached on local reefs, had a deep significance to Fijian society.

A previously unrecorded family archive relating to Richard Grindall (1751-1820), an able seaman aboard Cook’s Second Voyage, surfaced for sale in London last week with spectacular results.

Fang secret society relic comes with long provenance to French colonial governor

A striking and well-provenanced example of an African mask from the Fang peoples of Gabon is to appear at an auction in the south of France on March 26.

“The owner had no idea what they were or what they might be worth. Not a Scooby.”

Non-European ethnographic art is a one of the new categories at Fine Arts Paris, represented by Patrick and Ondine Mesdagh from Brussels who will be showing a selection of pieces from four continents.

A Maori hei-tiki pendant offered in Cheltenham on September 16 had an old paper label verso stating that it originally belonged to Makoare Te Taonui.

A rare standing figure from the Yuat River area of Papua New Guinea was the star of the show at a Brussels auction.

Dealer and collector Kenn Mackay developed an interest in ethnographic art during his travels in the early 1980s.

Only a handful of companies have created products with sufficient impact that their brand names become generic descriptions for objects of their type.

The sale of Michel Périnet’s collection of tribal art at Christie’s in Paris on June 23 real ised a remarkable €66m/£57m (including buyer’s premium) and every one of the 61 lots were sold.

The best-performing lots in the tribal art sale at Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) in Salisbury on June 8 were these two pieces: an Ibibio mask (idiok ekpo) sold at £30,000 and a Nicobar standing male figure (kareau) that brought £34,000.

Exhibition at firm’s new premises focuses on headdress and headwear

Tribal art specialist Zemanek-Münster will be holding a spring auction on April 24 in Würzburg.