A Hawaiian war god statue (pictured) that was bought for $7 million in a bidding war could be worth just $5,000
A Hawaiian war god statue that was bought for $7 million in a bidding war could be worth just $5,000, experts claim.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne, purchased the rare piece at a November auction at Christie’s in Paris,
They paid more than $7 million for the figure, which is less than two feet tall.
The San Francisco couple then donated the piece to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, which announced the acquisition this week.
But experts have said that the object could be a Tiki bar tchotchke worth just $5,000.
'It’s the sort of thing you see in a tiki bar,' said Daniel Blau, an expert in the art of the Pacific islands who is based in Munich, told The New York Times.
At the sale in Paris, Christie’s said the wooden war god was about 200 years old. But now doubts have emerged about the sculpture’s age.
The carving, made sometime between 1780 and 1819, had been in the collection of Claude Vérité, a Paris art dealer, who apparently acquired it in 1940. It’s unclear where the carving was before that.
Similar pieces are found only in museums, said Susan Kloman, head of African and Oceanic Art at Christie’s, in a description of the piece prior to the auction.
Christie's described the piece in its catalog as 'Hawaiian figure, kona style, circa 1780-1820, representing the god of war, ku ka ’ili moku.'
It was estimated to sell for or $2.3 million to $3.4 million.
Susan Kloman, head of African and Oceanic Art at Christie’s, described the piece as 'an incredible discovery,' adding 'This figure could stand on the world stage.'
'When I first saw this figure I was astonished — really speechless.'We couldn’t imagine that such a work could still exist in a private collection.'
Anthony Meyer, a dealer based in Paris and a specialist in Oceanic artworks, told the New York Times: 'I don’t think it’s a pre-contact or post-contact sculpture carved by
