A carved bone neck ornament tiki

A carved bone neck ornament tiki, in Maori style possibly by James Frank Robieson, with abalone inset eyes, 10cm high.

James Frank Robieson was born in New Zealand in 1880 and enjoyed a boyhood with Maori playmates. As a young man he worked for the New Zealand Tourist and Publicity Department with his first oposting to the Rotorua Branch. His worked was the supervision of construction of a stockaded village for tourists. Here he met the Maori elders and the Arawa carvers. This is when he learnt to carve in the distinct Maori manner, reading about ancient lore and gathering Maori artefacts.

He was transferred to Dunedin where he set up a cased exhibiting his collection, and continued to 'forage' at ancient sites. Moving to England after World War I and about this time items collected by Robieson were purchased by various museums, often through his brother of Oriental Bay, Wellington. He bought a considerable amount of raw material with him to England and returned to New Zealand shortly before World War II and died in 1966.

The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford purchased twenty one 'old Maori' items from Robieson in 1930. It was not until 1956 where a number of pieces where identified as not being carved by a Maori hand.