Lynda Cunningham, New York

Good condition overall. Minor nicks, chips, scratches, and abrasions throughout, consistent with age and use. A few thin cracks to the blade and a thin crack to the proper right side of the body, as visible in the catalogue illustration. A couple of old losses to the lower portion of the handle. Residue of an old label to the flat surface of the blade. Fine nuanced brown patina, darker to the edge and underside of the blade. Has stand.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

An engraving of a similar breadfruit adze or splitter appears in William Ellis, Polynesian Researches, 1859, vol. I, p. 177; it may be one of the two adzes illustrated in W. O. Oldman, 'The Oldman Collection of Polynesian Artifacts', Memoirs of the Polynesian Society, vol. 15, 1943, pl. 4, cat. no. 377, described as 'from an old missionary collection', and now in the Otago Museum, Dunedin. Gundolf Krüger observes that the provenance of the two Oldman adzes suggests that these objects 'were still in existence upon the arrival of the first missionaries' in 1797.

The present adze bears a close resemblance to one in the British Museum, London (acc. no. Oc.7972; donated in 1873 by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks), although that specimen lacks the hole which is pierced through the handle of the present adze. This hole suggests that a plaited cord with half a tiger cowrie shell, used as a scraper, was formerly attached. A similar attachment can be seen on a breadfruit splitter collected between 1821-1824 by the missionary George Bennet, formerly in the collection of James Hooper (Phelps, Art and Artefacts of the Pacific, Africa and the Americas, 1976, p. 117, pl. 59, no. 485).