121 he found that good prices could be got for good old Maori pieces, his procedure was to “get” a rare specimen & copy it exactly in the correct native way (vide my “Maori” putorino or bugle-fl ute) giving it every sign of age & even “worm-holes.” Most experts were taken in by his work & I understand he had quite a trade with the U.S.A. Edge-Partington was the fi rst to “show up” a putorino by him (in an early vol. of “Man”) & both Oldman & I were in at the birth &, fortunately, were able to study his handiwork from the fairly obvious fake to the mature work of art. A certain Col. Gaskell, of near Berkenhead, paid him thousands for fakes which, when sold at Glendinings Auction Rooms after his death, fetched next to nothing, but which nevertheless were circulated round to the different museums and collections of the world. One was given to the B.M. & was placed in the cases & I was only able to get it removed with the assistance of Beasley & Oldman, thus showing the danger of these fakes. As I am the last of the old fraternity of collectors, perhaps one day this faked fi gure may be reinstated as genuine! One specimen I have is an outstanding work-of-art which has taken in every Maori expert, including Oldman, Beasley, & Robley, but I convinced them by showing them the original from which it was copied!3 Fuller’s account is cursory but, though source material from the time is sparse, a more detailed account of Little’s misspent career can be pieced together from scattered facts and some informed speculation. Torquay, where Little was born on 20 December 1876,4 is still popular as a seaside resort on the southwestern coast of England. By the turn of the century, he FIG. 2 (far left): Page 1 of a document by A. W. F. Fuller describing the “fl ute” in fi g. 1 as well as his view of Edward Little’s activities. Archive of Fuller’s papers, West Sussex Records Offi ce, Chichester, UK. Photo: Tim Teuten. FIG. 3 (below): Alfred W. F. Fuller (1882– 1961) in England holding two whale bone harpoon heads from the Marquesas Islands. The Field Museum, A96661. Reproduced in Roland W. Force and Maryanne Force, The Fuller Collection of Pacifi c Artifacts, Praeger, New York, 1971, pl. 37. FIG. 4 (left): “Mace god.” Mangaia, Cook Islands. 18th or early 19th century. Ex William Ellis, London Missionary Society; William Oldman, #432. Bought by Oldman from Little. Wood. H: 109.2 cm. Otago Museum, Dunedin, New Zealand, inv. 050.106. FIG. 5 (right): Rongo and his three sons. Rarotonga, Cook Islands. 18th or early 19th century. Ex William Ellis, London Missionary Society; William Oldman, #436. Bought by Oldman from Little, 2 November 1921. Aito wood. H: 87.6 cm. Otago Museum, Dunedin, New Zealand, inv. 050.038. This piece was illustrated in William Ellis Polynesian Researches, Fisher, Son, and Jackson, London, 1831, p. 220. James Edward Little
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