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James Edward Little 123 from Little were in 1903 and 1904, and he seemed happy with them.6 William Oldman, the greatest dealer in tribal art at that time (fi g. 7), had a somewhat different experience with Little and returned some so-called Maori artifacts to him in 1905 because he had doubts about them.7 The following year he also returned a harpoon head that he considered to be “sailor’s work.” Despite these diffi culties, as a dealer Oldman apparently was prepared to continue contact with Little, because in 1905 his records indicate that he bought bows, arrows, swords, and shields from him. He also bought a fair amount of African material from Little between 1903 and 1905. The ledgers of Harry Beasley8 (fi g. 8) fi rst record Little on 16 November 1906, when he bought two fi shhooks and a Hawaiian waist ornament with 183 carved teeth from him in Taunton, a town located about fi fty miles north of Torquay, where Little was spending time with a mistress.9 Two months later he bought a bone tiki that he recognized as modern and returned, and a year later three more fi shhooks (the shell-and-wood Maori type) in nearby Bristol. Against the entry of the third of these, Beasley added “fake,” but we do not know when. In Oldman’s 1910 article about forgeries published in Man,10 Little is not mentioned by name, but the situation must have been discussed before 16 November of that year when Beasley returned some Maori objects of Little’s to Oldman saying that he considered them fakes. One particular collection provides insight into Little’s carving style. William Henry Skinner (fi g. 9), a surveyor, historian, and founding member of the Polynesian Society, came to London from New Zealand in 1908 and bought a number of artifacts from Little. They continued doing business by mail, and Skinner’s collection is now in the Puke Arike Museum of his hometown, New Plymouth, New Zealand. Alas, the diary of his London visit is missing from his papers, which means we do not know exactly what he bought from Little then or his opinion of him. Among the many authentic Maori pieces in the Skinner Collection that can loosely be tied to Little are three hei tiki that can be fi rmly associated with him, as indicated in the Puke Arike Museum’s credit line: “Gifted by W. H. Skinner. ‘Purchased from the English dealer and faker Edward Little’” (fi gs. 10 and 11). However, also included in this collection are two standing fi gures, two lidded boxes, and a feeding funnel (fi gs. 12, 13, 15, and 16) that are obviously by the same hand and certainly not a Maori one. The carved whorls on them have a strange look as though they are appliqués of over-cooked spaghetti, and the patina is a very dense black. All are carved with the same distinctive scrollwork. Together these can be considered a “core” group of Little’s work from which we can make certain assumptions about other objects he may have produced.11 In 1914 Skinner must have discovered the extent of Little’s tricks because he wrote that he no longer wished to do business with him. However, Little apparently did not give up on Skinner. He followed up with further letters, including one written in 1915 by Little from Salonica, where he was at war,12 but there is no further evidence of subsequent acquisitions by Skinner save for a mutu kaka (parrot perch) and an adze acquired in 1919. Other items at Puke Ariki come from noted collector and dealer Ken Webster (fi g. 14). Wellington-based anthropologist Robin Watt, who has extensively studied Little’s work, believes that some of these could also be the work of Little—at least embellished by him if not carved entirely by him. FIG. 10 (right): Hei tiki. Maori, New Zealand. 19th century. Pounamu, paua shell, muka. H: 13 cm. W. H. Skinner Collection, Puke Ariki Museum, New Plymouth, A77.294. The museum’s credit line for this object reads: “Gifted by W. H. Skinner. ‘Purchased from the English dealer and faker Edward Little.’” FIG. 11 (left): Hei tiki Maori, New Zealand. 19th century. Pounamu, paua shell. H: 8.7 cm. W. H. Skinner Collection, Puke Ariki Museum, New Plymouth, A77.290. The museum’s credit line for this object reads: “Gifted by W. H. Skinner. ‘Purchased from the English dealer and faker Edward Little.’” FIG. 8 (above): H. G. Beasley (1881–1939). Photographer unknown, 1939. From Ethnologia Cranmorensis Fig. 9 (below): William Henry Skinner (1857– 1946). Photographer unknown, c. 1917. From Sir Charles Fleming, Portfolio of Royal Society Members. Alexander Turnbull Library, ref. 1/2-055714; F.


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