111 places, generally in blue pencil (fi g. 9). Since Krajewski had held some objects back, this might suggest that not all of them had arrived in Neuchâtel, and, by extension, that some of these might have wound up at the British Museum. While not an unreasonable hypothesis, this has not proven to be the case. The annotation actually refers to well-known collector and dealer W. O. Oldman (1879–1949) (Kaehr and Caligiuri 2007; Waterfi eld and King 2006: 64–77).29 Despite the language barrier between them,30 Charles Knapp, who had been appointed curator at Neuchâtel in 1904, fi rst established contact with Oldman toward the end of 1905, but nothing came of it. After the armistice, pursuing his desires to develop the collection quickly and on a massive scale, Knapp renewed contact with Oldman and made a series of purchases. While he does not appear to have sent Oldman a copy of the circular announcing the 1919 sale, the latter did show interest in the material that remained (O’Reilly 1948). Surprisingly, given that he was fourth in line for the Krajewski material, Oldman paid the sum of £100 upfront on September 27, 1920, and visited the museum, accompanied by his Belgian friend, Léo J. Serin, on October 11, 1920. This was a visit of which he would retain a clear memory. Although he later speaks of an “exchange,” he paid the equivalent of 2,168 francs at the time—almost twice as much as the sale of 1919 brought in—for the thirty lots he purchased, most of which were to be shipped to him. According to a letter by Knapp dated October 14, 1920, Oldman also obtained a rare Tahitian ti’i,31 which he may have taken with him. According to Robert Hales, Oldman ultimately paid an additional £55, undoubtedly to cover shipping expenses. After Knapp’s sudden death on August 21, 1921, fi fteen years after their initial exchange, Oldman renewed contact with the museum to request information and to propose resuming business: “If you have some good pieces you would like to share, I would be happy to buy them or exchange for them”32 (MEN archives). He was alluding to the hookshaped ceremonial object (V.184, fi g. 4) published by Karl von den Steinen (1969: vol. II: 217, ill. 219), which the latter believed was made of tortoiseshell. The offer suggests that Oldman had examined the piece when he was in Neuchâtel, which the archives confi rm. Because of his use of different numbering systems and groupings in his “Dealing Stockbooks” and “Collection Stockbook,”33 Oldman’s acquisitions are diffi cult to identify, but publications he produced as a member of the Polynesian Society have made it possible to fi nd some of them. Of the “twelve best pieces” he kept in his private collection, seven are published in The Journal of the Polynesian So- FIG. 9 (above): Page 1 of “List A.” MEN archives. FIG. 10 (right): Page 1 of “List B.” MEN archives.
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