PORTFOLIO small and early oval-shaped Fiji kava bowls, all with exceptional patina. The three most interesting 162 pieces were on the desk: a Maori fl ute, an exceptional feather box (fi g. 9a), and an Easter Island fi gure (fi g. 9c). The latter was of good quality but by no means Oldman’s best example; however, for some reason he had decided to keep it. The feather box was a rare type with large entwined fi gures on the underside. The lid was decorated with two tikis, one with a blind eye, and at the center was a beautifully patinated carved lizard. Oldman had numbered this box 1069, and years later when studying his collection list, I discovered it was probably the last Maori item he ever bought. Several photographs of the box had been published in a small book on Maori art that I once had, where it was described as “probably from Taranaki, the treasured possession of Mrs. Dorothy Oldman.” Above the desk was the mask from an Egyptian sarcophagus, which I later found had been collected by Lady Jane Franklin when she visited Egypt in 1832. Also in the study was a small locked safe, but the key could not be found. I agreed to buy all of the objects as well as the books and documents, and I eventually drove home at 2 a.m., where I spent the rest of the night going through Oldman’s papers. After an anxious two weeks’ wait I was asked to return to the apartment, since the key to the safe had been found. Meanwhile, a collector of tribal art who knew Mrs. Oldman had recalled seeing a fi ne small Tongan ivory fi gure when he visited her many years earlier, and we both hoped it would be found in the safe. When it was fi nally opened the safe contained only a letter and a small box. The letter, dated 1954, was from the British Museum thanking Mrs. Oldman for her gift of a Tongan ivory. The box contained a wad of cotton wool beneath which sat a very small Maori tiki, approximately two inches long, but buried below it was an exceptionally large and fi ne jade tiki, measuring more than six and a half inches (fi g. 9b). While studying Oldman’s archives, I gained a deeper appreciation of what an extraordinary man he had been. His love and knowledge of ethnography, at a time when it was generally unappreciated, enabled him to form a unique collection, and I was determined that one day FIG. 12 (right): Letter dated February 21, 1959, from James Hooper to Dorothy Oldman. FIG. 13 (below): A page of Oldman’s ledger entries (written on a time card) from 1919.
T81E
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