Akau-ta or Pakipaki club Tonga Wood L. 125... Lot 23

Akau-ta or Pakipaki club Tonga Wood L. 125 cm Provenance: - Collected between 1826 and 1859 by Reverend John Thomas (1797-1881) - By descent to the present owner Very old club from Tonga of a great classicism. According to Mills' categorization (2009, fig.1) this club is related to the A3 family. See Little (et.al, 2006, pp.186-187) for two very similar clubs collected by Cook and sharing the same sobriety. COLLECTION OF REVEREND JOHN THOMAS (1797-1881). Born in Worcester, John Thomas (1797-1881) first worked as a blacksmith in Hagley. He soon became a Methodist and began to preach. He was accepted by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS) in 1824 and was sent to Tonga with his wife in 1826.Lots 23 and 24