A single feather from a huia—an extinct New Zealand bird with highly prized plumage—has sold for $46,521 (US$28,365), making it the most expensive feather ever sold at auction.
Since it weighs approximately 9 grams, that works out to $5,169 per gram compared to $127 for a similar weight of gold.
Until the hammer fell at Webb’s auction house in Auckland this week, the previous highest price for a huia feather had been set in 2010, when one sold for $8,400. It was estimated this one would fetch between $2,000 and $3,000.
Last year, a pair of stuffed huia sold at auction in Britain for $466,000, despite public pleas for the government to intervene and return them to New Zealand.
The feather is registered with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage as a taonga tūturu (authentic treasure), meaning only a registered collector of such items can buy it, and the feather cannot leave New Zealand without permission.
The huia was the largest of five New Zealand wattlebird species, about the same size as a magpie.
Its beak had an orange wattle at the base of each side, but it was prized for its long tail feathers, which were mainly black with a white tip extending two to three centimetres.
Hunted to Extinction by Māori and Settlers
Its name, bestowed by Māori, was based on its distress call, which sounded like “uia, uia, uia.” It was last seen in 1907, but experts say it is likely that they died out completely somewhere in the 1920s.They were hunted by Māori and were already rare prior to European settlement.
The striking tail feathers were prized as clothing and hair decorations and reserved for chiefs and others with high standing.
Tail feathers became fashionable in Britain after the Duke of York was photographed wearing one during a visit to New Zealand in 1901, and settlers began hunting them as well. Thousands of the birds were exported overseas, and protection measures enacted in the 1890s were poorly enforced.
Leah Morris, the head of decorative arts at Webb’s, attributes the price to the feather’s excellent condition. It had been protected with archival paper and UV glass.
“The huia is such an iconic bird and a lot of people really relate to the bird in some way,” she added. “It doesn’t have a lot of bunching in the feathers … you’ll also see it’s retained a lot of its colours … its rich brown and iridescent colour and there is no sign of damage from insects.”
Little is known about the feather’s origin or history, and Ms. Morris said she could not divulge information about the vendor or buyer due to confidentiality agreements. However, they were both registered collectors based in New Zealand.
About 30 people were at the auction, but all bids were made by phone or online. There were no international bids.
“When the bidding eventually stopped and the hammer was knocked down there was a round of applause in the room—you don’t often get that at an auction,” Ms. Morris noted.
