Tiki price through the roof at Sotheby's auction

BIG TICKET ITEM: The Maori tiki which sold for US$92,000, way over its estimated value of US$40,000.

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A greenstone tiki sold at an auction in New York today for US$92,000 (NZ$165,290) – more than US$40,000 above its estimated price.

The 16cm-tall tiki was one of five rare Maori artefacts to go under the hammer at an auction of African and Oceanic art at Sotheby's.

A similar pendant about half the size sold for US$15,000, which was within the auction estimate range, while a 43cm hand club which had an estimate of US$10,000 to US$15,000 sold for US$28,125.

A finely carved, lidded box sold for $US28,125, while a 186cm-tall Maori staff or taiaha sold for $3750 – both were within the estimated price range.

Other wooden artefacts from places such as Papua New Guinea and French Polynesia sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars each, while a 61cm-tall carved figure from Gabon in western Africa more than doubled its estimate and sold for US$1.058 million.

- NZPA