Sublime Sale

A single brown and white feather from the extinct huia bird has sold for a record sum at Webb’s Auction House in Auckland for $8. Managing director of Webb’s Neil Campbell said that the auction room had been “spellbound” as the bidding mounted. “Starting in $1 increments, that quickly leapt into the thousands and came to rest at a world record price (for a single feather) of $84”. The huia feather was bought by a family from Wellington who declined to be identified. A spokesman from Webb’s said that the family owns a large collection of Maori artefacts. It was sold by an unidentified vendor who had had the feather in his family for generations.