A Boomerang comes back

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The boomerang that Christie's is selling on September 25 in London is one of the first objects of this type that have been seen by Westerners. He belonged to the widow of Captain Cook, and Christie's thinks it was collected during the first expedition in 1770.

Joseph Banks, a very important scientist of his time who accompanied Cook, described such items but without understanding their use. It must be said that the Aborigines in Australia, much afraid (understandably), were not too eager to communicate with these foreigners.

In 1779, Cook met in Hawaii less shy residents. He was killed in a brawl following a case of theft. According to some sources, he was cooked.

Here, these are not the characteristics of the object that will create the price, but its origin. The memorabilia of Captain Cook are sought. This boomerang is estimated 40 K £. In its press release, Christie's gives some prices of items that belonged to Cook and have far exceeded their estimates. This will surely also be the case for this one.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The boomerangs can have unforeseen paths. Christie's has withdrawn from the sale the example which was the subject of this article.

The Sydney Morning Herald says that the link of the object with Cook was regarded as unlikely by the National Museum of Australia, but the museum has made an offer at Christie's before the sale. The newspaper had not yet received comments from Christie's.