The second attempt by Dunbar Sloane to sell a 'piece of wooden flagstaff'' has again met with complaints by Ngapuhi. In March this year the item was pulled from auction, the reason given by Dunbar Sloane Jnr at the time was that "We need to get our facts dead right on the piece of timber itself." (Article here). The catalogue description explains the wood has been tested and found to be Baltic Pine, similar to the flagpole held at Te Papa. They believe the piece of flagpole therefore may have been a "temporary one" erected and cut down by Hone Heke in 1845. The catalogue description has the following disclaimer "However, we do not know for certain that Heke chopped this temporary flagstaff down as it was not from the wood grown in his forest". Paul Moon, AUT's history professor said the piece is "almost certainly a fake".
