Maori Mere pounamu

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

Nice piece. Unless you got some provenance with it, age could be really hard to establish. The jade/greenstone is quite light in colour compared with others I have seen.
This link to Wiki might be of interest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patu
Stu

hello you can tell the age of the mere buy a number of factors.
its weight , how sharp the edge is ,
how even the lanyar hole is,
if the lanyar hole is worked smooth inside.
the finish of the tool
the shape of the genetalia inspired pommel and finally the greenstone used.
the old mere were very carefully selected to be a free of fractures as can be . newer ones are just cut from chunks of stone and sold for looks , btu with a fracture one hit and its broken.

really the best way to know if its been around for a while is look in the lanyard hole if its a really good copy they still wont think to polish the inside of the hole.
but if it is hol and has been used the lanyard will poslish the green stone in the hole to a fine gloss. and this ont ware off from rough handling or some nut refinishing it.

as to mere made in the modern era of maori culture 1920s till now.. hard to say.. as really one made yesterday and one made 50 years ago are all tourist items and this age range dosnt really add any extra value.