Vintage hand carved Moai Top-hat wooden figure from my photographic trip to Easter Island in the early 1980s.
I was working in Easter Island (Rapa Nui) on a Discovery channel documentary about the Rapa Nui Islanders in 1982 where I purchased a number of carvings including this Moai with Top-hat from the local fisherman in last photo. Moai statues were carved by the Polynesian colonizers of the island mostly between 1250 and 1500. In addition to representing deceased ancestors, the moai, once they were erected on ahu, may also have been regarded as the embodiment of powerful living or former chiefs and important lineage status symbols. These small wooden carvings honor the full sized statues. This carving is over thirty years old and is in very good condition with no chips, splits or cracks. The moai is 8" tall. In Spanish and Rapa Nui, I'm including the illustrated book, 'Tierra De Gigantes,' (Land of the Giants).
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