An object of global historical and cultural significance, received by explorer Captain James Cook from a Canadian First Nation during his final voyage (1776-1779), is being donated to the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology (MOA) by a leading arts philanthropist.
Recently purchased through a private dealer in New York, and valued at $1.2 million, the rare ceremonial club was the last remaining object from Captain Cook’s personal collection not housed in a public museum. Thanks to the Audain Foundation for the Visual Arts, the club returns to British Columbia, where the famous explorer received it from the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Vancouver Island’s west coast in 1778.
