Mere pounamu (greenstone hand club) "Kauwhata"

This mere, named Kauwhata, is one of two mere pounamu presented to His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, Prince of Wales) on the occassion of his visit to New Zealand in April-May 1920. Kauwhata was gifted by Tupu Atanatiu Taingakawa Te Waharoa. The other significant Waikato mere pounau that was gifted was Wehiwehi, presesnted on behalf of the fourth Māori King Te Rata Mahuta Pōtatau Te Wherowhero. Kauwhata and Wehiwehi are named after significant ancestors from the Tainui tribes, Kauwhata and his son Wehiwehi. A comtemporary account of the Royal Visit descibes the event, "The elders and young people of the tribes squat on the ground on both sides of the steps;...all the while the thin stream of Native girls and women, half amused and half shy, coming forward without conversation and showering gifts of mats, meres, and flags at the feet of the Prince. There are three carved walking-sticks (one from Sir James Carroll), two large meres from the "King" natives, the larger (Wehiwehi) from Rata Mahuta and the other (Kauwhata) from Tupu Taingakawa..." Kauwhata and Wehiwehi were subsequently acquired by Mohamed al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman and then owner of Harrods, when he purchased the house and entire contents of the late Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s Paris estate in 1986. Tupu Taingakawa was the second son of Wiremu Tamehana Te Waharoa, leader of the powerful Ngāti Haua hapū (sub-tribe) of the Waikato tribes, who installed the first Māori King, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, in 1858.