Nagaland collection from famed artists sells for over £40k at auction

A collection of jewellery from the Nagaland region of Northern India has fetched over £40,000 at auction.

The collection included a large Naga woman’s necklace which sold for five times its estimate, achieving £8,820 against an estimate of £1,500-£2,000.

The necklace itself includes graduated carnelian beads, bone spacers and brass bell pendants in contrasting colours.

The piece comes from a collection of jewellery from the private collection of celebrated art publisher and artist Hansjorg Mayer (b.1943).

This unique jewellery collection was amassed over a period of 50 years, with many of its designs inspiring contemporary pieces today.

The collection contained several different styles of Naga armbands, including a set of six brass versions featuring various decorative elements, which sold for £1,764 against an estimate of £150-£250.

Two pairs of Naga ear ornaments consisting of brass, coloured glass beads and bell pendants sold for over six times their estimate – achieving £1,008 against an estimate of £150-£250.

Lastly, a Naga head chest ornament in brass with scarifications and tusk-like ear ornaments and orange and red glass beads was highly sought-after, selling for £2,016 against an estimate of £300-£500.

Mayer said: “There was little known about Nagaland and its indigenous people in the 1970’s when I began collecting. A state in India’s northeast region, it is remotely situated among the hills and mountains bordering Myanmar to the east, Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Manipur to the south and Assam to the west.

“Not only was it difficult to get to, due to the terrain, but it was also difficult politically and therefore impossible to obtain travel documents for, so I disappointingly never got to go and see anything first-hand, even though I tried.”