4 HUMAN FIGURES ON HEAD

IMPORTANT CARVED TONGAN "APA'APAI" CLUB W/ 41 GLYPHS OF HUMAN FIGURES, STARS, BIRDS, CRESCENTS ETC., 37 3/4" (96 cm), EARLY 19TH CENTURY

SOLD

Ex. David Rosenthal San Francisco.  Ex. Christies Paris, Dec. 2005 Lot 57.   

This Club, listed with no provenance, recently sold at Sotheby's Paris for 51500 euros ($65,920 usd).  Amazingly this same club was "bought in" and remained unsold at Christies 3 years prior against an estimate of 5000-8000 euros!!)

What is going on?  As dealers we question whether it makes ANY sense to sell great pieces "privately" anymore..?