Updated at 12:55 p.m., Monday, January 15, 2007
Damon Estate gives rare, valuable collection to Bishop Museum
Advertiser Staff
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The collection — including kahili, adzes, poi pounders, spirit cups (kapuahi kuni 'ana'ana) and 'aumakua — is estimated to be worth more than $1 million.
The son of missionary Samuel Chenery Damon, Samuel Mills Damon joined the Bank of Bishop & Company in 1870. In 1895, after his friend and partner Charles Reed Bishop left Hawai'i for California, he became the sole owner of Bishop & Company.
Damon also served as Minister of Finance during the reign of King Kalakaua and was a founding trustee of Bishop Museum.
Upon the death of Joan Damon Haig, the last living grandchild of Samuel Mills Damon, in 2004, the estate of Samuel Mills Damon was terminated, and a substantial part of the estate's trust was distributed.
The trust included the long-term loan to Bishop Museum of the Damon Estate's collection of Hawaiian and Pacific artifacts, which will now join the museum's permanent holdings.
"In a most generous and magnanimous decision, all the Damon family members have agreed to make an outright gift of this historically important collection to the Bishop Museum and ultimately, to all the people of Hawai'i," said Bishop Museum president Bill Brown.
In March 2006, the Damon Estate sold coins, medals and bank notes from its collection through the auction house Doyle New York. The sale brought in $3.8 million, including $268,000 for an 1880 Kingdom of Hawai'i bank note.
