Reward in hunt for century-old family neclace

9th February 2010

 Julie Fearn says there is one thing she will not do if she is reunited with an historic family heirloom which went missing late last year.

She will not put it back around her neck - for it seems the greenstone piece does not want to be there.

"It was the third time I had dropped it - maybe it does not want to be with me," she said.

Mrs Fearn, a Napier taxi driver, was upset to discover that, at the end of a long shift on December 30, the greenstone piece, which is more than 100 years old, was missing.

"I had got out of the car three times during the day," she said. With the help of colleagues, she checked those three places but found no sign of the piece, which is in the form of a large ring.

She also checked with police but nothing had been handed in.

"It is very upsetting because it means so much to the family."

The greenstone was part of a collection which had belonged to her great-great grandmother, Airini Donnelly - a Maori princess who died in 1901, and was a defender and mentor for her people.

In 1976, Mrs Fearn's great aunt, who was the oldest in the family, divided up the artefacts.

Mrs Fearn received the greenstone piece which had been created more than a century ago to secure the leg of a tame kaka (bird) which acted as a decoy to attract other birds to a snare.

She had worn the piece in memory of her distinguished great-great grandmother and because of its unusual beauty.

"It is so distinctive. If someone has seen it they will know it."

Mrs Fearn's sister, Evelyn Kupa, said she was willing to offer a $50 reward to have the greenstone returned.

If anyone knew the whereabouts of the greenstone they asked that it be left somewhere safe and the family notified where it could be found.