1. An item is listed by Sotheby's at its auction on 9 May 2006, 'Africa, Oceania and Pre-Columbian Art', in its New York branch, lot 20, described as:

PROPERTY FROM AN AMERICAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR

A FINE NEW CALEDONIAN ADZE of overall compressed proportions, the cylindrical handle composed of three wooden sections bound with plaited sennit grasping the thick, adze blade of light greenstone with marbled surface and veins; two partial old labels; fine reddish brown patina to the handle.

length 10in. 25.5cm. Reportedly  Pitt-Rivers Collection.

There is no object listed in the catalogue of the second collection which matches this object. There are two adze handles Add.9455vol4_p1337 /3-4  but these do not have the stone blade. It is impossible to confirm whether the handle is one of the ones shown from the only photograph Sotheby's provide on their site. Even if it were, the blade must have come from elsewhere.

2. Item sold by Christie's London 11 October 1993 'English and Continental Ceramics' Lot 3 described as:

'A STAFFORDSHIRE REDWARE CHINOISERIE RECTANGULAR SMALL TEA-JAR, two sides moulded with figures beneath a stylised palm-tree alternating with an exotic bird perched on a tree issuant from rockwork, the shoulder with a band of gadrooned ornament (very slight rim chips to neck), late 17th century, probably Elers Brothers 9.5cm. high. Formerly in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Farnham.'

Same item sold by Sotheby's sale "Important English Pottery: the Harriet Carlton Goldweitz collection New York 20 January 2006 Lot 30

'A rare Elers Brothers red stoneware tea jar and cover circa 1695 of tall rectangular form, molded on one side with two chinoiserie figures beneath a parasol, on another with a bearded figure beneath a tree, and on the other two sides with exotic birds among branches, beneath a stepped and gadrooned shoulder, set with a modern silver mount.   height 4 1/2 in. (11.4cm)'

'Provenance The Pitt Rivers Museum , Farnham, Dorset sold Christie's London October 11 1993 lot 3, this form was attributed to the Elers Brothers by W.B. Honey in his article 'Elers Ware' English Ceramic Circle Transactions vol 1 no 2 p11.'

There does not appear to be an entry for this object in the catalogue of the second collection either attributed to England or Asia. Note it is clear that the stopper had been added after 1993.

3. Anglo-Saxon Claw Beaker, Maidstone Museum

See here for more information. According to this page:

'Anglo-Saxon Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Art Gallery 580 - 620

Over a thousand years ago, this glass drinking vessel was a unique, high-status import to Britain, probably for the inhabitants of the royal dwelling at Faversham. The beaker is of exceptionally fine light olive-green glass with numerous bubbles; spiral trailing decorates the upper and lower portions and a single row of four hollow claw-like projections are applied to the lower body. The delicate construction and single row of claws mark it out as a continental import into Anglo-Saxon England. Claw-beakers, so called because of the claw-like projections from the body of the vessel, derive from late Roman forms and became especially popular in Merovingian Gaul and the Rhineland, and in Anglo-Saxon England.

Medium: glass

Dimensions: 17 x 8 cm

Art Fund Grant: £4250 ( Total: £25,000; Export stopped)

Art Funded in: 1996

Vendor: Sheppard and Cooper

Provenance

Anglo-Saxon cemetery, Favesham, Kent, excavated 1860's; General Pitt-Rivers Collection; by descent; Sold Sotheby's, 1977; Sheppard and Cooper Ltd.'

Unfortunately this description cannot be matched to any items in the catalogue of the second collection.

4. Romano-British bowl

There is a bowl being sold which does not appear to match any objects in the catalogue of the second collection.

It is being sold from the Ifergan Collection of Ancient Art. According to the website it is described as

'A ROMANO-BRITISH PAINTED BOWL, 100-300 AD.

MEASUREMENTS: 3,5 cm. 8 Diam.

CONDITION: Good condition, as found.

PROVENANCE: Ex Bateman Collection and ex Stella Pitt Rivers Collection, Dorset Museum, acquired at Sotheby's London, May 13th, 1980, Antiquities, lot 161 / Acquired at Bonhams, London, Auction, October 15th, 2008, "The Geddes Collection", (Lot 164).'

5. Shell necklaces, Marshall Islands

These two shell necklaces were sold at the 'Art Océanien : Objets de Curiosité provenant de la collection Daniel Blau' sale on 13 December 2011 at Christie's Paris to an unknown buyer, lot 92 and 93. They are described as

Lot 92

COLLIER EN SPONDYLUS MARSHALL ISLANDS SPONDYLUS NECKLACE Iles Marshall  Longueur: 25 cm. (10 in.) Provenance H.G. Carr 1884 Lt. Gen. A.H.L.F. Pitt-Rivers, Farnham, Dorset

Lot Notes Cf. Heerman, 2009, fig.122 pour une oeuvre comparable provenant du Linden Museum, Stuttgart (inv.87601). Composé de fibres végétales tressées retenant deux rangs de disques de perles de corail dont un double et de cinq pendentifs en écaille de tortue en forme de trapèze; ancienne étiquette de collection: Necklace of coral with tortoiseshell pendants. The string made of pandamus [sic.] palm leaf. Marshall Group Obtained from Mr. H.G. Carr 31. Mar. 84.

Lot 93

COLLIER EN SPONDYLUS MARSHALL ISLANDS SPONDYLUS NECKLACE Iles Marshall  Longueur: 30 cm. (12 in.) Provenance H.G. Carr 1884 Lt. Gen. A.H.L.F. Pitt-Rivers, Farnham, Dorset

Cf. Heerman, 2009, fig.122 pour une oeuvre comparable conservée au Linden Museum, Stuttgart (inv.87601).
Ancienne étiquette mentionnant: Necklace of coral with tortoiseshell pendants. The string made of pandamus [sic.] palm leaf. Marshall Group Obtained from Mr. H.G. Carr 31. Mar. 84.

There is no reference to any items being obtained from an H.G. Carr, and no items from the Marshall Islands listed in the catalogue of the second collection. 1884 was, of course, the year in which Pitt-Rivers donated his founding collection to the University of Oxford, but they are not listed in any of that collection's documentation either. A label is still tied to the object, and it may be the original one. It does not bear much resemblance, so far as can be seen from the photograph, to other Pitt-Rivers founding collection labels. The necklaces cannot be matched to any entries in the catalogues of the founding or second collection.

Note that very similar necklaces appear to have been sold by Christie's three years earlier on 4 December 2008 again in Paris at the Sale of Art Africain et Oceanien lot 71 where they were described as

Lot Description COLLIER  Iles Marshall  Composé de trois rangs de perles de corail en forme de disque, ancienne étiquette lisant Coral necklaces worn by chiefs Tier over Tier According to rank. Marshall Group. Longueur: 24 cm. (9½ in.) Provenance Lt. Gen. A.H.L.F. Pitt Rivers, Farnham, Dorset Christie's Londres, 23 juin 1992, lot 187

Whether these are the same or more of the identifical objects the same thing applies, there do not appear to be any such necklaces in either of Pitt-Rivers' collections. See the last photo of this set for the image of these necklaces.

6. Headrest in the shape of a stylized animal

An item has been for sale at Zemanek Munster of Zurich http://www.tribal-art-auktion.de/en/home/ twice, numbered 3030496 and 3019109. It has been described as a headrest in the shape of a stylized animal from the Sepik district of Papua New Guinea. There are similar headrests in the catalogue of the second collection but none as similar legs. It is described as "wood, middle brown patina with remains of black paint, four angled struts supporting a pillow carved with zoomorphic mask faces, decorated with notched and incised ornaments, slightly dam., on base H: 19 cm; B: 64 cm H: 7.5 inch; B: 25.2 inch; Provenance Pitt-Rivers-Museum, Oxford, Great Britain Alex Arthur, Brussels, Belgium Gallery Joris Visser, Brussels, Belgium Literature Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, p. 195, ill. 204" when it was sold as number 3030496 and a similar description was given when it was sold as 3109109 except that the provenance was only given as the PRM Oxford [sic]. The website http://www.tribal-art-auktion.de/en/sitesearch/pitt-rivers/ says both times the item sold, unfortunately the two dates for the sales are not given.

The final items is a carved wooden bird from New Guinea which was originally obtained from Webster. All the documentation written on it suggests it is from the second collection of Pitt-Rivers, but it is not listed in the catalogue:

AP March 2012 / last item added October 2012