South Pacific paddle sails away at auction

Senior valuer Karl Martin said he had "no idea" how the paddle got to Derby

A 200-year-old Tongan tribal paddle has been sold for £3,100 at auction.

The item is inscribed with the date 14 April 1830 and was discovered in a house in Littleover, Derby, more than 10,000 miles away from its home in the South Pacific.

The rare paddle is intricately carved with a leaf-shaped blade

Karl Martin, a senior valuer at Derbyshire-based Hansons Auctioneers, who discovered the paddle, said they had "no idea how it ended up in Derby".

"In the 19th Century wealthy young men liked to travel the world in search of adventure and picked up exotic objects like this along the way," he said.

"It's an unusually scarce object and pretty amazing to think it's made it to all the way to Derby from the other side of the world."

A date of 14 April 1830 is inscribed on the paddle

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].