Polynesian paddle fetches nearly $340,000

ISLE OF WIGHT, England, April 17 (UPI) -- A 100-year-old wooden paddle used in Polynesian dance ceremonies before becoming a household ornament fetched nearly $340,000 at a British auction.

Bidders in London and Brussels quickly upped the price on the paddle after bidding started at just $4,629, The Times of London reported.

The ceremonial paddle, known as a rapa, originated on Easter Island in the southeastern Pacific, where performers used the paddles to accentuate movements in dances and ceremonies.

Tim Smith of Isle of Wight auctioneers Island Auction Rooms in Shanklin set a guide price of $15,341.

"When the money started going up, there was a real buzz in the auction room," Warren Riches, who led the sale, said.

The paddle's owners, who live on the Isle of Wight, didn't know how much the paddle had sold for.

"Tim went round to see them with a bottle of champagne and told them to sit down," Riches said. "He asked them what they thought it would fetch in their wildest dreams."

Maybe, they said, Smith's guide price, $15,341.