This sturdy silver axe may look like an elegant weapon but it has a surprising connection to the Māui A oil drilling tower. The Māui A tower was built by the Nippon Kōkan Kabushiki Kaisha (NKK) steel manufacturers, at their Tsu shipyard. Although the tower is not technically a ship, it received the same ceremonial farewell in 1975 as a new ship departing Japan would. This included having this silver axe made specifically for the launch, which was then used to cut the rope which held the tower to the shipyard. Special axes like this are traditionally gifted to the owner of the ship after the ceremonial release, and in this fine specimen was presented to Warren Freer, the New Zealand Minister for Trade and Industry at the time.
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