FAQ

Q: What payment methods do you accept?

A: Payments can be made by bank transfer.

Q: Who will deliver my order?

A: All deliveries are made by SWISS POST, DHL and TNT couriers.

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Q: How much are the shipping costs?

A: The shipping costs depend on the weight of an item and the destination country. Please contact us for an estimate. We will inform you about the cost in short time after receiving your request. Shipping costs are agreed prior to sale.

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Q: How long does the delivery take?

A: The items will be sent within 24-48 hours after confirmation of the payment. The consignment will take 2-5 working days.

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Q: What is your return policy?

A: We want you to be satisfied. Any purchase from the web site may be returned for a full refund within 7 days of receipt if the piece is not found to be satisfactory. The sale becomes final at the expiry of the 7 days examination period. Please read our policy for further information (paragraph G) .

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Q:  From where do you get these items?

A: We buy during our trips in Borneo from indigenous people living in settlements, runners, dealers and collectors.

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Q: Why only Bornean art?

A: Since more than 10 years we are specialized in the only Bornean cultures and arts. First of all, our interest in Borneo grew up as a passion. During our first trips in Borneo we understood that the large number of different cultural traits both within a same area and from different cultural areas requires a constant field research to be integrated with the past and present literature. There is more than a life time studying only for Borneo. That’s why the knowledge on Bornean traditions and arts we wish to share with you won’t solve the whole complexity of indigenous cultural system but we believe it will present the richness of the different indigenous daily and ritual contexts and prevent from generalisations due to lack of information.

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Q: Do I receive a certificate of authenticity?

A: All items for sale on our web site are guaranteed. An expertise will be issued by our gallery. Specific information are detailed in our policy (paragraph B).

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Q: How old is this wooden item?

A: The life time of wooden objects is affected by several factors. Four of the most important are:

  1. The typology of the wood

  2. The quality of the wood

  3. The collocation of the object in its natural environment.

  4. The function of the object.

The tropical clime of Borneo Island is characterized by the rain season, the strength of the equatorial sun, a high degree of humidity, acid soils, a large number of insects and the floods. In this context, and depending on the incisiveness of the different factors, a good quality hardwood artefact exposed to the weather may resist two or three centuries, and in some very exceptional cases maybe more. But the same typology of hardwood, after some decennials may look older in comparison with a two centuries old one and may perish more rapidly.
Traditional dating methods like radiocarbon (C14) and dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) are often unusable due to the limits of the two analysis methods, i.e. the minimal age of a datable object and the particular tropical clime which prevents in most cases from the analysis of tree age by counting annual rings.
In most cases, the age of an artefact is evaluated by means of converging information like the style, the use of specific decorations, the collocation, the field records and the archives consultations. This information allows establishing an estimated age of a wooden object.

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Q: Is the stand included?

A: When you purchase an item, its stand is included. If you choose not to take the stand, we will deduct the stand’s cost from the total amount.

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