There are five published examples of the rare wooden vessels of this form, four of which are in museum collections in New Zealand. Two from the Oldman collection (Oldman, 1938, figs. 11 and 12) and one from the Kenneth Webster collection (Te Maori, 1984, no. 102) are in the National Museum, Wellington, the fourth is in the Whangerei Public Museum (Duff, 1969, no. 57). A fifth from the estate of J.J. Klegman was formerly in the H.G. Beasley collection (Mack, 1982, p. 121, Pl. 46.1).
Oldman no. 11 still retains its lid and might be by the same hand as the present example: it was brought to England by Admiral Sir Thomas Symonds in about 1840. The entry relates that it was used "to hold red war-paint kokowai (traces remain inside), and used only by great chiefs... Total height, 11.5cm. Believed to be unique". For no. 12 Oldman writes "Pot for tattooing-pigment... Extremely old and much used specimen: inside has remains of black pigment. Height, 7.5cm. (I have only heard of one other specimen, in the Alexander Museum at Wanganui.)" The remains of black pigment inside the present example would indicate that it was used as a tattoo pigment pot, besides which it is almost the same size as Oldman no. 12.