The Beatles arrive in New Zealand ahead of their 1964 tour.

A large plastic tiki gifted to John Lennon when The Beatles toured New Zealand in 1964 is being purchased by Te Papa.

The tiki was one of four presented to The Beatles when they landed at Wellington airport in June 1964. Photographs of The Beatles wearing the oversized tiki around their necks and waving at thousands of fans have become emblematic of the British band's only visit to New Zealand.

Lennon gave his tiki to a South Island woman who looked after it for the past five decades and has now decided to sell it to the national collection for preservation.

Alexander Turnbull Library The Beatles at Wellington Airport during their New Zealand tour in 1964.

Rose, who did not want her real name used because she worried the tiki may be stolen, met The Beatles in their Wellington hotel after her friend interviewed the band.

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She got talking to Lennon, who gifted her his tiki at the end of the night.

Supplied The plastic tiki given to a South Island woman by John Lennon and now bought by Te Papa.

Rose's daughter, Anneleise Hall, said the family was pleased the tiki would become part of the national collection.

"It is going to Te Papa and it will be part of New Zealand's story for posterity. We are really happy about that. I think it's wonderful.

"Those photos of Lennon at Wellington airport are iconic. There is nothing else like that tiki and poi set in the world. It is a unicorn."

Alexander Turnbull Library The Beatles at the St George Hotel in Wellington greeting their fans.

It is not known what happened to the tiki given to Paul McCartney and George Harrison, but Ringo Starr told RNZ in 2012 that he still had his tiki.

Te Papa's tiki expert, Dougal Austin, said they were excited to purchase the item and preserve it for the nation. Te Papa is in the process of finalising the purchase.

The national museum became interested in buying the tiki after a Stuff story revealed it was still in the possession of a Christchurch family.

Supplied The Government's national airline used an aluminium version of the tiki for promotional purposes. The front and back of the aluminium tiki are on the left and right. The central image appears to show a "Tiki Room" run by the airline.

"We are excited. This is the first time we have bought any Beatles memorabilia here. It is a rare thing," he said.

"I have no doubt that it will be on display at some stage because it is of such high interest."

Austin said Lennon's large plastic tiki was an example of how Māori culture was often distorted and exploited to promote tourism in 1960s New Zealand. Traditional tiki are much smaller and made from highly prized pounamu (greenstone).

Supplied Godfrey 'Geoff' Coward carved the original wooden tiki that was used for the plastic replica given to The Beatles.

"It helps us represent this whole issue around cultural appropriation and the cultural shifts that have taken place in New Zealand society since the 1960s."

Evidence initially pointed to Cook Island master carver Iotua (Charlie) Tuarau as the person who designed the large tiki. But since Stuff published the story about Lennon's tiki in January, Wellington man Ray Eglinton has come forward saying his father's plastic company made The Beatles tiki.

He said his father Graham Eglinton's company, Eglinton Plastics, manufactured the tiki based on a wooden carving by Godfrey 'Geoff' Coward, a British carver who worked for the Government's publicity and tourism department.

Ray Egnlinton Graham Eglinton, second from left, in front of his Eglinton Plastics factory on Sydney St in Petone, Lower Hutt.

The tiki were designed and commissioned by the Government department, but made by Eglinton Plastics at its factory in Petone, Lower Hutt.

The factory's main business was making plastic plant pots, but they would also make items for the government.

Ray Eglinton remembers watching the plastic tiki get made at his father's factory. The company made a range of mass produced plastic trinkets mimicking traditional Māori designs. The Tane range included plastic reproductions of carved heads, weapons, tiki and parts of a whare. The moulds were all made from Coward's kauri carvings.

Ray Egnlinton Jim Tavendale running a machine at Eglinton Plastics that was used to make the tiki.

Ray Eglinton still has one of Coward's original Kauri carvings for the smaller tiki that was part of the Tane range.

Coward worked in the department's National Publicity Studios, where artists and sculptors would create paintings and complicated moving dioaramas of New Zealand scenes, like geysers and railways, to promote tourism.

Artist Alan Collins worked at the National Publicity Studios with Coward in the 1950s and 60s. He remembered Coward working on the tiki.

ArchivesNZ A worker at the Publicity and Tourism Department spray painting Eglinton Plastics products in 1967. The large tiki can be seen drying on the left.

Collins said Coward was an old-fashioned man from the south of England.

"He had one leg in a caliper and walked with a stick.

"He came to New Zealand because he was using a timber that was so wonderful to carve with in England and he wondered where it came from and wanted to be there. It was kauri."

Ray Egnlinton Graham Eglinton of Eglinton Plastics in the 1940s.

The large plastic tiki were used by the Government in window displays and on rostrums during talks to help promote tourism, Collins said.

A photograph taken in the studio in 1967 shows the large tiki being spray painted by a staff member.

Collins said the idea to gift the Beatles with large green tiki was hatched spontaneously on the day of their arrival in New Zealand.

ROSA WOODS/STUFF Ray Eglinton's father ran a plastics factory in the 1960s that made plastic items based on traditional Māori designs.

"The manager grabbed four of them and got the Beatles to put them around their necks. It was a damn good idea and quick thinking of him.

"It was one of those things where the manager had an idea on the spur of the moment and went for it."

Ray Eglinton remembers The Beatles arriving in Wellington in June 1964. He was in the crowd of about 4000 people that greeted The Beatles when they got to the St George Hotel in central Wellington after their arrival in New Zealand.

ROSA WOODS/STUFF The original wood carving used for the plastic mould for a smaller version of the tiki produced by Eglinton Plastics.

"It was good fun," he said.

"It was a pretty massive crowd and they were all trying to get into the hotel. I got their signatures because my neighbour was the lift man. He got all four signatures for me."