It Is A Feather,

but not just any old feather, 

it is from the huia bird, (Heteralocha acutirostris), which is an extinct species of New Zealand wattlebird, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. The last confirmed sighting of a huia was in 1907, although there was another credible sighting in 1924, but here is the thing, the huia bird was sacred to the Māori people, their feathers were often worn as headpieces by chiefs and their families and also gifted or traded, the feather is registered as a taonga tūturu under a system to protect Maori made objects,

male and female by Johannes Keulemans, from the book A History of the Birds of New Zealand by Sir Walter Buller, only collectors who had a license in the system were allowed to purchase it, and it cannot leave the country without permission from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, so as you can imagine when this one was offered for sale at Webb's Auction House, the bids were fast and high, eventually being sold for NZD$46,521.50, at today’s rate £22,344.74 or $28,372.74, making it the most expensive feather ever sold, for the full article have a look here.