Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Police are investigating the disappearance of a box containing half a dozen Maori adzes from the Southland Museum and Art Gallery in Invercargill.

The manager of the museum, Gael Ramsey, says the adzes, some made of greenstone, went missing in the past month from a storage area that was closed to the public.

She says they are culturally important, but their value is not in the millions of dollars as some media have reported.

Ms Ramsey says the pieces are worth a total of about $1000.