As the Bishop Museum undergoes a $20 million makeover of its Hawaiian Hall, Tim Johns, CEO of the estate of Samuel Mills Damon, has announced that the beneficiaries and trustees of the estate are giving a collection of more than 600 Hawaiian and Pacific artifacts to the museum.

The collection — including kahili, adzes, poi pounders, spirit cups (kapuahi kuni 'ana'ana) and 'aumakua — is estimated to be worth more than $1 million.

The son of missionary Samuel Chenery Damon, Samuel Mills Damon joined the Bank of Bishop & Company in 1870. In 1895, after his friend and partner Charles Reed Bishop left Hawai'i for California, he became the bank's sole owner.

Damon also served as minister of finance during the reign of King Kalakaua and was a founding trustee of Bishop Museum.

Upon the death of Joan Damon Haig, the last living grandchild of Samuel Mills Damon, in 2004, the estate was terminated, and a substantial part of its trust was distributed.

The trust included the long-term loan to the Bishop Museum of the estate's collection of Hawaiian and Pacific artifacts, which will now join the museum's permanent holdings.

"In a most generous and magnanimous decision, all the Damon family members have agreed to make an outright gift of this historically important collection to the Bishop Museum and ultimately, to all the people of Hawai'i," said Bishop Museum president Bill Brown.

Last March, the Damon Estate sold coins, medals and bank notes from its collection through the auction house Doyle New York. The sale brought in $3.8 million, including $268,000 for an 1880 Kingdom of Hawai'i banknote.