Post #412908 by TabooDan on Sun, Oct 12, 2008 2:29 PM

Aloha All! I thought I would share some of the pictures that I took from the Trader Vic's auction that happened a few days ago. Sorry if some photos are too similar to some of those already posted.

This Vic's auction was quite the experience. I was lucky enough to find out about it and made the trek down South. A phone call stating "I won't be in tomorrow" prepared them at work for me missing a Thursday (of all days) to sneak away and go save some relics from the Bellevue Trader Vic's. It was an exciting drive down and I kept thinking about the posts of the Trader Vic warehouse sale and really didn't know what to expect.

Just as I had thought, not too busy in the beginning but there was plenty of people and alot were checking out all the cool stuff for the Tiki part of the auction. It was also a Police auction as well so there was everything you could think of.

When we first pulled up, this is what greeted us in the parking lot:

On the right and the one in the back are the cool entrance way Tiki's. The two on the right were newer carvings but all the others were much older and probably from previous locations. I would say that these were probably done by Oceanic Arts but can't be sure. I think, but again, probably can never be sure, that the very tall one in the back ground was one of the tall Tiki's that once stood inside the Vancouver location. It looks identical in terms of size and style of carving to the ones located in the Vancouver main room. I had heard that after the Vancouver location shut down, some of the Tiki's were removed and put in storage for one of the middle East locations that opened in the mid-ninety's so who knows?

I was actually quite surprised to see alot of these relics at the auction as I would have thought it just would have been shipped somewhere else or possibly saved for another location. I guess coming down to it though, Trader Vic's was no more and the debt now needed to have some money to go towards it. Although, this "chump change" from this auction really didn't help out with the massive debt they ended up with. I just hated seeing these great Tiki's just laying on the ground out in the cold! They needed to be saved and with my minimal funds, I was going to try my hardest!!

The two Entrance way Tiki's, luckily enough, stayed together after the auction as a local (Everett) collector who loves Trader Vic's purchased both of them. I thought that was cool and glad they went to a very good home!! The very large long one in the background (About 18'-20' tall which also stood outside) was sold for only $375!! I think everyone was thinking the same with I would love to have it just how do I get it home and where do I put it!! It's almost taller than my house!!

When you walked inside, where the smaller pieces were, you saw the back wall lined up with the cool decor that hung from the ceiling.

Along the left hand side of the room was where all the interior Tiki Masks and Statues, fish carvings, ships, glass floats, baskets, traps, shields and a couple boxes of misc. items (which I had my beady eyes on!) were located.

The carvings on the tables pretty much ended up going for between $150-$400 although I managed to get one wall panel type carving for only $65! The majority of the glass floats sold for about $70 as these were mostly bought in lots. The traps along the wall went for $80-$125 each and again, mostly went in lots.

In the middle of the room were aisle's of tables set up with all the restaurant ware like plates, bowls, silver tea pot's and dishes, etc. None of the silver items were marked Trader Vic's like some of the older ones you see so I think alot of these were passed up.
Like what was said before, there must be a lot of Tr.Vic stuff floating around out there as there was no way all the plates and bar ware was at this auction! No tables, chairs, drink Accoutrements, regular glasses and only a handful of marked glasses, S&P's, and Mugs.
The entrance way Tiki Wall panels were also not there so either they went somewhere else or were destroyed/damaged in removal from the stone wall.

The above photo shows Elicia hidden away and blending into the crowds as she plots her next move!!

In the middle of the room on tables were also all the framed prints and artwork that once hung on the walls. I think every single thing on the walls was sold at this auction. The artwork, prints and maps all went from $50 up to $250 or so for some of the bigger ones.
I was lucky enough to win the bidding on two boxes of the smaller framed photos and items that hung on the walls which I am very happy about! Great historic pictures of Vic in all different times and places throughout his career and certificates for different things he had done, was presented to and some for what his restaurants had done.

The bidding was quite the experience. The very first lot was for jewelery (part of Polce auction) and I was saying to everyone how we can't goof around and to place proper bids so they know we are bidding. I was at the front of the auction and I inadvertanly placed a bid of $450 on some jewelery when I decided to wave to my fiancee across the room! Good thing it ended up selling for $1,000!!

As Elicia had said before, if you won the bidding on an item where there were similar items, you had the option to take as many as you wanted and pay that price for each item. If you said no just the one, then the bidding would start over on the next item and then the same thing would happen. It's kind of good if you have a restaurant or business and if you want more, but to a few of us collectors, a little excessive.

What it really meant was the people that really wanted those items and could pay, could clear the table and get everything!! I didn't like that too much at all. I understand why they did it but I guess it's because I was loosing the bidding. It also didn't help in keeping the prices down!

My first example of this was when the model ships came up for bidding. I wanted a smaller one and when the bidding started, I was quickly outbid and it passed the amount I wanted to pay. Well, when the bidding ended on that first ship, the winner had the choice and bought them all for $175 each!! That sucked as first of all it was more then I wanted to pay for one and second of all, now they're all gone and no one else can get one!
I guess that's how the auctions go but it can be hard to swallow knowing that some of these people really don't give a s**t about the items and the history behind them and just want to sell them and make money! Well, it sucks for me but for some of these people this is what their livelihood is and how they make their money and pay the bills.....still sucks though!!

I guess my parting shots on this experience will be of the competion!! Here's two guys looking over a pallet of some Vic memorabilia pulling it out, making jokes about it looking at it with a sort of WTF is this crap look on their faces. Well, that's exactly how I was looking at them!!

With Mai Tai Glass.

With Fogcutter Mug.

Jokes aside, not all of the competion was like this. We met another really nice collector from Washington who sounds to have a great collection and who loves Tiki so can't wait to meet up with him!
There were alot of people there after these items for whatever reason. A few items made it into collections, quite a few into a restaurant in Seattle but a lot of stuff made it into the hands of dealers who will be getting rid of it. Who knows their prices (I asked one guy to sell me something on the spot and he said, No see it in my store!) as they will be asking top dollar but for those who missed the auction, keep your eyes and ears open, there will be alot of the smaller stuff floating around for a while down there! I do believe the majority of the special pieces, like the carvings and artwork, went to people who will love their new relics!!

Mahalo, TabooDan

[ Edited by: TabooDan 2008-10-12 14:31 ]