Post #435883 by OGTiki1957 on Mon, Feb 23, 2009 12:33 PM

Aloha, good afternoon and thank you for all the response and replies~!

I do appreciate you taking down the photos and offering an honest assessment of the TC community.

I have been buying and selling antique & vintage fine & decorative art, objects, furnishings, et al since 1980 here in San Diego.

I have been blessed with countless opportunities to buy and sell some absolutely amazing treasures in nearly 30 years in "the business". To say more than that might be construed as bragging, and we're not in that business, so I'll leave it at that.

However, the knowledge to identify the majority of these treasures comes from the privilege of being once mentored by some of the most knowledgeable, forthright, and generous experts in the country with regards to antiques, fine art, and vintage.

In addition, I have invested in hundreds of reference books, auction catalogs, and periodicals; most read at least twice, and a great portion I continue to pour over, and over, and over, and, well you get the idea.

I was principally involved in what became the first of it's kind exhibition "ALOHA SPIRIT" at the California Heritage Museum in Santa Monica back in 1997, and the accompanying book.

In the last 10 years the Internet is an amazing source of information, constantly changing...
information on art and antiques, vintage, retro, etc., literally being added to or appended to literally minute to minute, in some cases.

Thankfully, some generous Tiki aficionados took the time to put some good biographical info on Ralph Burke Tyree out there in the last several years, and for that I am grateful.....

The reason I know this is because about 8-9 years ago I found an AMAZING original fine art oil on board painting signed "Tyree" ( on the floor leaning against a wall in an Salvation Army in downtown San Diego for 10 dollars)....and there was nearly NO info on him to be found on the web, back then.

That painting is now in the hands of a major gallery in Hawaii who are asking in the high 4 figures for it.

I will spare all of you the painful details by which it ended up there.

Most of the high profile hawaiiana fine art dealers like Doug Frazer, Don Severson, Robyn Buntin, et al, and to a (much) lesser extent, the controversial Mark Blackburn and Michael Horikawa, didn't know much about Tyree other than hearing his name as an attributed "protege" of Leeteg.

While I might not be inclined to call this Tyree nude on velvet we are offering as 'fine art", it IS big, very beautiful and in EXCELLENT condition.....and very COOL.

The bottom line is if it isn't COOL then why own it, right?

It BY FAR better than pictured in the photos that were posted by a TC member in the marketplace last evening....and it's true, the velvet painting is tricky to take photos of...my digital camera is a bit old, and the light was bright yesterday, which really reflects weirdly off the velvet, but doesn't pick-up the colors of the painting very well.

I'm going to try to take more images today, if anyone is interested.

...which is a perfect segue to my next comment.

Having sold many, many old oil & watercolor paintings, etchings, woodblocks, drawings, etc. over the years, let me just say that 80% of what I buy is fresh from old estates.
It is my personal experience that most collectors I've dealt with prefer some level of privacy in what they buy, and for how much.

When a painting is "fresh" to the market, I have found it advantageous to the seller (in this case, me) to keep it somewhat that way, often times by controlling who sees it, or images of it.

Hearing about something for sale is quite different than actually seeing it, much like a rumor compares to reality.

Even though we have advertised in essentially a public forum, I prefer to still maintain some level of privacy to serious buyers.

If the new owner wants to show it to the world (and the purchase details along with it) then that's up to the new owner.

FYI, the "other" post about this painting on another website / discussion board a TC member is referring to did NOT originate from us, but was done by a "friend" of ours, who had generally good intentions (and was also looking to make a few bucks for himself, hence the "price" of $2250.00 or whatever he quoted). The price will be determined by the person we intend to sell it to, and us.

There are those who might disagree with the way by which we are offering this, and I realize by posting to web board or blog I am opening myself up to opinion, remarks, etc.

That's fine, we understand that goes with the territory. A unique thing about blogs and discussion boards is that people can fire off or react in just about anyway they please, regardless of the guidelines or moderator, without any fear of retaliation (other than verbal)
or real accountability.

We are NOT the conduct police, and essentially we ignore and dismiss the rude, snide, crass, and nasty comments as a by-product of the individual as a whole.

All we ask is for those who ARE seriously interested in this Tyree painting to respect the terms by which we are offering it. Please do not share or show the email images to anyone else without asking us first. FYI I will want to know who they are.

If anyone wishes to make an offer or discuss price, please call us. I can also email you my cell phone number as well.

If someone disagrees or doesn't like the terms. That's fine, but this painting isn't for you.

If someone doesn't like what we write or our view, that's cool also. We prefer to deal with people whom we get along with.

If anyone is in the San Diego area and would like to see the painting in person, that can be easily arranged by calling us as well.

Lastly, I purchased this painting from the estate of the father of a Navy SEAL buddy of mine, the father himself was an original Navy SEAL "plankowner", one of the original UDT Frogs to transition into the (then) newly formed SEAL Team One in late 1961.

Notice the date on the back of the painting- his father acquired it the same year he became one of the first Navy SEALs.

I promised I'd find a good home for the Tyree, in honor of his dad.

So here we are.

In the Aloha Spirit,

William and Michelle
619-269-7245

[ Edited by: OGTiki1957 2009-02-23 12:34 ]