Tiki Finds - Collecting Tiki

BPB Bay Park Buzzy Tiki Socialite West Bay Park, San Diego, CA Joined: Apr 07, 2006 Posts: 3066	BPB Bay Park Buzzy Posted posted on Sun, Jan 3, 2010 7:07 PM This week's stuff: A vintage velvet nude painting: It's about 22" x 28" Signed "Rodriguez Hawaii" Here's some info provided to me on Cece Rodriguez from TC's own velvet painting master, J. Salin(Iokona Ki'i). A two foot tall plastic/resin? hollow Moai: A mug: On 2009-12-30 13:05, Psycho Tiki D wrote: I saw a carving exactly like yours...The asking price was $15.00. Is that a good price? I would have to say, "Yes, that is a good price for that and I would be happy to pay $15 for it." I use a complex algorythmatic function when deciding on acceptable purchase pricing. It's kind of like the median between the ebay cost of similar items including shipping, and my $5 upper spending limit on tiki finds, divided by the ratio of money spent divided by number of items purchased that day, minus the probable resale value of it, if applicable. I paid $20 for it, and 99% of the time, I would have passed on it for that price. However, other factors came into play when I bought it. Here's the back story: On Xmas eve, I gave my aunt the new copy of Tiki Magazine. My cousin looked at it and said, "Hey, I saw a bunch of tikis at a thrift store yesterday when I was shopping for my mom." Then he launched into this tiki hunters dream come true story about an old lady with a 7500 square foot mansion full of old carvings and exotic art that she was getting rid of. He said there were about 10 things he saw, and described what sounded like Maori pieces. I got the location and went to check it out on the Saturday morning after Xmas. I drove all the way across the county to find the place closed until Monday the 28th. I peered in the window and saw nothing. On that Monday morning, my cousin was over at my house doing some electrical work and saw my maori collection and said, "Oh yeah, all those pieces I saw looked like those." Encouraged, I went to the store again when they opened aq couple hours later, wad of cash in hand, to clean them out. Unfortunately, ALL the pieces turned out to be newer African cost plus type crap. I did, however, find that tiki stuck way back in a dingy corner of the store, all by his lonesome. It looked like it was just there by coincidence and not part of the old lady's fabled collection. So after spending $20 in gas, two half days of travel time, I sucked it up and bought it.($15 would have actually been my hope for price!) Most tikis around that size i've seen usually usually go for $25-40 on ebay, plus shipping. At $20, that was still the most I've ever paid for any of my Maori stuff in my collection. Most Maori stuff I pick up in he wild is in the $3-8 range. I think I on;y have 3-4 that I paid more than $10 for. I need to give my cousin a tiki art seminar! Buzzy Out! [ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2010-01-03 19:09 ]

This week's stuff:

A vintage velvet nude painting:

It's about 22" x 28"

Signed "Rodriguez Hawaii"

Here's some info provided to me on Cece Rodriguez from TC's own velvet painting master, J. Salin(Iokona Ki'i).

A two foot tall plastic/resin? hollow Moai:

A mug:

On 2009-12-30 13:05, Psycho Tiki D wrote:
I saw a carving exactly like yours...The asking price was $15.00. Is that a good price?

I would have to say, "Yes, that is a good price for that and I would be happy to pay $15 for it." I use a complex algorythmatic function when deciding on acceptable purchase pricing. It's kind of like the median between the ebay cost of similar items including shipping, and my $5 upper spending limit on tiki finds, divided by the ratio of money spent divided by number of items purchased that day, minus the probable resale value of it, if applicable.
I paid $20 for it, and 99% of the time, I would have passed on it for that price. However, other factors came into play when I bought it. Here's the back story:
On Xmas eve, I gave my aunt the new copy of Tiki Magazine. My cousin looked at it and said, "Hey, I saw a bunch of tikis at a thrift store yesterday when I was shopping for my mom." Then he launched into this tiki hunters dream come true story about an old lady with a 7500 square foot mansion full of old carvings and exotic art that she was getting rid of. He said there were about 10 things he saw, and described what sounded like Maori pieces. I got the location and went to check it out on the Saturday morning after Xmas. I drove all the way across the county to find the place closed until Monday the 28th. I peered in the window and saw nothing. On that Monday morning, my cousin was over at my house doing some electrical work and saw my maori collection and said, "Oh yeah, all those pieces I saw looked like those." Encouraged, I went to the store again when they opened aq couple hours later, wad of cash in hand, to clean them out. Unfortunately, ALL the pieces turned out to be newer African cost plus type crap. I did, however, find that tiki stuck way back in a dingy corner of the store, all by his lonesome. It looked like it was just there by coincidence and not part of the old lady's fabled collection. So after spending $20 in gas, two half days of travel time, I sucked it up and bought it.($15 would have actually been my hope for price!) Most tikis around that size i've seen usually usually go for $25-40 on ebay, plus shipping. At $20, that was still the most I've ever paid for any of my Maori stuff in my collection. Most Maori stuff I pick up in he wild is in the $3-8 range. I think I on;y have 3-4 that I paid more than $10 for.

I need to give my cousin a tiki art seminar!
Buzzy Out!

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2010-01-03 19:09 ]

Post #502129 by Bay Park Buzzy on Sun, Jan 3, 2010 7:07 PM