Post #729154 by Madame Bong on Mon, Oct 6, 2014 5:41 PM

My husband, Tiki Bong, is selling an 8 foot 3 inch lodge pole carved by Mr. Leroy Schmaltz at the world-famous Oceanic Arts. This lodge pole was originally carved for The Tiki Bar on Placentia Ave in Costa Mesa, and was installed there for a few years. His friend and original drummer for the Hula Girls, Dominic Tucchi, was friends with the original owner of the Tiki Bar. The bar changed hands and the new owners removed 2 of the carved lodge poles, I think about 2 or 3 remain. We bought the lodge pole from Dominic around 2002. The pole features 4 tiki faces carved around the pole; the eye of one face is shared with another and so on around. The carving starts starts 26 inches from the top, and is 3 feet in length, the last 3 feet are not carved. It was another of Leroy’s great ideas. As soon as we told Bob van Oosting at OA I had bought the pole, he immediately made a copy of the original invoice, which will go with the pole for provenance. The cost at the time was $505.60 for the pole, $139.50 for the carving, and $10 for the sanding, staining and sealing. All this is detailed on the invoice copy. We are asking $900 for the pole and this to be a fair price given the artist that carved it and its history. If you are interested, message me, Madame Bong. Tiki Bong's band, The Smokin’ Menehunes will be playing at the International Tiki Market Place this Saturday, October 11th. You can talk to him then if you want. We only live about 20 minutes away in Huntington Beach. It is one heavy piece and will have to be a pick-up.

[ Edited by: Madame Bong 2014-10-06 18:28 ]