Moai ears

I haven't posted pics of my collection for some reason. But Filslash and I were conversing in shout the other night about a Moai that I picked up last month at a flea market. He's a good two feet tall, and I knew I had to have him as the carving is mighty fine by my standards.

Now he was pricey ($65.00) but given that the rule for having a tiki carved is about a hundred dollars a foot, and that I saw a 6" version at an antique shop for $45.00, I felt he was worth the damage to my wallet.

Anyway, Filslash said they had one also, and that they might have been by the same carver. Apparently the ears might indicate origin. So heres some photos of my Moai.

I like the fact that the birdman cult figures were carved into the back.

And a link to picture that shows him to scale, he's lurking in the tv cabinet behind the target tiki bank and shag mugs.

http://photo.humuhumu.com/v/doodah/IMG_1731.jpg.html

So Filslash, do the ears look smilar?

TG

[ Edited by: Humuhumu - changed pic url to new location - 2005-09-23 15:44 ]

Nice find TG,
I picked up a similar one a while back. He's about a foot tall and a bit thinner but has the great bird carvings on the back. A really interesting detail.
I've heard that these were actually carved on Easter Island for the tourists. Yes, no, maybe?
Aloha,
:tiki:

On 2004-12-19 00:25, Tiki Royale wrote:
Nice find TG,
**(I agree btw...) Sadly the ears of mine don't match yours... My moai doesn't have any embellishment on the back. I do love the AO dance paddles... very cool
**
*TR also wrote...

I've heard that these were actually carved on Easter Island for the tourists. Yes, no, maybe? *

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-13 11:36 ]

On 2004-12-18 23:13, TikiGardener wrote:
Now he was pricey ($65.00) but given that the rule for having a tiki carved is about a hundred dollars a foot, and that I saw a 6" version at an antique shop for $45.00, I felt he was worth the damage to my wallet.

That's easily worth $65. I'd love to find a two footer with the Birdman motif on the back for that price!

That Target bank makes a nice table lamp if you ever get tired of it.

This is definitley a Rapa Nui souvenir moai carving. But I doubt it is by Tuki.

Tuki's son Jorje and a guy named Luis are the two main carvers on the island right now, and their work is of finer quality than the one you got.

But there are at least a dozen other people carving specifically for the tourist trade, and yours is, I am positive, by one of those carvers.

If it is 2 feet tall you got a great bargain, standard prices on this island (as of last month) would place this guy at about US$150 to $200. One by Jorje or Luis of that size would be $300 to $400.

Luis was telling me how a lot of the souvenir shop carvings were being done in other countries altogether, and shipped to Rapa Nui for sale to the touristas, passsed off as local carvings. This bummed him out, big time, to put it mildly. So it is possible your moai was carved elsewhere.

He's 20", so just shy of two feet.

Oh the guy was asking $95.00 for him, so no matter where he came from, I'm a happy camper all around.

TG

On 2004-12-19 23:43, TikiGardener wrote:
He's 20", so just shy of two feet.

Oh the guy was asking $95.00 for him, so no matter where he came from, I'm a happy camper all around.

TG

that's so much cheaper than most of what we saw on Easter Island!

I have one of the 1 foot tall ones - the back & ears are very similar, but not quite as fancy & the bottom looks like someone wrote "Easter I", but it's very hard to read.

Found him at an Antiques Mall in Downtown Milwaukee last Summer - my Mom spotted him for me!

:drink: