2 beautiful Tikis on eBay

Saw these on eBay and was amazed at the great detail in the carving... Anyone on here bidding?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3964830936&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

They are fine carvings, and they might be somewhat vintage, but they are very common tourist Tikis.

This style has been carved for decades, mainly by members of one family (Gecko, aren't they from Tonga?), and used on wooden canes, masks and tons of little 6 to 36 inch statues. They are to Hawaii what Mai Tiki pineapple heads are to Florida. I saw the first guy carving them at the International Marketplace, and since they have popped up at Pacific Island festivals on the mainland also, so it is hard to say HOW vintage these are. Lately I noticed the usual dark hardwood seems to have gotten more expensive and the carvers are using "unclean" dark wood with light strains in it, so these might be up to 25 years old, but not more.

There is nothing wrong with these per se, I just always feel it is a shame that since there are such infinite possibilities to be creative in Tiki carving, the chance to make each Tiki unique is wasted by cranking out the same design over and over. I was a little surprised that Doug Nason used one of these for the opening page of his Barracuda article, he has much better pieces in his personal collection.

Good lord, why are they going for so much? The biggest one's only 21". They're nice but $50+ each? Don't mind me...I'm becoming a crotchety old ebay tiki grouser. This tiki thing is getting as out of control as the local real estate market.

Ya, I paid $11 for an 18"er on e-bay. Those two are highly overpriced IMO.

You want a sweet carving from Oahu? Talk to Gecko!

Bigbrotiki, can you elaborate more on your comments "arn't they from Tonga?" and also "they are carved by members of one family".

[ Edited by: chub on 2005-03-22 19:27 ]

That's all I know: The carvers all are part of a big Polynesian family that is of Tongan (I think) origin, and I remember that Gecko once said something 'bout them.

As far as I know they are from Tonga, I got a few whilst there, and have picked up quite afew with Tonga written on the bottom.
Funnily enough they are the only style of tiki you seem to see a lot of in Australian markets (Bobby Peru has a load of them) and are usually acouple of bucks each, maybe not now

[ Edited by: Benehune on 2005-06-17 21:48 ]

As I said, I think they are fine carvings, just not rare.
As in true tourist art, their heritage is twice removed, too, as there was no real tradtion of carving Tikis in authentic Tongan culture, and the basic design of these is Hawaiian.

I really appreciate the feedback. I am new to tiki and there is a learning curve. Thanks

On 2005-03-23 15:42, Benehune wrote:
I really appreciate the feedback. I am new to tiki and there is a learning curve. Thanks

Here's a tip about ebay for ya: Click on the link in the auction that says "16 Bids." See how the bulk of the bidding is a back and forth between morey4113d14 and spaulding760? One has 3 feedbacks and the other 4 which means they are new to ebay. STAY AWAY from auctions where you see this kind of thing going on! Two people cannot define market value, especially if they are new to the game. Plus, one or both of them could be shills. Just a friendly ebay tip to make you more competitive.

Thanks. Hey, what is a shill? Is that someone who purposely bumps up the price?

[ Edited by: Benehune on 2005-03-24 16:49 ]

On 2005-03-24 09:56, Benehune wrote:
Thanks. Hey, what is a shill? Is that someone who purpusely bumps up the price?

Yup. Someone who knows the seller and keeps bumping up the bid. If the shill wins the seller can just go to the second highest bidder and say "The winner didn't pay me, do you want it for your highest bid?"