eBay: Giant Tiki Statue over 7 feet tall!

Found this auction surfing eBay(not my auction). Mortgage payment be damned! I wish! Check out this bad boy! Whoo-Haa! Alright,I'll say it Zazz! Here it is: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?viewItem&rd=1&item=7713152832

Holy F**k-Balls! That is the ZAZZ! Could you imagine that outside your domestic domicile? I COULD!

That IS one Impressive tiki. The carving is Reallly Super Nice. ZAZZ?? YES.

How the hell did it get to Wisconsin? Where did it come from?

On 2005-09-17 06:51, Swanky wrote:
How the hell did it get to Wisconsin? Where did it come from?

Behold the Power of Cheese!

This baby reminds me strongly of a (payphone holding!) Tiki I saw in a photo of the Bora Bora Room (Encino) at Oceanic Arts. I do not have my archive at hand, but I strongly believe this to be a vintage Oceanic Arts piece, maybe by Ed Crissman, or Richard Ellis. I am sure it hails from an old Tiki establishment.

The owner must not know about Polynesian Pop, or he would not A) refer only to the traditional meaning of Tiki
B) call this Tiki "Hawaiian"

Maybe someone can ask about the history, where he got it from?

On 2005-09-17 10:49, bigbrotiki wrote:
This baby reminds me strongly of a (payphone holding!) Tiki I saw in a photo of the Bora Bora Room (Encino) at Oceanic Arts. I do not have my archive at hand, but I strongly believe this to be a vintage Oceanic Arts piece, maybe by Ed Crissman, or Richard Ellis. I am sure it hails from an old Tiki establishment.

The owner must not know about Polynesian Pop, or he would not A) refer only to the traditional meaning of Tiki
B) call this Tiki "Hawaiian"

Maybe someone can ask about the history, where he got it from?

I emailed him these questions immediately.

One thing for certain, It won't bring 5,000, especially without it's original Pau shell eyes.

And there is also the problem of "Verrry serious faced guy posing with tiki"..."if you don't think my tiki is worth fiiiive thoooooousand dooooolarrrs I'll kick your ass, dude. I mean it".

Very nice tiki, though...

I have emailed my mom a picture of this big guy to see if she recognizes it. It may very well be one of Oceanic Arts, but she woulod know if it is one of my dads.We have several of my dads that are much bigger than this one. I will let you all know what I find out. Annie Ellis

It's quite nice, but for a grand and a half I'd think about making one myself...

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2005-09-18 21:31 ]

It'd cost half that to ship it to TN. If it were in Chicago, maybe I could get it shipped cheap. But out past Chicago, shipping rates go way up...

I would really like to see the history on this guy.
Surfinannie, Welcome to TC!! Do you have pictures of those "bigger" tikis that you could share with us? It would be so great..

My mom and I each have Tikis of my dads. I have a picture of me as a child next to one of them that I have now acquired forty years later! I will take pics. of them all and post them here as soon as I can. On page 250 in Svens "Book of Tiki" at the bottom left hand corner, all 3 pics are my dads Tikis not Andy Bumatays. Andy (Andre) taught my dad how to carve. The middle pic. is our back yard when we lived in Van Nuys! My father got all the Palms that were cut down when Sherman Way was widened and him and Andy went to town!The mug was made after one of my dads Tikis also, of which my mom still has the Tiki! My mom just bought the mug on eBay, which is always advertized as a Bumatay Mug. Thanks for your interest in my father, Richard Ellis. He carved all the big Tikis for all of Hop Louie's Restaurants.Sven has told me he will put some info. on him in his next book, and fix those misprints. I also have some great old articles about him in the 60's in the LA Times. Will share it all if u are all interested.

I got a reply from the seller. He knows nothing, or did not underestand the questions. He's more concerned that it's not Hawaiian, and I want to know where he found it and what he knows of that history...

Hey Everyone,

I am the guy trying to sell the tiki. Thanks for all the kind words.

Mike

ps: My brother-in-law pictured on the auction page is actually a highly educated and successful chef and not the stereotypical cheesehead goof you might think he is...

Welcome to TC Surfinannie and WisconsinTikiGuy. Isn't that a Maori style tiki? I would love to have it. Want to trade some Cali cheese for it? Just kidding of course. Good luck on your auction.

Congrats Duke and Amy!

We'll need to see some pics of the lil feller in his new home.

Yeah Duke!

It could not go to a better couple than Amy and Duke! I hope I will have the privilege to see this masterpiece at your home at the next Exotica? I will keep scouring for more incredible Tikis on eBay for the T.C. ohana! Once again, congratulations!

On 2005-09-21 19:16, blacksandz wrote:
I will keep scouring for more incredible Tikis on eBay for the T.C. ohana!

Actually, if it was up to me, I'd prefer you didn't, and I know that there are some others that agree with me. Do whatever you want and no one will get mad at you but the thing is...a lot of tiki ebayers will lurk on TC just to get a "heads up" on an auction. I know you mean well but if someone searches and searches and finds a cool auction, maybe something that wasn't listed appropriately, and they think they've finally found a real bargain, a hidden treasure, then it turns up on TC and the whole tiki world knows about it. Now it's gonna go for big bucks and it's not a great find anymore.

Granted, these large tikis don't seem to get much action and I suppose that's due to shipping/pick up issues. I guess it doesn't bother me so much with these big historical tikis but I think you know what I mean? Ahh, do what ya want, that's just how I feel about it. :)

Kono that's all well and good, but isn't it just great that T.C.er's like Amy and Duke are able to reap the rewards! Hey, sorry if this offends you! But at these prices, I would rather see true Tiki aficionados get a crack at these incredible Tikis! Geez, I guess I will keep these auctions to myself.

On 2005-09-21 20:04, blacksandz wrote:
Kono that's all well and good, but isn't it just great that T.C.er's like Amy and Duke are able to reap the rewards! Hey, sorry if this offends you! But at these prices, I would rather see true Tiki aficionados get a crack at these incredible Tikis! Geez, I guess I will keep these auctions to myself.

It doesn't offend me, don't take it personal! Like I said, these big historical pieces (like the Dallas Trader Vics one as well) I think are fine to post here. Most won't bid on them anyway. Some like to post links to ebay auctions here on TC for every rare tiki item that they've unearthed, and all they are doing is making it easier for the high rollers* to get the item.

I'm not the rule maker of what goes on here on TC, just sharing my take on the matter. You are more than welcome to do what you want. I'm just giving you my perspective.

*high rollers = more $ than sense

Exactly Kono, It's not like I am posting some inconsequential Tiki statue. Fine, your perspective and opinion is well-taken. Let's call a truce!

Oh great, now we'll have to help them move it, jeeze!

Just kidding of course, this bad boy couldn't be going to a finer home, than "The Tabu Tiki Lounge"... standing tall with all his new found tiki buddies.
Congrats,
D&C

Boutiki, Duke and Amy, I'm so glad to see you guys get this Awesome tiki. I know it could never have found a better home.HappyHappyhappy.

On 2005-09-18 10:14, Surfinannie wrote:
On page 250 in Svens "Book of Tiki" at the bottom left hand corner, all 3 pics are my dads Tikis not Andy Bumatays. Andy (Andre) taught my dad how to carve. The middle pic. is our back yard when we lived in Van Nuys!.....The mug was made after one of my dads Tikis also, of which my mom still has the Tiki! My mom just bought the mug on eBay, which is always advertised as a Bumatay Mug. Thanks for your interest in my father, Richard Ellis....Sven has told me he will put some info. on him in his next book, and fix those misprints. I also have some great old articles about him in the 60's in the LA Times. Will share it all if u are all interested.

Sorry it took me a while to get back to you on this, I had to confer with Leroy and Bob at O.A., it being important to me if Tiki history has to be rewritten, or simply needs a well deserved addendum:

I am glad to admit mistakes made by bad credits in an old newspaper article. I appreciate Annie's enthusiasm for her dad's work and am sure she can recognize her own backyard, but please consider that often in Tikidom, a personal involvement led to a concentrated view of just that section of it, and not the whole picture. In many cases the origin of a certain Tiki style is not as easy to pinpoint as it might appear.

The clipping you mentioned above is on page 250 of the BOT. It came from an article in the OA archives, and I had no reason to doubt the origin of the Tikis because the article opened with a (badly damaged, so not usable) photo of Andres Bumatay actually carving a Tiki with the SAME bug eyes and palm tree trunk base than the one in the middle of the latter part of the article (and the article was about Andres and his carvings only, making no mention of Rick Ellis).
Still, we all know (from experience with subject matters we know well) how lax the press handles facts, and simplifies and omits matters to the degree of falsification, so I am sure Annie is right in this matter, to some degree.

Because I also distinctly remember the four Tiki poles with that characteristic bug eye style in front of the Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach (most have been stolen since), and being told by the owner Junior Cabang that they were carved by Andres Bumatay (while the other Tiki posts inside were by Milan Guanko). Both carvers and the family that owns the Royal Hawaiian were good friends with each other, because they all were immigrants from the Philippines.

Might it not be possible that, since Annie's dad was taught Tiki carving by Andres, he assimilated this style and used it? It was very common back then that distinct carvers' concepts were simply copied, as often the case with Milan Guanko's Tikis for example. If a carver liked a style they saw, they just used it. In the 1970s, Wayne Coombs introduced the Pineapple Head Tiki on the Florida coast, and since then countless others have used that style and spread it along the Southern East coast. There even were several expert imitators of the Witco style back in the 60s and 70s.

Annie, if you look at the giant Sea and Jungle Shop postcard on page 234 of the BOT, would you say the three bug eye Tikis in it (1 in middle, 2 on the right) are from your dad, or Andres Bumatay? I can't say.

At this point, I will happily give Rick Ellis credit to the newspaper photos according to Annie, but in view of my research I am reluctant to change my opinion on the Bug Eye Tiki design having been ORIGINATED by Andres Bumatay, and would rather theorize that Rick Ellis picked it up from him in their collegial manner. That's why I would stick to my naming of the Islander/Hala Kahiki mug as the Bumatay mug.

And Annie, I am certain that TCers would love to see some pics from your dad's news clippings, maybe we even find someone on TC who will dig up a better original of that fantastic "Sunday Herald Examiner"(?was it?) article about your backyard in the valley that I wanna use so badly for my next book!

On 2005-09-18 10:14, Surfinannie wrote:
Sven has told me he will put some info. on him in his next book, and fix those misprints.

Misprints??

Sven??

James??

Oh, did James spell him Ely instead of Eli too? He must have picked that up from me then...
Oh Lordy, guess I'll never live that down.
Ben, you'll have to put out your Beachcomber book to right that wrong.

On 2005-10-05 12:36, bigbrotiki wrote:
Oh, did James spell him Ely instead of Eli too? He must have picked that up from me then...
Oh Lordy, guess I'll never live that down.
Ben, you'll have to put out your Beachcomber book to right that wrong.

I love you man!

Proast? (sp?)

but....., James is American!! Doh!

I'll never forget when we were at Mondo Tiki at the Hard Rock in Vegas.........James said, " Ben. I got your Grandfathers name right."

Too funny!!!!

ok. Back to this cool tiki! That dude next to it does look a little angry.