Going, Going ~ Gone! Trader Vic’s Bellevue Auction

I contacted the main investor of TV Bellevue to thank him for bringing back Trader Vic’s to the Pacific Northwest, and how we loved the restaurant and décor. A polite, yet thinly veiled way to find out how the contents of the restaurant would be sold off. I got the name of the auction house, and today “Police Seizures/Recoveries & Trader Vics items went up for sale today.

I told only a few people, who loved TV as much as I did, and we met up to plan our purchases.

Yes, it was an “I Love Lucy” Episode. Dan inadvertently bid $450 on a lot of jewelry when he waved to Shay (but didn’t win) ~ and I nodded when the auctioneer indicated the iPod was at 40, and was confused when they asked me for my bidding number. We all had a good laugh and the auction went to the second highest bidder.

Yes, it was nutty. We didn’t really know the bidding process. Important details like "highest bidder not only gets ONE thing, but he has the option to BUY THEM ALL AT THAT PRICE. Which screws over the rest of us cheapskates. Also, sometimes, the high bidder only takes a portion of the like-items, and "second bidder" gets a stab at one or two. Then it goes for rebid on the remaining similar items. Confusing YES...

I got the BIG TIKI that was behind the hostess station, 2 poles, 1 shield, 40 plates, 26 platters, a fish and a pallet full of random stuff. it took 2 trips to get Dawn’s tiki, cruiser bike and my carvings home.

We went to Tai Ho for lunch afterwards to recap our awesome adventure, and to talk about the others who bought stuff. We met 2 new people who were nice ~ hopefully we meet back up with them!

There were a few “high rollers” ~ the owner of Ama Ama Restauarant got a LOT of items, which is fine, as we go there often! I suppose I was the other Super Bidder, although I did leave stuff for others. now i wish i hadn't.

Shay, Dawn, Dan, Robin and Reido

So glad I did not know about this ahead of time. I would have spent a fortune to fly out there from DC, not including what I might have bought and had to ship home.

Great adventure, glad to see you made it.

drool.

i hope dan & reido brought back enough to share with everyone in canada.

Hi Guys, did all the items sell on the day of the auction?
Dang, I live in Edmonds and wish I had known about it.
Congratulations on getting some cool stuff :)
John

Great job. I wish I lived close to all you folks, I would have gone nuts, just to view all of this up close.. :lol: Good job. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy and post some new pic's when you've had time to display them in your humble abode. :D
I'm going to be thinking about this all day now. :(

Wow - what a wonderful opportunity. Good for you Elicia. I bet you will really enjoy the plates, I know I would.
Seeing all that awesome flotsam and decor stripped from the walls of their home, makes me very sad though.
Sure hope it is put to new thoughtful, caring and authentic use!

A little sad that I didn't know - but much happier that I didn't. Tho' I think I would've gone conservative & just tried for a buncha plates, a ship, and a float.
And some traps. And one of those fish-things. Aaaaand....

Cannae wait to see what y'all got!

I was very disciplined with spending as I usually am, so I only allowed myself to get one thing. I already placed it in my living room.

I also scored on a beach cruiser for 10 bucks!!! Yea! I needed a new bike.

Great Pics Dogbytes! Did all the plates sell? If they did I'll have to resort to having the wife
borrow a couple the next time she's at your house....

What were the prices they were getting for various items such as the tiki poles, floats, plates etc. ?

i want those evil little maori style tikis!! how much!! where are they?? who has them now???..must....have.....

honestly, there was VERY LITTLE in the way of small stuff! i think we saw all of ONE of the table lamps crammed in a misc lot box. there was NO barware (no shakers, strainers, swizzles, etc). and there is NO WAY that restaurant ran wtih as few as 100 plates! no little butterfly dishes! where were those candle warmed pupu dishes?? not one chair, or table was offered. this auction house deals with business closings, so they'd dispose of whatever they were given.

and i know the new occupants are going a whole different theme...and other similar themed restaurants were not offered the contents early (Ama Ama's owner was bidding like the rest of us).

dawn, PANTS ON FIRE.. you said you were hanging the bike in the Bamboo Grove!!

WTF? what a waste of a bike! bikes are NOT decor theyre vehicles. and um how tacky I wouldnt use a bike to hang in the bamboo grove when i have REAL art.
Ok ny pants ae flame retardent!

I makes me sad to see it all laying there, if I close my eyes I can still see so much of it placed throughout the restaurant.
I am, however, so happy to hear that some of it went to friends who really, truly, loved Vics, and will enjoy their pieces for years to come. I know it's now in the chain of good karma and will pass between true admirers only.

Dogbytes, congrats on all the great items!! Those plates are amazing, I'm so glad you got some.

I'm happy to see some bits will be coming up to Canada, we can always use more tiki up here! Congrats Reido & Dan!

I think a swell bike would make swell decor. But then I kinda think folks can do whatever the hell they want to with the stuff they buy. I'm just weird that way.

Speakin' of ownin' a lotta stuff...

1: Mrs Bytes: When are yuh gonna buy a cash register and open yer own Tiki bar? Will yuh need a bus boy? Cuz I ride the bus a lot.

2: Were the Ama Ama peoples buyin' fer Ama Ama or is their another restaurant/bar in the works?

3: I fergot what 3 was fer.

4: Is there any rumor to the truth that those of us lucky enough to live in White Center View may soon see the divine Miss Sophista-tiki gettin' about on some sorta fabulous two wheeled dream machine???

now that i finaly have my very own beach cruiser Iggi and i will be riding our bikes around the neighbohood like a gang of geeks. wanna join?

Hey - that Tai Ho is right down the street from where I live! Dang - wish I had known you were all gonna be there. Oh well - nice haul guys! I'm with the other poster that said they're glad they DIDN'T know about the auction - I would have just sat and cried 'cause I'm broke (that and I don't have room for anything else right now - well, I could have cleaned out a cupboard for the dinnerware!).

Nice job all - oh, and I like the bike!

On 2008-10-10 14:30, woofmutt wrote:

1: Mrs Bytes: When are yuh gonna buy a cash register and open yer own Tiki bar? Will yuh need a bus boy? Cuz I ride the bus a lot.

2: Were the Ama Ama peoples buyin' fer Ama Ama or is their another restaurant/bar in the works?

1: oh gosh, i don't charge friends to come over for drinks...you know that! i need a cabana boy.. i'll send you a job app.
2: Ama Ama guy, Rob ~ buying FOR THAT restaurant. the back room needed more stuff.

we met a few really nice people ~ maybe next week we'll have everyone over for tasty tropical libations.

The stuff I have:

Menehune Platters

Shield Plates

2 poles

1 standing Tiki (but he’s broken, I’ll have to have a stand made, and repair him)

Coffee Grog Mugs (2 navy blue, 4 black)

6 pineapple mugs, only 2 with lids

Carving ~ 7 feet tall!

Samoan Fog Cutter Mugs

Gun Club Punch An army of S&P

Mai Tai and Double Old Fashioneds

Wine Glasses

Wine List & Dessert Menus & Half Page

Happy Hour Menu

One Page Menus

Dinner Menus

Drink Menu

Special Event Drink Menu (no prices)

a Fish

Fish & Pole in the RongoRongo Room!

Taboo Dan & Reido need to post too! and next time we're at Ama Ama, we'll document what Rob bought for the restaurant. Hopefully Kym and (ooh i forgot his name) that we met will meet up too ~ i'm dying to see Kym's home bar too~

So in other words: Next time yuh get invited to the Rongorongo Room don't feel shy about takin' home a souvenir or two.

Of course some people have never felt any inhibitions about "borrowing" things. I'd name a name or drop hints but there's plenty of gossip and rumors on Tiki Central already.

Now, an entirely unrelated observation:

Ha! He looks like a devil!

Aloha All! I thought I would share some of the pictures that I took from the Trader Vic's auction that happened a few days ago. Sorry if some photos are too similar to some of those already posted.

This Vic's auction was quite the experience. I was lucky enough to find out about it and made the trek down South. A phone call stating "I won't be in tomorrow" prepared them at work for me missing a Thursday (of all days) to sneak away and go save some relics from the Bellevue Trader Vic's. It was an exciting drive down and I kept thinking about the posts of the Trader Vic warehouse sale and really didn't know what to expect.

Just as I had thought, not too busy in the beginning but there was plenty of people and alot were checking out all the cool stuff for the Tiki part of the auction. It was also a Police auction as well so there was everything you could think of.

When we first pulled up, this is what greeted us in the parking lot:

On the right and the one in the back are the cool entrance way Tiki's. The two on the right were newer carvings but all the others were much older and probably from previous locations. I would say that these were probably done by Oceanic Arts but can't be sure. I think, but again, probably can never be sure, that the very tall one in the back ground was one of the tall Tiki's that once stood inside the Vancouver location. It looks identical in terms of size and style of carving to the ones located in the Vancouver main room. I had heard that after the Vancouver location shut down, some of the Tiki's were removed and put in storage for one of the middle East locations that opened in the mid-ninety's so who knows?

I was actually quite surprised to see alot of these relics at the auction as I would have thought it just would have been shipped somewhere else or possibly saved for another location. I guess coming down to it though, Trader Vic's was no more and the debt now needed to have some money to go towards it. Although, this "chump change" from this auction really didn't help out with the massive debt they ended up with. I just hated seeing these great Tiki's just laying on the ground out in the cold! They needed to be saved and with my minimal funds, I was going to try my hardest!!

The two Entrance way Tiki's, luckily enough, stayed together after the auction as a local (Everett) collector who loves Trader Vic's purchased both of them. I thought that was cool and glad they went to a very good home!! The very large long one in the background (About 18'-20' tall which also stood outside) was sold for only $375!! I think everyone was thinking the same with I would love to have it just how do I get it home and where do I put it!! It's almost taller than my house!!

When you walked inside, where the smaller pieces were, you saw the back wall lined up with the cool decor that hung from the ceiling.

Along the left hand side of the room was where all the interior Tiki Masks and Statues, fish carvings, ships, glass floats, baskets, traps, shields and a couple boxes of misc. items (which I had my beady eyes on!) were located.

The carvings on the tables pretty much ended up going for between $150-$400 although I managed to get one wall panel type carving for only $65! The majority of the glass floats sold for about $70 as these were mostly bought in lots. The traps along the wall went for $80-$125 each and again, mostly went in lots.

In the middle of the room were aisle's of tables set up with all the restaurant ware like plates, bowls, silver tea pot's and dishes, etc. None of the silver items were marked Trader Vic's like some of the older ones you see so I think alot of these were passed up.
Like what was said before, there must be a lot of Tr.Vic stuff floating around out there as there was no way all the plates and bar ware was at this auction! No tables, chairs, drink Accoutrements, regular glasses and only a handful of marked glasses, S&P's, and Mugs.
The entrance way Tiki Wall panels were also not there so either they went somewhere else or were destroyed/damaged in removal from the stone wall.

The above photo shows Elicia hidden away and blending into the crowds as she plots her next move!!

In the middle of the room on tables were also all the framed prints and artwork that once hung on the walls. I think every single thing on the walls was sold at this auction. The artwork, prints and maps all went from $50 up to $250 or so for some of the bigger ones.
I was lucky enough to win the bidding on two boxes of the smaller framed photos and items that hung on the walls which I am very happy about! Great historic pictures of Vic in all different times and places throughout his career and certificates for different things he had done, was presented to and some for what his restaurants had done.

The bidding was quite the experience. The very first lot was for jewelery (part of Polce auction) and I was saying to everyone how we can't goof around and to place proper bids so they know we are bidding. I was at the front of the auction and I inadvertanly placed a bid of $450 on some jewelery when I decided to wave to my fiancee across the room! Good thing it ended up selling for $1,000!!

As Elicia had said before, if you won the bidding on an item where there were similar items, you had the option to take as many as you wanted and pay that price for each item. If you said no just the one, then the bidding would start over on the next item and then the same thing would happen. It's kind of good if you have a restaurant or business and if you want more, but to a few of us collectors, a little excessive.

What it really meant was the people that really wanted those items and could pay, could clear the table and get everything!! I didn't like that too much at all. I understand why they did it but I guess it's because I was loosing the bidding. It also didn't help in keeping the prices down!

My first example of this was when the model ships came up for bidding. I wanted a smaller one and when the bidding started, I was quickly outbid and it passed the amount I wanted to pay. Well, when the bidding ended on that first ship, the winner had the choice and bought them all for $175 each!! That sucked as first of all it was more then I wanted to pay for one and second of all, now they're all gone and no one else can get one!
I guess that's how the auctions go but it can be hard to swallow knowing that some of these people really don't give a s**t about the items and the history behind them and just want to sell them and make money! Well, it sucks for me but for some of these people this is what their livelihood is and how they make their money and pay the bills.....still sucks though!!

I guess my parting shots on this experience will be of the competion!! Here's two guys looking over a pallet of some Vic memorabilia pulling it out, making jokes about it looking at it with a sort of WTF is this crap look on their faces. Well, that's exactly how I was looking at them!!

With Mai Tai Glass.

With Fogcutter Mug.

Jokes aside, not all of the competion was like this. We met another really nice collector from Washington who sounds to have a great collection and who loves Tiki so can't wait to meet up with him!
There were alot of people there after these items for whatever reason. A few items made it into collections, quite a few into a restaurant in Seattle but a lot of stuff made it into the hands of dealers who will be getting rid of it. Who knows their prices (I asked one guy to sell me something on the spot and he said, No see it in my store!) as they will be asking top dollar but for those who missed the auction, keep your eyes and ears open, there will be alot of the smaller stuff floating around for a while down there! I do believe the majority of the special pieces, like the carvings and artwork, went to people who will love their new relics!!

Mahalo, TabooDan

[ Edited by: TabooDan 2008-10-12 14:31 ]

Wow! What an adventure Thursday was! I'm still trying to digest the days events! And somewhat kicking myself for not bidding on more! But I guess one can get a little carried away at one of these things. I'm super happy with the treasures we picked up even though its still a little bitter sweet...

The Canadian Connection!
I guess Taboo Dan and myself are going to half to have a fierce game of Rochambeau to decide on the contents of the three lots we split!
Let the games begin!

Here's a painting of Waikiki Beach I picked up.

Here's the two tiki poles I won at the Auction... and got stopped at the boarder over!

Oh wow! DROOL What a haul! And it's so good that it went to people who love it. I'm new here...and I think after looking at those pictures, I'm definitely in the right place!

I think it's time for fresh pics of the Rongo Rongo Room!

So tonight I was going to post some pictures of the items that I was very lucky to get from the Bellevue Trader Vic Auction but my batteries in my camera died so this was the only one I could get on here. I will post the others later.

This was all just thrown into a blue rubbermaid and a Lot sticker was placed on it. After looking through it at the auction, I realised that this Lot had the ONLY table candle holder in the whole place. Don't know where any of the others from Trader Vic's went.
This Lot also had a cool little concrete/rock like Tiki figure, 2 Vic Bowl/Plates, 4 Rum Barell's, 2 Coconut Mugs, Bunch of Salt and Pepper Shakers (mostly odd ones) and a large piece of fabric (Under items)with Woody's, Huts and Palm Trees on it.
Basically, just a bunch of cool Trader Vic items.

More to come! Mahalo, TabooDan

w00t. late score, a dozen Signature Plates! (acutally a trade for some barware and menus)

2 Tikis and 2 Masks from Bellevue in their new setting, Ama Ama's Boom Boom Room, Seattle, WA

he also has one of the baby carrier thingies, but didn't know where to place it.

Wow..you guys sure did learn a lot at the auction (it did sound like the I Love Lucy episode). Everything looked wonderful thanks for the great pictures. I am drooling over those shield plates.