-Ahem!- Swanky, ladies and gentlemen has just pulled a Coup.

A coup that must be seen to be believed.

He's 7 1/2 feet tall. A New Guinea Oratory Stool. The spirit sits in the stool and the witness or speaker stands near it or touching it while speaking as the spirit bears witness, striking them dead if they should lie. Guessed age, 40 years. width, 23 inches. Shell and crocodile tooth insets.

The Swank Pad Broadcast - If it's Swank...

[ Edited by: Swanky 2007-05-24 08:51 ]

I assume he bought it, he didn't carve it. So the coup would be, "how much?" and where did he find it.

was that stool ,or tool?

Man, I'd hate to stumble into that tiki while going to the fridge for a midnight snack. How completely cool and freakish. Great score Swanky!

I got it in Indiana. I won't quote a price, just say I think I got a good deal. I won't be buying much else for a while though!

Now I know what happened to my 7th grade Social Studies teacher... Great score Swanky!

uh, oh! I think this Tiki is gonna give Bong some serious penis envy!!

Nice score, Swanky! I've gotten some items from the same Indiana source, and am very happy!

:tiki:

Moi aussi. Just bought an item the other day. But small and flaccid compared to this mighty tiki. Very much like the giants in the Mai Kai!

Notice any resemblance? This is from the Mai-Kai's home page.

Is this thing considered "Anatomically Correct?"

now dats wun ONO carving!! I have to sey dats wun envious peice fo da peopo who like da New Guinea style!!

congrats

The Mai Kai is what has inspired me to get this and to look at more native carvings and artifacts.

Hala Kahiki is awesome, but it's 1960's Americana and it has that tiki cheesey side to it. Most of all the tiki bars are that way. And we revel in that Americanized Polynesia.

But the Mai Kai is full of the islands' authentic articles. The real islands. That's more of a beachcomber/travelers style. Instead of the flotsom and the carvings of inspired Americans, I wanted to get some real islands stuff in Shangri-La.

I plan to buy a lot more. I get to go pick this guy up this weekend and see what is likely a warehouse full. Maybe I'll bring more back with me! Save some shipping.

This is a creator figure. Ahem.

Yeah Swanky, I was describing one of Gecko's panel carvings of the God of Fertility to a guest at my party a couple weeks ago and as I was pointing to it I explained that the penis was a standard part of these types of carvings. He looks at his wife and says "Hey honey look at the penis" She blurts out, "Does it work?" and walks around to get a better view. I'm thinkin' HOLY MOLY I'm going to have a problem here. Jeez peepo, these things are pretty standard for primitive cultures, no reason to get excited. Easy does it girls. (They were both non TCer's btw)

[ Edited by: jungletrader on 2003-07-23 18:03 ]

Now you have to rip the top of your car and sports world biggest dashboard tiki, ahh yeah, now that would be cool.

Okay, many of you may recall this guy and have seen other pictures of him. Friday, I was searching the web for images of New Guinea Men's Houses or Haus Tambaran and I found this site:

It's in Polish

If you scroll down a bit you hit the frak out. There is my Oratory Table! I have studied the poor image and looking at the feet, I feel very certain this is my piece. I have emailed the man and hope he can send me more pictures. Too weird...

If anyone can tell me what the Polish says, I'd appreciate it!

Looks like the same one to me. I've loved that piece ever since I first saw it.

You should incorporate him into your Headhunter Lounge logo. I know he's a bit friendly looking but PNG is/was headhunter territory and I think it would really be memorable for patrons to see the figure in the logo larger than life when they visit the bar.

On 2005-04-03 17:34, Kono wrote:
Looks like the same one to me. I've loved that piece ever since I first saw it.

You should incorporate him into your Headhunter Lounge logo. I know he's a bit friendly looking but PNG is/was headhunter territory and I think it would really be memorable for patrons to see the figure in the logo larger than life when they visit the bar.

That's a great idea!

Tim, congrats to that beaute! An oratory chair/table would still be something I would love to ad to my otherwise overflowing collection.

I was interested in them since I saw that Barney West used to carve them, on page 246 of the BOT he is sitting in one that he did in Hawaiian Ku (!?) style (..or, to be seen even BIGGER on page 160 of "Tiki Style", same in Old Navy Tiki style). The Tiki's arms stretch back to form the arm rest.

In a brochure from his "Tiki Junction" he has several cool and more authentic New Guinea style examples. What struck me is that to this day I have NEVER encountered any in the field, be it in a Polynesian restaurant or in any home lounges.

Maybe the price of 300.- bucks was too high back then, and he only made a few. Gotta ask O.A. about it.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2005-04-11 17:24 ]

The real ones range in size from maybe 3 feet tall, to the 7 footer I have. It depends on what village they come from. Each has it's own traditions.

The one we got for Hale Tiki was about 5 feet and I think the asking price was about $3-400. He said there was a bar somewhere in the islands that used them as bar stools.