Koa outrigger headboard find- Any info ?

This summer, Selector Lopaka and I found this koa outrigger headboard in a local antique mall:

The sellers said that it came from the estate of a woman who moved from Hawaii to Washington, and that it came from an old Hawaiian hotel. They couldn't recall exactly which hotel, but did know that it was not from Oahu. My first thought was that it was from the Coco Palms Hotel in Kauai, since I had seen this same shaped headboard on a postcard from there:

From comparing the outrigger to the one in the postcard, it sure looks like a match. The construction on the top of it has 2 open slats, which would make sense that it was where the side pieces of the bed were attached. The postcard indicates that the outrigger beds were in the Wailua Kai Wing of the Coco Palms, and also that the paddles were lights.

I'm wondering, has anyone else ever seen or found one of these ? Does anyone know if any other Hawaii hotels aside from the Coco Palms had these ? Its pretty big, about 10 1/2 feet long, and well made of nice old koa.

[ Edited by: puamana on 2004-10-06 12:30 ]

I happened to be in town the weekend that puamana & Selector Lopaka brought this back to their house, and I can tell you, it's gorgeous! You can't quite tell from those pictures just how rich the koa is. One heck of a thrilling find!

If Oceanic Arts worked on Coco Palms, they may still have the names of the people who were responsible for interior design there... it may be a longshot, but if you could track those people down, they might be able to tell you who built these headboards.

how intersting is this bed. A bit too hard to get in and out of. Specially after a few mai tai??? But worth a try.

WOW, that is cool!!! I wonder if you can get someone to carve you the rest of it! What a great picture in that postcard.

Kanaka