Oceanic Arts: Vintage Tiki Collection Auction, April 23-24, 2022

I think the Oceanic Arts auction should be documented here.

It looks like there are 1200 items in the sale, and there are some very interesting pieces. Bidding is taking place in person and online. The catalog can be found here:

https://www.icollector.com/THE-OCEANIC-ARTS-VINTAGE-TIKI-COLLECTION-AUCTION_a54632?m=all&ps=100

Got the following in an email from Peekaboo Gallery this morning:

THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME….

Upon the occasion of Bob and LeRoy’s retirement and for the first time in their 65-year history, artifacts which make up the very soul of OCEANIC ARTS are available for purchase.

This includes Warehouse Showroom Samples, Master Pattern Carvings, Rental Department Inventory and rare ephemera from their vast Archives Library. For decades, collectors and general Tiki enthusiasts have been met with the dreaded NOT FOR SALE tags all over the OA Warehouse. Today, those tags have been set aside.

Now, PEEKABOO GALLERY is proud to offer the greatest collection of Mid-Century Commercial Polynesian-Pop artifacts ever to come on the market: THE OCEANIC ARTS VINTAGE TIKI COLLECTION!

Here is a rare opportunity to own a piece of history, direct from the original source. POLYNESIAN LAMPS, PAINTINGS, CONCEPT ART, VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS, EPHEMERA, DISNEY THEME PARK RARITIES, TIKI MUGS, HAWAIIAN CLOTHING and rare, one-of-a-kind TIKI CARVINGS are all on offer. This is undoubtedly, the largest intact vintage Tiki collection to ever come to the market and frankly, most probably ever will.

LIVE AUCTION at THE HISTORIC OCEANIC ARTS WAREHOUSE

12414 Whittier Blvd. Whittier, CA 90602

SATURDAY, APRIL 23rd starting at 10AM PST SUNDAY, APRIL 24th starting at 10AM PST

1200 Lots over two incredible days. With live entertainment, bars and food vendors.

LIVE AUCTION EVENT ATTENDANCE is offered with limited seating. Due to limited capacity, TICKETS ARE FREE, BUT MUST BE RESERVED ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE BASIS through Eventbrite. Available HERE beginning at 10AM PST, TUESDAY APRIL 5.

If you can't attend in person, go to PeekabooGallery.com for our online and mobile bidding platforms.

ATTENDEES will register in-room with a valid ID and credit card with matching credentials to receive a bidding paddle.

PLEASE REGISTER EARLY if bidding online and make yourself familiar with the historic TIKI items up for sale. BE AWARE of SIZING! Many items are large and will require special freight packing and shipping. WAREHOUSE PICKUP is STRONGLY suggested. Pick-up fulfillment will be held by appointment on-site at OCEANIC ARTS in sunny Whittier, California.

[ Edited by Hamo on 2022-04-05 19:34:06 ]

Thanks for sharing. So sad this inevitable day has finally come. I wish them the best in retirement.

You know lots of the stuff in the sale looks just like the stuff I got from the Kahiki at the sales they had.

The decor for the Kahiki would have been bought around 1960 and that is when they date lots of the lights and things in that sale.

One is a plaster mask for the wall hanging and I always thought that the Kahiki made that from the original wood carving, but it looks like they are selling lots of the original wood carvings that would have made a mask like that.

In fact one is just like the mask I have.

You could buy those and make tons of tiki masks just like they did.

Hey! it worked my first photo download to TC.

Man I love these huge photos!

So this guy I sold to Tiki underground for just really cheap but it is in that sale. I knew it was cheap when I sold it but knowing it would go to a tiki bar is why I sold low. But man I'm going to cry when I see what the one in the sale goes for. This one came from OA as well back in the 60s. But then I get treated like a king when I go to his bar now, Ha! Nope. No good deed.

This is on the OA site as. Not the same one but a dead ringer for the one I sold from Kahiki.

280 #401 "NEW GUINEA RITUAL BOARD" POLYCHROMED MASTER WALL SAMPLE CARVING

I swear this one is lined with a Big Bear shopping bag, original lining.

See how this light has the loops like this light in the auction. Same maker I would say.

377 SMALL OA "BASKET LAMP" This is a rehab I did of an old Kahiki light for Tropical Bistro in Columbus and they sold it to some Cop they said, were supposed to offer it to me if they sold it was what I asked them to do. I would come in and they would hand me a light and I thought they were giving it to me but then they would say no I want you to fix it for me.

Hey copper if you ever want to sell this light I will buy it.

See again with the loops. This is not so hard to put in the rattan if you have fresh rattan to work with we mostly don't get fresh rattan here in the states.

This one is cool but I'm not sure as how to take the lopsidedness out of it. But see how it is woven man that was not done here.

[ Edited by tikiskip on 2022-04-19 04:47:48 ]

This is the light I did a rehab on before giving it to Tropical Bistro, well it was not a light when I got it was more of a shell of a light.

Before.... After...

This is a guy making lights at OA when we were there for a visit. This is the light in the middle is a good photo of a early Kahiki light like the ones in the OA sale.

This chair is like the ones in the OA sale and I tell ya they could not sell these at the Kahiki auction one guy bought like 70 of them for 2 bucks each I think it was.

Ok one more this is the mask I was talking about.

They are selling the wood mold for this mask on the OA sale. This one is plaster, you can tell as the side is broken.

I think this is this mold for this mask on the OA Auction site. 274 #432 "NEW GUINEA MASK" MASTER PATTERN CARVING (EXTRA LARGE SIZE)

[ Edited by tikiskip on 2022-04-18 09:00:17 ]

hey tskip, how about the tiki and masks that are at the Columbus Zoo, have you shared pics of those here? i have a couple snaps somewhere... they were near the orangutangs and the asian monkeys.

You know I never saw those have not been to the zoo forever. Do post pics if ya got some might be better in the Kahiki thread though.

Did see the pile at the Kahiki sale when I went and I wanted to buy some of the stuff from that pile but they said it was for the zoo. Man it was some of the best stuff can tell ya that.

Later they called me a gave me one of the huge float lights as I gave the wife a video of the last nights at Kahiki with her husband in it.

I think that is where the tiki from behind the bar went, or is that in Jims house?

So you left town in the middle of the night? Why the heck did you leave?

Could not be the great Ohio weather. Good luck.

The Auction Book is vey well done and worth the $85 price. You can also see a digital version of the OA Auction Book at:

https://www.peekaboogallery.com/oceanic-arts-vintage-tiki-collection-auction/

So has anybody on here bought anything at the Auction yet, Cant believe the prices, 1st lot was a Primo beer can for $160, we had a few bookmarked but have given up bidding

Made (3) online bids. Got BLOWN out of the water LOL. Whatever. The Auction is a big success for Bob & LeRoy! Mahalo on their Retirement! They've EARNED IT!

Well, no that can went for $196.80 then you need to include shipping if you are not there, plus taxes I think.

Lots of stuff I have or had from the Kahiki in this auction that came from OA. People I sold to are just ecstatic right now I would bet.

Hey TIKIWAGON did you ever get that light I sold you at Hukilau home to England? I remember it was a pretty fragile one.

Prices are like wow. But It is some great stuff.

I'm sure glade I bought what I needed from OA when they were in business. No way could I afford auction prices.

So, on some items there is a "buyer's premium" and on others there is not.

Bidding Has Concluded Estimate : 800.00 - 1,000.00 Sold for (1,050.00 + 241.50) = 1,291.50

Bidding Has Concluded Estimate : 400.00 - 600.00 Sold for (900.00) = 900.00

Don't know why that is?

[ Edited by tikiskip on 2022-04-23 20:27:23 ]

Mauka, I wish I'd been smart enough to buy some OA things when I visited in 2017, but I was worried because I only had one carry-on.

I have a "tiki fund" but most of those auction prices would have blown that budget. I too would be interested to see if any TCers won anything.

Hey Skip That is strange, I only hung your lamp up last night on our ceiling, We moved house a couple of years ago and it was in our old bar but we have a big basement in our new place which we are just about to start on this week, Lights are temporarily up to work out cables then battens and ply/Lauhala matting

Well, when we went to OA I was kinda told most of the stuff we wanted to buy was not for sale and a rental this was mostly the lights.

Did get some Tapa and my wife got me a pole long ago. But even then for us it was hard to find stuff that you could buy.

And TIKIWAGON none of those are one of my lamps.

The light I remember selling you looked a bit like #377 in the OA auction sale but it had two of those rattan hats put together.

It was really fragile and I could not even find a box for you as it was maybe two and a half feet wide.

I thought this was the light I sold you TIKIWAGON.

No not that one, I bought the small nautical lamp and a red fish float in a net at the Hukilau 2013, I remember getting them and even wrote them in my Diary when i got home, Unless i am confusing you with someone else?

Ok a red fishing float sounds more like me.

Don't forget when I send a light to England.

Did sell over thirty lights that day so it is easy to forget. Thanks again for buying one of my lights.

PS that Tapa light is cool!

Yes the Tapa drum light is an OA piece, Luckily we bought from them years ago

After glancing through the prices in the auction catalog, all I can say is that I'm glad I bought all of the carvings and masks in my basement bar from OA 15 years ago, even though I got hammered on shipping. If/when I retire and sell my house, I'm gonna add a cool $10 grand to the price just for the privilege of owning that stuff!

Take it with you!

You know there are some people that would not want that stuff in their house.

How much of that stuff over the years was thrown in the trash or burned by Churchie types?

Congrats on yer purchases auction people.

My dad put it best something is worth what somebody is willing to pay.

Take it with you!

Maybe I'll just turn it into my Tiki Mausoleum and have myself interred there when I pass. I'm sure the new owners wouldn't mind.

The guy who they got to move the other Moai and fireplace from the Kahiki did not even want to load or move those items as he thought they were religious items and moving those would be against his religion.

So, we had to convince him that they were restaurant decor and not religious items.

True story.

So, that truck driver would not / could not buy your house.

Who bought this OA auction light? number 824.

824 #2309 "RATTAN BASKET LIGHT". (1960s) A variation of the #2309 lamp. The general style of the basket lamps were consistent, although the basket weave itself did vary over time due to availability of the supply. Not electrified.24"x22".VG+.

Did have two of these that I did put lights in them and sold them to Huli Huli the ones I had came from the Kon Tiki in Clevland.

Why make and sell a light that has no light in it weird.

I was able to put lights in them if you want to do that it can be done. And heck the guy I sold them to has them in a semi outdoor local that has them swinging in winds and even some weather blowing in from the sides and they are holding up for now.

------------------------------------------TIKISKIP™ "Go to the light"© -----------------------------------

---------------------------------------Lights, décor for home and commercial ---------------------------

[ Edited by tikiskip on 2022-04-25 08:51:44 ]

Skip, a lot of my bar decor, particularly the entrance shown below which was made from two carved OA poles and a carved headpiece, is glued and lag-bolted directly into the wall studs, so I can't remove it if I move and a new owner would need to do some demolition to remove it if they didn't want it, so I'll probably have to hold out for some hip young tikiphile to buy my house.

[ Edited by MrBaliHai on 2022-04-25 10:03:53 ]

[ Edited by MrBaliHai on 2022-04-25 13:01:29 ]

[ Edited by MrBaliHai on 2022-04-25 13:02:09 ]

Damn that looks great! I would try to take it with me too.

Would be a shame to leave it there for someone who would not really appreciate it as much as it should be.

Wonder what the percentage would be of home buyers that would want that, not want that, not care?

Hamo, it's too bad you only thought of carry-on. They shipped everything they sold. The only thing I took home in a suitcase was a 10 foot roll of Tonga Tapa cloth.

I wanted to print out the amazing results of the OA acution to keep with our catalog without it being as thick as the book itself. Basically, I just want a list of the lot numbers and final price for reference that would fit on a page or two.

A lot of auction houses, or auction sites have a document with results you can print such as this. However I can't find anything on the Peekaboo or iCollector sites other than printing countless pages with all of the associated images. Am I just missing it, or is this not available? If it doesn't exist, would anyone want to collaborate on compiling such a list?

I sure would like to have a list like that. It would be better than the post it notes I put on the items that sold in that auction that I still have from the Kahiki.

I was able to snag a menu from a Lake Tahoe tiki bar from the 50’s/60’s, and a Leroy Schmaltz skull on a post from the 80’s. Now that I’ve got moving units on the brain, does anyone know the status of the artifacts from the Hanalei Crowne Plaza? It has been a homeless shelter since the world shut down, last I heard, and I worry about the fate of the tikis on the property! Does anyone have any info?

I think the Oceanic Arts auction should be documented here.

Anyone here get anything?

We want to know who won lot 890, the booklet about the Marina del Rey Don the Beachcomber.

Cannibal Skull Post - Red

I half-heartedly bid on a few other things, but this is what I really went after.

Congrats. Glad someone here got something.

Adrian has posted another video on OA. It looks like kick_the_reverb got a couple of the larger fiberglass tikis:

Aloha OA Part 3 - Auction Pick Up & Set Up from Oceanic Arts!
https://youtu.be/D_aSbmm-MBo