Beverly Hills Trader Vic Tiki on e-Bay

I can't afford it, but I can't believe there's only one bid on this piece. It should go to a worthy home! My apologies if someone has mentioned this in another thread.

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-POLYNESIAN-STATUE_W0QQitemZ150071586153QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Item number: 150071586153. Here's a pic:

Funny that they want $4,000 for something they know very little about. Tahitian? Polynesian? No. Papua New Guinea! It's designed after the Abalam Masks and carvings for the yam festival. HERE is a similar item on Ebay now, though far more rare. This item is just classic Poly Pop and was not carved 70 years ago. More like 30-40, in the Oceanic Arts era. I would ask Leroy if he carved it before I went bidding and take that info to the seller.

Thanks, Swanky. I seriously doubted it was worth $4,000 but it's a cool piece and worth more than the single bid of $100. Hopefully someone will talk them down to something reasonable. Great tip about contacting Leroy first, but I think the auction is almost over.

Nice piece!
This PNG carving is copied from the Miguel Covarrubias drawing in the book "Arts of the South Seas" that was the companion to the 1946 exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art (both book and rendering shown on page 247 of the BOT.

And since Barney West carved most of the single statuary for Trader Vic's, and he had copied that very design from that very book before (p. 246), it seems highly likely that this puppy was also carved by him.

Looks like Tiki Farm is high bidder ....