Leeteg painting of a chief?

Hi everybody!

New to the forum here(had no idea a place like this existed, really). I came across you guys in my search for information on my Leeteg painting. There's alot of information out there on Leeteg, but not a whole lot in the way of value on today's market.

Apparently my boyfriend's step-dad gave him 2 Leeteg paintings before he died. Unfortunately one of them got damaged and he threw it away (before we met, I assure you! lol). Well we recently moved in together and pulled his other painting out of storage and what do ya know, its damaged. Not severely damaged, but damaged. To the trash it goes he says. Wait...WHAT?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Thats sacrilege to someone artsy like myself, lol. So my boyfriend's a little bit OCD, I am finding. The painting is in hiding for fear that he will throw it away behind my back. I still know very little about the painting and its worth. The most I've learned all came from searching the forums here. Thankfully I've found a place where it can truly be appreciated. =) Hopefully if I convince him of its value he'll actually let me hang it or atleast sell it.

The painting itself is of a chief-looking Tahitian man with some kind of cane/stick/weapon. The details are beautiful and hopefully you can see them in the photos. The painting is W14" x H18" on black velvet and very nicely framed. I don't know if this is its original frame, but it looks like it was custom-made for the Leeteg. Its beautifully carved in a Polynesian style. The images show the damages as well. There is a tear in the hair area (all the velvet is still there so I suspect it can be easily restored?), a scratch across the forehead, and 3 scratches on the body. (I still shudder to think what minor damage he threw the other one away for >_

First step, get rid of your boyfriend, he is an idiot.

Please go to the new members thread & introduce yourself (only good manners) here:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6&forum=1&start=3465&3475

Due to the damage of the piece (So sad!) this severely affects the value
but it can be worth a few dollars to some one here, please post this in the "Tiki Market place" thread
if your intent is to sell it.