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E.C. Bali Hai Restaurant Tikis? |
TravelingJones
Grand Member (7 years) 
Joined: Mar 11, 2006
Posts: 868
From: Eastern Shores of Western Civilization
|  Posted: 2007-01-02 2:54 pm Permalink
Does anyone recognize these tiki, 5 to 7 foot and carved wood?
 
 
I know we have some very educated urban archaeologists in the house...any clue or carver?
Supposedly these recovered from a Bali Hai restaurant on the east coast; NY,NJ,PA,DE,MD area? The photos are from an auction list, but I'm curious if they are truly from urban archeology or massed produced?
Mahaloz and Flip-flOp-fLipPp...
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TikiPhil
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 21, 2004
Posts: 149
From: Riverside, CA
| Posted: 2007-01-02 3:12 pm Permalink
Those were discussed here:
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=21678&forum=1
[ This Message was edited by: TikiPhil 2007-01-02 15:13 ]
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TravelingJones
Grand Member (7 years)
Joined: Mar 11, 2006
Posts: 868
From: Eastern Shores of Western Civilization
| Posted: 2007-01-02 4:56 pm Permalink
Chokest Mahaloz TikiPhil!
Your link provided all the information and more...I just wished I'd found it before posting this!
Sooo another batch fresh offda boat and inna conga line needa bar to call home???
Now back to more interesting NEWer topics....flip-flop-flip 
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2007-01-03 11:56 am Permalink
This sucks. Obviously this auction house knows that they can bait Tikiphiles by proclaiming that these supposedly are from an old mainland restaurant. Somebody should shut that operation down, or up at least, or something!
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danlovestikis
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Jun 17, 2002
Posts: 3566 | Posted: 2007-01-07 5:56 pm Permalink
Hi, these tikis are made on the East Coast a couple of times a year. We bought a set and had them shipped to us in California. They are made of a hard dense wood the one with the thumbs up weighs around 80 pounds. We think they are really cool and were happy to put a set of six into Dan's jungle room. When we bought ours they were direct from the guy who carved them and they were never misrepresented. There is one that looks like the Trader Vic's salt and pepper and Trader Vic's is carved into the back so if some jerk wanted to try and pass it off they could try. Wendy
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2007-01-07 7:23 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2007-01-07 17:56, danlovestikis wrote:
Hi, these tikis are made on the East Coast a couple of times a year..... When we bought ours they were direct from the guy who carved them... |
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Wendy, sweetie, are you sure about that? What's his name and where does he carve? Is he American or Asian? I still strongly believe they are Poly-Asian import Tikis, you just don't get that kind of hardwood in this size on these shores...
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Tikisgrl
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 03, 2005
Posts: 861
From: Lowell, Mass
| Posted: 2007-01-07 8:21 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2007-01-07 19:23, bigbrotiki wrote:
Wendy, sweetie, are you sure about that? What's his name and where does he carve? Is he American or Asian? I still strongly believe they are Poly-Asian import Tikis, you just don't get that kind of hardwood in this size on these shores...
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I live on the East Coast as do some other's here. I can honestly state that we've got plenty of tree's big enough to make these guys look pretty tiny. There are numerous chain saw carvers in Maine, for instance who make huge bears and full size totem poles. Sure they are copies but that doesn't mean that they can't be "real carvings"
Tikisgrl
Just a quick edit carvers website borrowed from GMAN - Carver's forum
[ This Message was edited by: Tikisgrl 2007-01-07 20:37 ]
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tekoteko
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 20, 2005
Posts: 299
From: The Abyss.
| Posted: 2007-01-07 8:35 pm Permalink
Good point Tikisgrl! There's 5 oak trees in my yard, 2 in front, 3 in back, big enough to carve the guys in question. Easily.
And not sure what kind of wood...probably a softwood...but my guess is the guys in this photo aren't imported either.
TT
Quote:
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On 2007-01-07 20:21, Tikisgrl wrote:
Quote:
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On 2007-01-07 19:23, bigbrotiki wrote:
Wendy, sweetie, are you sure about that? What's his name and where does he carve? Is he American or Asian? I still strongly believe they are Poly-Asian import Tikis, you just don't get that kind of hardwood in this size on these shores...
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I live on the East Coast as do some other's here. I can honestly state that we've got plenty of tree's big enough to make these guys look pretty tiny. There are numerous chain saw carvers in Maine, for instance who make huge bears and full size totem poles. Sure they are copies but that doesn't mean that they can't be "real carvings"
Tikisgrl
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[ This Message was edited by: tekoteko 2007-01-07 21:35 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2007-01-08 06:26 am Permalink
I was not suggesting that these Tikis are not "real carvings", and I was referring to TROPICAL hardwoods, of which the Poly-Asian Tikis are usually carved from.
Until someone finds proof that these are actually carved here, I will hold on to my theory that these are Asian imports. If the seller falsely claims they are from old restaurants, I am sure he will have no compunctions about telling a story about some local carver. The use of organic elements like human-looking hands, and legs folded in Buddha position are tell-tale signs.  Please convince me otherwise, though.
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HOUSE OF KU
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 15, 2005
Posts: 537
From: TIKILAND, USA
| Posted: 2007-01-08 11:13 am Permalink
Heres another "ancient Tiki", in kona wood??, no less,  http://cgi.ebay.com/60-Tall-Solid-Kona-Wood-Hawaiian-Tiki-Money-God_W0QQitemZ260071949911QQihZ016QQcategoryZ29460QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem At least someone (hope TC'er) is grilling the lister for details... Aloha, Freddie PS Funny how they replicate new, madeup designs...looks to be a KC Co. knockoff...
[ This Message was edited by: HOUSE OF KU 2007-01-08 11:16 ]
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Bay Park Buzzy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 07, 2006
Posts: 2714
From: West Bay Park, San Diego, CA
| Posted: 2007-01-08 11:49 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2007-01-08 11:13, HOUSE OF KU wrote:
...looks to be a KC Co. knockoff...
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I will verify that for you:
Now go find some cool cocojoes stuff to post!
Buzzy
_________________
 
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HOUSE OF KU
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 15, 2005
Posts: 537
From: TIKILAND, USA
| Posted: 2007-01-08 12:06 pm Permalink
[quote]
On 2007-01-08 11:49, Bay Park Buzzy wrote:
Now go find some cool cocojoes stuff to post!
Aloha BP Buzzy, Any preferences? You can PM me and I'll post on Coco Joe thread. Mahalo
[ This Message was edited by: HOUSE OF KU 2007-01-08 12:17 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2007-01-08 4:37 pm Permalink
And again, this guy's rounded off, organic limbs and belly, all "off" in their proportions to each other (meaning not Tiki style proportions), just cry out Asian carver to me! These guys just don't get it.
Can I hear some opinions from carvers on this question?
And it is not a question of these being "carved well". Of course they are! Those Balinese (or whatever) carvers have been carving beautifully for generations. That is their very problem. They do not understand the "primitive" aesthetic, their craftsmanship is too smooth. They copy from small samples, but don't understand the style: For instance: The head of the Tiki is supposed to be much larger than the rest of the body--because it is the seat of mana (and ancestors had lots of that) These guys' bodies are too long and voluminous!
And looking at the steep price of that last one, it seems that the importer sells his statues cheap to other vendors, who then turn around and try to make a profit on e-bay with them (the "Money God"...yeah right, for the seller), so it will be hard to establish their origin. That's why I really want to know who this supposed East Coast carver is. I believe it is really the importer, who tells prospective buyers whatever they seem to want to hear!
[ This Message was edited by: bigbrotiki 2007-01-08 22:37 ]
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congatiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 01, 2004
Posts: 2406
From: wisconsin northwoods
| Posted: 2007-01-08 5:31 pm Permalink
Well for my half-cents worth I totally agree with BigBro. The bellys and straight chests do not look
like anything I have seen in the area of "vintage" tikis. I have poured through hundreds and hundreds
of images and there is just something not right with these...the crossed legs for one thing..although
the first time I saw that carving I liked it. I know there are a lot of big logs in the USA but
I doubt whether the carver of these figures ever really studied "tikis" per se. So what am I trying
to say anyway...I dunno.
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TIKIBOSKO
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Posts: 297 | Posted: 2007-01-08 8:22 pm Permalink
Sven I could not agree more, if they are from the East it’s the Far East.
Most all carvings from overseas leave little to be desired, they tend to emphasize the wrong elements and play down the important aspects of a Tiki, and they always look wrong or off.
In this case I suspect they are trying (hard) to be exact but for whatever reason these carvers have a very bad (small?) 2-D piece of reference, they are interpreting and adding what they feel are exotic elements and carving styles. If you look at the piece on E-bay obviously it’s supposed to be a Hawaiian God but look at what they did or did not include. First the carving proportions are backwards and it looks like it was worked upside down and they ran out of wood at the squished head, the legs are way to long, the belly is too fat, it looks like it has breasts as apposed to a jutting chest, everything is rounded unlike the originals which could have passed for modern cubist sculpture, the head dress looks like ropes which get continually smaller until they become the eyes which are totally undefined as if the carver had no understanding of what it was he was supposed to be making, again this tells me the person doing this had no way to relate to what they were viewing, you can also see he “got” the teeth as teeth and these were carved with a certain confidence but unfortunately not the correct figure 8 symmetry. Having said this (and I could go on) it is the best one of these things I’ve seen, where ever these things come from.
The first batch of “Bali Hai” carvings is the saddest group of (Tiki) carvings ever, all I can think is what a waste of wood, the poor tree probably had to grow for hundreds of years in an exciting jungle before it was chopped down and had this curse put upon it. I realize I am opinionated but for the life of me can not understand how anyone thinks these things even remotely look interesting or Tiki. Another thing that gives away the foreign origin of these is their price, you couldn’t buy the wood commercially (let alone pay and adult in the U.S. for the time to carve this) and yet the same ones come up a few times a year. It looks like the E-bay one might mark a change in the old version. Also think how Westerners (Americans) interpret Tiki, even when poorly done, they totally focus on different weird aspects of the “God”, giant teeth, or a crazy scariness, for instance.
I could go on and on…
My very best Alohas
Bosko
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