By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
This portrait of Duke Kahanamoku is up for grabs.
The garage sale
of a lifetime
The estate of Duke and Nadine
By Burl Burlingame
Kahanamoku goes on sale
Star-BulletinDish, koa leaf design, $100 The term museum archivists and antiques buffs use is "provenance" -- the origin of something. In other words, what makes an item special, or not-so-special.
"Let's face it," said antiques specialist Richard Ornelles, indicating a pile of kitchenware. "Those are shot glasses and Tupperware, and they're just shot glasses and Tupperware. Nothing special about them. But they were Duke and Nadine Kahanamoku's shot glasses and Tupperware. There's the mystique."
Flying woman wood carving, $40.
By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
The key to Stockholm and portraits of Duke and Nadine
Kahanamoku are among items that will be sold
tomorrow through Sunday.
So, imagine, Hawaii's royal couple. The Duke knocking back a neat one after a hard day shaking hands in Waikiki, or Nadine burping the plastic lid of the Tupperware, keeping last night's doggie-bag from the restaurant fresh.The estate of the Kahanamokus goes up for sale tomorrow through Sunday at their cottage in Kahala. Ornelles and other antiquers have been busy tidying up, sorting and pricing the couple's keepsakes.
Original sketch of Hawaiian woman by Madge Tennant, $2,600
It's a sale, not an auction. "Everything goes," said Ornelles. "Typically, we'll sell everything down to the floorboards. Don't take your shoes off, because they'll get sold. I'm not kidding. Connie Pickett of Carriage House Antiques -- my mentor -- once set her sweater down for a second and it was sold!"
By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Items for sale, such as this cat and mouse,
bear sale tags marked "Kahanamoku."
The money raised will be donated to the University of Hawaii as a bequest from Nadine Kahanamoku. The really collectible stuff -- Duke's Olympic medals, Nadine's diaries, various photographs and presentation items -- have been placed in the Bishop Museum archives. It includes Gov. Farrington's desk."Nadine wanted those kinds of items to be shared by all the people of Hawaii," said Ornelles.
What's left are housewares, knick-knacks and mementos, plus some one-of-a-kind items like a termite-riven chest given to Duke by actress Anne Baxter, who was apparently sweet on the handsome Hawaiian swimming champion.
Used Conair hairdryer, $6.
"The prices are reasonably and fairly priced; no one's getting gouged," said Ornelles. "We're trying to do this with a little dignity."
What's striking about the house and its contents are their modesty. The 1920s-style cottage isn't grand -- although Duke's bedroom window has a great view of Kahala Bay -- and it's hard to tell what kind of shape it's in under all that vinyl siding. Rooms are painted in bright pastels; pink, turquoise, sea green. It has cute 1920s design features like cubbyholes in the walls and an air vents in the closets.
"The whole house is built around a gigantic freezer downstairs," said Ornelles. "That freezer isn't going anywhere without taking the house with it."
Used corkboard with pushpins, with 1990 termite tenting receipt signed Nadine Kahanamoku, $8.
By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Portrait of Nadine Kahanamoku.
Being so close to the ocean has taken a toll on items like the screens and windows. The house and property are owned by Bishop Estate, which allowed the Kahanamokus to live there. The downstairs tenant is Herman Lemke Jr., whose father is executor of the Kahanamoku's estate. The house will probably be rented in the future."Nadine was a little old lady who saved everything," said Ornelles. "She put little notes on stuff everywhere, and she and Duke traveled everywhere. There are souvenirs from all over the world. If you gave her a cutesy doll, she'd put it right up next to an expensive Steuben bowl ... the Kahanamokus were classy that way."
Abstract painting by Nadine Kahanamoku of what appears to be surfers, $450.
Cleaning up the house gave Ornelles an insight into Nadine Kahanamoku's personality.
"I'd open up a drawer, and there'd be a giant centipede, and I'd go, 'Yow!' But it would be a plastic centipede, and next to it would be a note from Nadine, saying, 'Ha-ha! Gotcha!' "
Kahanamoku estate sale
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow through Sunday.
