Pie in the Sky Adventures #34

"Trading Tales: From Lacandon Indians to Tibetan Thangkas - A Journey of Unconventional Commerce" "Busted Plans and Beautiful Art: The Unlikely Trading Adventures That Followed"

Last weeks conclusion, #33, of a trading experience with the Lacandon Indians of Chiapas, Mexico and the Hopi’s of Arizona opened a memory bank. It recalled another trading story that came about around that same time, after a ‘busted play’. Not as exotic as the feathers for silver/turquoise jewelry trade but I hope entertaining.

This trip came about after I had a very successful herring fishing season in San Francisco Bay the 70’s. I was part of the commercial fishing of the winter herring run in S.F. Bay. Commercial permits were offered for the first time as this was a brand new fishery . I got H30 and managed to modify my small boat to accommodate that type of gill-netting. I’m also a sailor and favor older, classic boats.

Almost always built of wood. I was living at the time in a unique waterfront community in Sausalito, Calif. where there were many other sailors, fishermen, boat-builders and smugglers. I was flush with cash and wanted to find a good way to increase this new wealth. One of my seafaring neighbors was a naval architect.

I had decided to go to India and have a classic sailboat built, ship it to the U.S. and sell it at a profit. I chose a “Block Islander, a ’ 34ft. ketch as my project.

The local boat architect drew me a full scale simple boat building plan any boat builder could follow. I flew to India and down to Karela State in the south. Karela’s waterways are filled with boat builders, houseboats and is ‘off the charts’ - Rustic.

Not very many people there spoke English but an old tribal language. This was so at the boat yard so all discussions were in insistingly given and received including much hand language. The 34ft long printed plan was rolled out and studied with much commentating and advice from the yard workers . After a couple of days a price and plan of action was worked out, The day before making a deposit and agreement we learned that there was a dock workers strike and that the port of Bombay was closed with no loading or unloading. The backlog was going to be a long time maybe over a year!

Well that saved me a lost deposit but also scrapped the boat building plan. I still wanted to find an investment and the cash was burning a hole in my pocket.

Before leaving Sausalito on this trip I attended a greeting celebration for the Lama Govinda upon his arrival to San Francisco by some Tibetan groups. It was held in the basement of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. I was in invited by a friend who was involved. The celebration was in large rooms whose floors were covered in Tibetan and Indian rugs.
The air was infused with Incense . The walls were hung with many peices of Tibetan Sacred Art and the feeling was as being in a Tibetan monistary. A thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala. Thangkas are traditionally kept unframed and rolled up when not on display, mounted on a textile backing somewhat in the style of Chinese scroll paintings, with a further silk cover on the front. These amazing paintings caught my attention right away and I spent the night studing them. There was Malakala in one with all of his fiery fierceness being the defender of the faith, using compassionate or wrathful means.

Here is the white Tara in all her ethereal beauty.

Fantastic mandala designs.

All of them old.

Tibetan art was becoming very popular in the SF bay area at that time, the 70’s, and the Vorpal Gallery in SF was highlighting that art and their current show was popular enough to be held over.

So, there I was in India to make my fortune with the main reason to be there, scrapped. I like trading, and finding something beautiful not easily found, that I could buy and sell for a good profit in SF. was always of interest to me. I traveled up to Shrinigar, in Kashmir to see what my Indian friends thought might fill the bill. I rented the same houseboat on Nagin lake from

a family of guides. I had stayed there with them previously and knew them to be honest and well informed.

They recommended several items that might satisfy my needs, amoung them rugs, shawls of pashmina, and Tibetan items such as Thangkas.

That did it! I went about finding a dealer. One was remommended in Delhi and I made an appointment. The trader was from a 7th generation of traders in Tibetan items. and he put on a show for me of every thanka he had. They were brought in one at a time and laid out in front of my seat, as I sipped endless cups of tea, to be either wisked away or placed in a stack for further inspection. After two days of this I had aquired a large number of really beautiful and very interesting pieces. Most old and therefor would have to be smuggled out of India. I was assured by my trader friend that it would be no problem. The rest were placed in a sleeping mat carrier which I could travel with and exit India legally. I watched as the ‘oldies’ left to be shipped to S. F. hidden inside tin pipes. I picked them up at Customs in SF a month later. All made it ok.

One of the first people I met with on my return was Muldoon Elder, the owner of the Vorpal Gallieries. After viewing my collection he wanted a good portion of the oldies for his three galleries: Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. I also sold many right from my houseboat in Sausalito thru S.F. Chronicle classifieds. In those days before the internet, a good way to sell almost anything. It was fun, somewhat adventurous, and turned out over the years to be quite profitable. In fact the sale of these paintings over the next few years financed a continuing ‘life outside the normal’ for me. It provided me with enough income to survive a rocky start and a very steep learning curve required in being able to grow Psilocybe Cubensis phychedelic mushrooms in Northern Califfornia.

But that’s a story for another time.

Please join us next week when we get off the ‘memory’ train for a while and get back to being a couple of young elders settled in La cruz de Huanacaxtle and building a business that we are also getting ready to sell.

Take care, have a good time, and don’t forget to contribute to the general well being of the locals.

Dear subscribers and other readers we thank you for your support and interest in our weekly adventures. We hope you find them interesting enough to share with others who might also enjoy

them. If so please show your support by pushing the Share button and sharing them with family and friends. We appreciate it.