The Sale of Japanese Goods: Honolulu June, 1860

The June 2, 1860 edition of The Polynesian featured news of an auction sale of Japanese goods. These items were shipped from Kanagawa to Honolulu on board the Bark Zoe. This was one of the first -if not the first- occasion in which Japanese products were sold in Hawaii in such a manner:

Sale of Japanese Goods

There will be an auction sale of the lacquered ware ex Zoe on Tuesday evening next, at the Armory of the Honolulu Rifles, A.P. Everett, Esq., officiating as knight of the hammer. Lots of beautiful things tempting to the eye will be exposed for sale, and we advise any one who don’t want to buy to keep away; for once there, with the auctioneer’s eye on you, in his winning manner, you’re gone in and nod before you know it. The mammoth lanterns and transparencies alone will be sights of themselves.