THE HONOLULU CABINET vtg queen liliuokalani hawaiian hula guitar waikiki music

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

THE HONOLULU CABINET vtg queen liliuokalani hawaiian hula guitar waikiki music:
$21000000.00

December 15th, 2026, will mark 20yrs since Liliuokalani's Music Cabinet was placed on the floor of the Kaimuki Goodwill in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Never before has a piece of Queen Victoria's "Diplomatic Furniture"been offered up for sale.Offered here is Queen Liliuokalani's music cabinet. It tells the story of her life.

Equivalent to The Resolute Desk:Queen Victoria had a Scotsman craft it for Liliuokalani when Princess Kaiulani passed away in 1899. To avoid overthrow, the two queens had been secretly plotting to seat the young Scottish monarch on the throne at Iolani Palace as "Queen Victoria" (a Westerner). Kaiulani (Victoria) was also known as "Hawaii's Last Hope" and "The Peacock Princess".

The Furniture Gazette, 16 March 1891~ Royal Warrant HolderS. J. Waring and Son commission their specialty furniture from Shapland & Petter (the maker of this cabinet).

Guild of Handicraft, 1903:"H.M. THE QUEEN (Victoria, d. 1901) was our No. 1 customer."Royal Warrant Holder S. J.Waring, and William Cowie of Shapland & Petter, wereschooled under the Guild of Handicraft.

Senior Archivist, Royal Archives, Windsor Castle, 2007.~ Dear Mr. Cook, I've been through the account books for gifts given by Queen Victoria and, yes, on 3 May 1899 a payment for furniture was made to Messrs. S. J. Waring and Son. What the furniture was, and for whom it was intended, is not revealed in our records.Yourssincerely, Miss Pamela Clark.
NOTE:fearing for Liliuokalani's life,Queen Victoria omitted, removed and/or destroyed any & all references to Liliuokalani fromher writings. AbsolutelyEvery Last Word!WindsorCastle further suggestedthat, during the entirety of Queen Victoria's 63-year reign, this S. J. Waring & Son entry is the one and ONLY entry in her gift ledger that does not identify the recipient, name the occasion (birthday, etc) and describe the furniture. It's 1899, 5yrs after her tower imprisonment, Queen Victoria is well-aware that any connection between the two kingdoms could lead to Liliuokalani's execution.
Honolulu is a small town (and nobody's talking!).The two most logical contenders as to who was in possession of her cabinet since her death in 1917, up until December of 2006 are:
1. Samuel Mills Damon (1845-1924). Samuel was a life-long friend to Lili'uokalani (his father officiated Liliuokalani's wedding). As her financial adviser, he was in charge of her estate up until 1918,one year after she passed.And, in 1919, two years after the queen's death, the also-nearing-death Samuel sealed away the entire collection of artifacts he had amassed during his lifetime as close friend & advisor to both, King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani.His massive cache of artifacts was stored-away in bank vaults, storage lockers, the Pacific Club, museum warehouses, etc. It wasn't until 2006 (87yrs later) that his descendants opened up those vaults and dissolved his estate. Afterdonating nearly 1000 artifacts to Hawaii's museums, the Damons sold and/or saleed-off the remainder of the multibillion-dollar estate. Not made of Koa wood, and with no discernable 'Hawaiian' traits, we believe this cabinet was discarded as having no historical significance. Because the cabinet is in such pristine condition (it appears to have been stored away since Liliuokalani's death), and because it appeared on the floor of the Kaimuki Goodwill exactly when his descendants generously made those museum donations, Damon is the strongest contender.
2. Princess Abigail Campbell Kawananakoa (1882-1945). Abigail was Liliuokalani's closest relative. Heir apparent, it would not be unreasonable to believe that Liliuokalani's most-prized possession, a gift from Queen Victoria, would have been passed-on to her: Queen to Queen to Queen. Upon Abigail's death in 1945, the cabinet would have continued to be passed-on down through the Kawananakoa line, most likely ending up in the hands of her daughter, heir apparent: PrincessAbigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa (1926-2022).Queen to Queen to Queen to Queen.In 2006 the century-old multibillion-dollar estate of James Campbell (d. 1900) was also dismantled and divided up. Almost-to-the-day that this cabinet was dropped off at the Honolulu Goodwill, Abigail received her $250 million dollar cash payout portion from the Campbell estate. It was only in 2020, during the very public court battles over the Kawananakoa estate, and almost 15 years after discovery, that we made the connection to Abigail. This monarchy piecewas thrown away exactly when theheir to the Hawaiian thronewas handed a quarter of a billion dollars. The problem we have with this scenario is that Abigail lived a troubled life. A life of drugs, alcohol and gambling addiction. As per court documents, she surrounded herself with con-artists and convicted felons. So, while the dates coincide exactly, the cabinet's termite-free 'museum condition' is not consistent with the late princess's chaotic lifestyle. No disrespect intended.
Both of these century-old, multibillion-dollar estateshadclose, personal relationships with Liliuokalani. Direct, intimate contact. And both estateswere dissolved when Liliuokalani's music cabinet was dropped off at the Goodwill on December 15th, 2006.~Queen Victoria's gift-of-choice to foreign leaders wasdiplomatic furniture. As noted above, Windsor Castle has confirmed that on May 3rd of 1899, about 60 days after Kaiulani's death, Queen Victoria noted in her gift ledger a payment for a piece of furniture to a Royal Warrant Holder who commissioned furniture from the maker of this cabinet. Queen Victoria's youngScottish princess was dead, ***the United Kingdom was giving up, handing the islands over to the United States.

Lili'uokalani was the conductor of a competitive, traveling show choir and in her memoirs, she tells a humorous story about always losing to her younger brother's all-male choir. We believe she shared this lighthearted story with Queen Victoria when she dined with her at Buckingham Palace in 1887. Or, because the cabinet was crafted in 1899, Victoria could have read the comical yarn in Liliuokalani's book like the rest of the World in 1898. Complete, with carry handles on the sides, what we have here is a traveling choir conductor's podium. But most certainly, for decorative use only.

Over the last four Presidencies, the very highest levels of our federal government have reviewed this listing and repeatedly tried to purchase this artifact and return it to Hawaii(two U.S. Presidents, and the now King of England, have purchased unrelated items from our store).And justTHIS YEAR(in January of 2026) the federal government (Washington D.C.) again attempted acquisition and, again, Hawaii's museum community rejected their generous offer.To be clear: Her music cabinet isFREEto the people of Hawaii. Hawaii's leaders refuse to accept the gift.

Despite what you read here, and even though 20yrs have past, Hawaii's museum community continues to mock this cabinet, claiming "there is no evidence it ever belonged to royalty". Hawaii refuses to acknowledge Great Britain's historical community, Liliuokalani's handwritten musical notations, or that the backboard is very specifically referencing a musically gifted, female monarch from a tiny island kingdom who was robbed of her throne and imprisoned in the tower of a royal palace (Lady Mortimer/Catrin Owain Glyndŵr, d.1413). Not to mentionthat the cabinet's door is clearly displaying the last line of **Aloha 'Oe.On top of all of this, Liliuokalani was a Shakespearean scholar. She quoted Shakespeare often, in her speeches and even in her book "Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen" (1898).

Since Hawaii is refusing to accept the government's offer to purchase it, we suggest Washington D.C., or the United Kingdom, bypass Hawaii altogether and put it in the Smithsonian or the Victoria & Albert.

*Furniture can be Art. Google "World's most expensive furniture" to learn more. And when coupled with being a custom-designed monarchy piece that marks ***an event that has forever changed the course of human history, the price goes through the roof. The last monarchy piece that went up for sale (also a cabinet) sold for $36M. In addition: never before has a piece of Queen Victoria's diplomatic furniture(i.e. The Resolute Desk) been offered up for sale.

**Composed on guitar in 1878, the last line of Aloha 'Oe (bird admiring a rose blossom: queen delighting to the beauty of her people) is the most famous sentence Lili'uokalani ever wrote.

***Whoever controls Hawai'i controls the Pacific. Whoever controls the Pacific controls the World.

~~~~~ We've created several products designed around her cabinet. Our portable guitar & public speaking amplifiers, kitchen backsplash & shower tiles and coffee mugs have all been big hits (Our coffee mugs re-sell for up to a $150.00 each!) But, because Aloha 'Oe means "Farewell to thee: Until we meet again", our biggest seller has been our colorful Celebration of Life cremation urns. We offer a nice selection of cremation urns and are constantly creating new models. Be sure to check-out our other listings to get a glimpse of what we currently have to offer.