Dressed in a sharp black suit, an auctioneer who goes by the name James Bond is standing at a podium in Waikiki.

With a smooth delivery that would do 007 proud, he auctions off Swiss watches, diamonds and pearls from a fine jewelry collection worth about $5 million. This Bond’s mission is to raise funds for traditional Jewish burials.

"Let’s go, ladies and gents, $11,500 opens the bid," Bond said at an auction earlier this month at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa. Up for bid was an 18-karat, white gold, 4.24-carat diamond necklace appraised at $70,300. Because of the high value of the jewelry, several items failed to meet the reserve and went unsold.

"Now $25,000, bid 26, now $25,000," Bond said of a 3.75-carat diamond appraised at about $90,000 on the block. "Fair warning now for $25,000 … last call here for $25,000."

Bond, who said he legally adopted the name of the fictional British secret service agent for security reasons, founded Seized Forfeited Assets Auction Org Inc. to support his Jewish heritage.

In one case Bond’s organization donated about $2,500 to help cover expenses for the burial of a homeless Jewish man who died last fall in Honolulu. The man’s body would otherwise have been cremated by the state.

When Chabad of Hawaii’s rabbi asked for help to give the man a proper burial, Seized Forfeited Assets Auction stepped up, as did a man who donated his own burial plot.

Chabad’s Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky said the faith’s tradition of taking care of the dead is one of the greatest a person can undertake because it is "a benevolence that seeks nothing in return."

Krasnjansky added, "It’s very fundamental to Jewish life that a person gets buried and not cremated at the end of life."

Several times a year, Jewish leaders in Hawaii solicit funds from the Jewish community, which numbers about 10,000 statewide, to help pay for burials, Krasnjansky said. Funeral services and related expenses, including purchase of a plot, typically cost about $10,000. The community has successfully stepped up whenever funding has been needed, he said.

Bond said, "Under Jewish law it is a criminal act for a Jew to be cremated. It’s unacceptable, and we want to do whatever we can to prevent that."

Bond, 47, spent much of his childhood in South Africa, and his slight accent seems to reflect that. His career as an auctioneer began when he was a senior in high school in Los Angeles, where his family moved in the 1970s. He worked with his father at a company that had the father-son team crisscrossing the country so frequently for auctions that Bond never finished high school.

He was laid off in 2008 when the economy soured, and went on to open his own auction business, Roberto Galleries, in Washington state. A year later he began conducting charity auctions a few months a year for Chabad in Hawaii, an Orthodox Jewish organization.

In 2010 Bond moved to Hawaii to marry his wife, an Oahu resident. Bond conducted auctions for Chabad in Hawaii, helping to raise funds for those in need, for about three years before deciding to start his own charity.

Bond said Seized Forfeited Assets Auction’s inventory comes from government auctions of seized and forfeited assets. He buys items at auctions held across the country by police departments and federal agencies such as the U.S. Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Treasury, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Marshals and Transportation Security Administration.

Every piece in his collection comes with a gemologist’s appraisal that can be seen before purchase, and items range from $500 to $500,000. Sale proceeds are tapped for burials and restocking of inventory.

Bond’s wife, Joelle, initially thought her husband’s idea to fund funerals was strange, but she now embraces it. "It’s pure love, pure giving," she said of the charity work.

The nonprofit also operates a jewelry store in Kona, but the couple intends to maintain a busy auctioneering schedule. "We want to make it as exciting as it can be," she said. "People love the auction."

Several weeks ago James Bond sent out about 4,000 postcards advertising the funeral fund. Since then he’s received numerous calls for help from across the United States, and so far this month, Seized Forfeited Assets Auction has helped with seven cases.

"It’s very spiritual," he said. "It’s like the money went to a really good cause. It’s a very nice feeling."

Seized Forfeited Assets Auction plans to hold an auction every Sunday during the first half of 2016 at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. For more information call 206-307-2647.