Post #167555 by nuimaleko on Thu, Jun 23, 2005 6:44 AM

I am fairly new to tiki and am still a bit fuzzy as to what is tiki and what is not. I have a Myer's Rum mirror that must have been in some bar at one time, although I don't know what one.( bought it in a junk shop in Sacamento) It has a tall ship in a harbor and a stack of rum barrels next to palm tree. No tikis in sight, in fact it may be depicting a scene from the Caribbean. But since it is a rum conected item that would look fine in a tiki bar, I am wondering if it is "tiki" or not?
I generaly collect Hawaiiana and that includes some stuff like mugs and god and menahuni figures and I know they would be considered "tiki". I also collect sarongs, aloha shirts, monkey pod and koa wood items, tapa cloth, original paintings by Hawaiian artists (but not of tikis) and surfer neckwear like Maui fish hooks and other pendants,(sea turtles and sea horses being my faves, but also god images and the original Tiki, the Moari first ancestor figure (the original Tiki who gave his name to so many things)in carved greenstone, bone, wood or cast in silver or bronze, puka and cowrie shell neckaces. Although Maui fish hooks and most carved bone, wood or stone pendants are generally refered to as tikis in surfer culture, I am not sure if they are "tiki" as the word is used here. I was told by another member that there is a great distinction between Hawaiiana and "Tiki". That is why I am posting here rather than on the "tiki" forums. here is an URL to a pic of the mirror
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/calthai2003/album?.dir=a502&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

[ Edited by: nuimaleko 2005-07-08 15:03 ]