Post #184201 by Benzart on Sat, Sep 3, 2005 10:23 PM

I had an uncle who back in the fifties started a company called Tropic Art Novelty. They created all kinds of souvenirs from Coconut tree products and sea shells. His products sold to all the tourist shops from Key west all along the east coast and the South west coast of the US. All kinds of "junk". Monkey piggy banks made from coconut shells. Serving trays made from the limbs, and Yes Carved coconuts. Pirates, Monkeys and all kinds of stuff.
Gathering shells was a "family" participation and any time we were at the beach we collected buckets full for him. Shells for eyes, teeth and to decorate fish nets and all kinds of stuff.
His name was Karl Balasky and he employed about 25 or 30 people in his heyday. They even made Key-chain tikis.
He closed the company back in the 80's after never making much money and he retired on social security. He went to work selling t-shirts for a large company , selling to all his old accounts. He made more money the first year than he ever made with his company(profit) and worked for them for years.
I'm not sure if he started the coconut carving but I know he had several people devoted solely to carving coconuts.
So, as a kid I had pirates and monkeys around my house all the time. I remember many trips to his shop delivering shells. I will always remember watching the coconut carvers working so fast it was unbelievable.
Small world.