Post #279720 by MrBaliHai on Fri, Jan 19, 2007 12:49 PM

I was doing some antiquing in Southern California last week, and stopped in an antique mall in the city of Orange. There was a huge display case in the back that was filled with highly desireable (and highly expensive) tiki mugs, one of which appeared to be an actual Ren Clark severed head! I immediately started experiencing heart palpitations when I saw that the asking price was "only" $165 and I had brief visions of selling it on eBay for enough money to send both of my kids through college.

Alas, it was too good to be true. I had the case opened so I could examine the mug more closely. I noticed immediately that the walls of the mug were very thick and that it had been painted with enamel (it was peeling off in spots), not glazed. I flipped the mug over to look for a maker's mark on the bottom, and saw that it had "2006" scratched in it, along with what I presume was the artist's name (which I can't remember, unfortunately). Sadly, I put the mug back in the case and left the store. Another mug-hunting fantasy brutally crushed.

Anyway, I know of at least one Ren Clark "tribute" mug out there by artist Wendy Cevola, are there others? It kind of bugged me that the seller didn't clearly mark this mug as a repro, and was asking what I considered to be an exorbitant price for it. Whoever this person is, they clearly knew the value and provenance of the other mugs they were selling.

Weblog: Eye of the Goof

[ Edited by: MrBaliHai 2013-11-23 10:01 ]