Post #304911 by TikiJosh on Tue, May 8, 2007 1:27 PM

My take on the "why some people don't get it" question--
You can have people over, they'll look at your collection, they'll even look at the BOT or Tiki Quest, that kind of stuff. The thing is-- they don't really look at it. It's almost like they're seeing through it. They see the pictures in the BOT, but maybe don't realize that they should be looking for a Voodoo Grog glass at the thrift store. I mean, those have a very "African" feel to me. I'd bet that those would be overlooked 9 times out of ten by people hunting for tikis.

If my Mum's at the thrift store, she might see something that looks exotic, and the fact that it's something she hasn't really seen before makes her think it must be a tiki. I mean, exotic simply means that it's unfamiliar-- foreign or strange or whatever. I think that's why some people can't tell Mayan from Polynesian. It all looks unusual to them. We can tell the difference because we at least know Polynesian.

My point (if I have one) is that a lot of the stuff we don't want as tiki collectors still looks exotic. In our hunt for tikis, we at least have the benefit of knowing what we're looking for. A friend or relative at a thrift store doesn't know that you need a Steve Crane Bird Bowl, and doesn't have the mental catalogue to draw upon. All they know is that it's outside their experience, and so they bring it to you.

As much of a bummer as it is to get stuff that doesn't fit in, I think it's best for us to remember that our friends and relatives are merely trying to help us. For every story about hideous tiki gifts, I've heard others about genuinely good finds.