Post #356825 by bigbrotiki on Wed, Jan 23, 2008 7:21 PM

On 2008-01-19 19:14, tikirosa wrote:
The first picure is of a statue I found in an antique store located in san antonio, texas. Looks like a KU GOD.
Monkey Pod from the Phillipines are marked at the bottom of the base.
Does anyone know anything about this statue? Where it comes from? Who made it? etc...

I would say it comes from...the Phillipines! Made by a poor local carver for pennies.

It was a fairly common design, mass-produced in varying forms until late in the game, by the likes of Orchids of Hawaii:

It was so popular in the 60s that it even made it onto a T-shirt:

I published this ad in my "Surfing Tiki" Chapter in the BOT, here is a close up:

I own a plaster version of it, together with its partner, the Surf God:

Now this "Surf God" (rather a goddess, wouldn't you say?) was also carved in larger versions:

..and even made into a mug:

I was just at a VAL SURF store in the valley (get it..VALley Surf), and they still sell T-shirts with their cool old logo on it :) :

...not those early (perhaps the first ever) Tiki T-shirts, though. :(