Devil Reef Bar finds - anyone know more? - Collecting Tiki

T TravelingJones Grand Member (8 years) Eastern Shores of Western Civilization Joined: Mar 11, 2006 Posts: 927	T TravelingJones Posted posted on Sat, Nov 15, 2008 9:21 PM Wow! That’s quite a tale, tikiracer… Recently, I was travelling through New England and lunched at Kowloon with a Navy shipmate of mine. He’s a knowledgeable antiquarian from Ipswich and for nearly 20 years, keenly aware of my expeditions and collecting obsessions. His nautical lineage runs deep too, beginning with a very great granddad that was an old sea captain and gold trader of the South Seas. Anyways, my cuz Wally brought along a small wooden chest. Just bits larger than a cigar box, a briny teakwood perhaps, with heavily barnacled but ornate whitish-gold metal bands and lock plates. Upon opening this chest, a nauseous fishy odour choked the air. Luckily we had been seated into a back corner of the restaurant and the waiter exclaimed, “Enjoy the Thai Grill platter, squid veeery fresh today!” Laughing maniacally, we sifted through glass beads and baubles of very grotesque and almost repulsive design. Jewelry with striking and puzzlingly untraditional designs - some simply geometrical, and some plainly marine - the patterns all hinted of remote secrets and unimaginable abysses in time and space, and the monotonously aquatic nature of the reliefs became almost sinister. Lastly, three photographs lay quietly upon the crusty purple velvet-lined bottom of this deep and salty box. (1) a group of oddly-shaped swimmers on a reef, silhouetted by a pale moon, (2) a picture postcard of The Gilman House, and (3) a photo of an unusual face mug. He picked up the mug photo and waved it at me… I then realized he’d brought his sea chest of curiosities merely to taunt, “Have you ever seen anything like this one before?” During this description I had kept a tight rein on my emotions, but my face must have betrayed my mounting fears. I asked, “Do you have this mug?” He looked concerned, and paused in his unwrapping to study my countenance. I motioned to him to continue, which he did with renewed signs of reluctance. “I may know someone who does…” he gloated, but not here. Vague legends of bad luck clustered around them, and my great-grandmother's French governess had said these vessels ought not to be used in New England, though it would be quite safe to drink from them in Europe. It was good talk story with braddah W, but damn him for ever showing me this photograph! Do you think this came from Devil Reef or perhaps, just a tea cup from Gilman House?

Wow! That’s quite a tale, tikiracer…

Recently, I was travelling through New England and lunched at Kowloon with a Navy shipmate of mine. He’s a knowledgeable antiquarian from Ipswich and for nearly 20 years, keenly aware of my expeditions and collecting obsessions. His nautical lineage runs deep too, beginning with a very great granddad that was an old sea captain and gold trader of the South Seas.

Anyways, my cuz Wally brought along a small wooden chest. Just bits larger than a cigar box, a briny teakwood perhaps, with heavily barnacled but ornate whitish-gold metal bands and lock plates. Upon opening this chest, a nauseous fishy odour choked the air. Luckily we had been seated into a back corner of the restaurant and the waiter exclaimed, “Enjoy the Thai Grill platter, squid veeery fresh today!”

Laughing maniacally, we sifted through glass beads and baubles of very grotesque and almost repulsive design. Jewelry with striking and puzzlingly untraditional designs - some simply geometrical, and some plainly marine - the patterns all hinted of remote secrets and unimaginable abysses in time and space, and the monotonously aquatic nature of the reliefs became almost sinister.

Lastly, three photographs lay quietly upon the crusty purple velvet-lined bottom of this deep and salty box. (1) a group of oddly-shaped swimmers on a reef, silhouetted by a pale moon, (2) a picture postcard of The Gilman House, and (3) a photo of an unusual face mug.

He picked up the mug photo and waved it at me…

I then realized he’d brought his sea chest of curiosities merely to taunt, “Have you ever seen anything like this one before?” During this description I had kept a tight rein on my emotions, but my face must have betrayed my mounting fears. I asked, “Do you have this mug?” He looked concerned, and paused in his unwrapping to study my countenance. I motioned to him to continue, which he did with renewed signs of reluctance. “I may know someone who does…” he gloated, but not here. Vague legends of bad luck clustered around them, and my great-grandmother's French governess had said these vessels ought not to be used in New England, though it would be quite safe to drink from them in Europe.

It was good talk story with braddah W, but damn him for ever showing me this photograph!

Do you think this came from Devil Reef or perhaps, just a tea cup from Gilman House?

Post #419194 by TravelingJones on Sat, Nov 15, 2008 9:21 PM