Post #556299 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Sun, Sep 26, 2010 9:54 PM

That "tiki" was on the grounds of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Hawaii and is "pre-tiki" in origin. It is made of cement even though it looks like wood and represents Kamuualii, the Shark God.

He shows up in quite a few old snapshots from the 1910s through the 1960s. The fact that he never seemed to age through the decades made me suspect he might not be wood. If you look closely at the base, you can see the sculpture marks in the cement. I've got a few photos of him myself. Thinking of doing a post about him. Phil Roberts knows about him as well if I remember right.

Pretty important sculpture as it may be the first pre-runner of the new "Tiki Age" (after the 1800s). However a huge gap between when this sculpture was created in the 1910s and the first tikis carved Ed Brownlee in Hawaii in the 1950s that sparked the Tiki movement in America.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-09-26 23:53 ]