Calling all Tiki Archaeologists - General Tiki

T TikiTacky Member Joined: Nov 23, 2010 Posts: 1319	T TikiTacky Posted posted on Sun, Jun 23, 2013 7:48 AM Thanks for the link, very good info! "I have a number of pieces that were made for and used exclusively at Trader Vic's. I've been able to date the pieces between 1940-1944 utilizing a 1941's original photo of a young Victor Bergeron standing behind a souvenir counter at his original establishment in Oakland. In the background, one can clearly see a Vernon Kiln’s Scorpion bowl as well as the earliest version of a Samoa fogcutter. Another source of information is a September 4, 1944 Life magazine article which displays several early mugs and bowls (PB2Y Gremelin bowl, Samoa fogcutter, skull mug, Kava bowl, Scorpion bowl) used at Trader Vic’s. I’ve narrowed down the manufacturer of these early pieces to either Tepco or Vernon Kilns based upon Bergeron's historic record of utilizing both companies for his drink ware. (The skull mug was at some point also manufactured by Red Wing.) " We'd need to see the photo to know about which versions are dated to 1944, but most of these appear to be in Ooga Mooga already. Let's see more. Anyone have any vintage menus they can scan in and post? Also, as bigbrotiki mentioned in that post, patents are also a good place to look. Can you do a free patent search online going back this far? Edit: I realize there's some disagreement as to what makes a tiki mug. For this instance, I'm talking about any shaped ceramic mugs from the Polynesian-themed restaurants. [ Edited by: TikiTacky 2013-06-23 07:50 ]

Thanks for the link, very good info!

"I have a number of pieces that were made for and used exclusively at Trader Vic's. I've been able to date the pieces between 1940-1944 utilizing a 1941's original photo of a young Victor Bergeron standing behind a souvenir counter at his original establishment in Oakland. In the background, one can clearly see a Vernon Kiln’s Scorpion bowl as well as the earliest version of a Samoa fogcutter. Another source of information is a September 4, 1944 Life magazine article which displays several early mugs and bowls (PB2Y Gremelin bowl, Samoa fogcutter, skull mug, Kava bowl, Scorpion bowl) used at Trader Vic’s. I’ve narrowed down the manufacturer of these early pieces to either Tepco or Vernon Kilns based upon Bergeron's historic record of utilizing both companies for his drink ware. (The skull mug was at some point also manufactured by Red Wing.) "

We'd need to see the photo to know about which versions are dated to 1944, but most of these appear to be in Ooga Mooga already. Let's see more. Anyone have any vintage menus they can scan in and post?

Also, as bigbrotiki mentioned in that post, patents are also a good place to look. Can you do a free patent search online going back this far?

Edit: I realize there's some disagreement as to what makes a tiki mug. For this instance, I'm talking about any shaped ceramic mugs from the Polynesian-themed restaurants.

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2013-06-23 07:50 ]

Post #683284 by TikiTacky on Sun, Jun 23, 2013 7:48 AM