Crypto-Mugs. Do these legends exist and who has them? - Collecting Tiki

T Tattoo Tiki Socialite Los Angeles Joined: Sep 24, 2005 Posts: 321	T Tattoo Posted posted on Tue, Jul 29, 2014 7:29 PM Back to the true origins of this thread... crypto mugs and who has them? Well, here's one I have always wondered about: the 1944 Life Magazine "Hot Buttered Rum" Skull mug. We are all familiar with the Tepco/Trader Vic Pointed Skull Mug but as can be seen in the famous Life Magazine article, the one above has a heavy aged look to it. Black smudges and such which appear to be part of the glaze. I have NEVER seen one like that and been on the hunt and looked for years for a blackened vintage Trader Vic's skull mug. Does someone have one??? None of the mugs and bowls of that article that have been found are Tepco. And the 1939 Patent of the Skull Mug is by Trader Vic and not Tepco: Thus it is fair to presume that the 1944 skull mug is actually not Tepco - like all the other finds of that article. Does anyone have a clue as to who made these early mugs??? Not until the mid 50s did Trader Vic relegate most of his mugs to Tepco but... these early pre-1950 ones, the few I have seen, seem to have no makers mark and feel very homemade. So, there must be a pre-Tepco Skull mug and... who has one? [ Edited by: tattoo 2014-07-30 14:03 ]

Back to the true origins of this thread... crypto mugs and who has them? Well, here's one I have always wondered about: the 1944 Life Magazine "Hot Buttered Rum" Skull mug.

We are all familiar with the Tepco/Trader Vic Pointed Skull Mug but as can be seen in the famous Life Magazine article, the one above has a heavy aged look to it. Black smudges and such which appear to be part of the glaze. I have NEVER seen one like that and been on the hunt and looked for years for a blackened vintage Trader Vic's skull mug. Does someone have one???

None of the mugs and bowls of that article that have been found are Tepco. And the 1939 Patent of the Skull Mug is by Trader Vic and not Tepco:

Thus it is fair to presume that the 1944 skull mug is actually not Tepco - like all the other finds of that article. Does anyone have a clue as to who made these early mugs??? Not until the mid 50s did Trader Vic relegate most of his mugs to Tepco but... these early pre-1950 ones, the few I have seen, seem to have no makers mark and feel very homemade.

So, there must be a pre-Tepco Skull mug and... who has one?

[ Edited by: tattoo 2014-07-30 14:03 ]

Post #724205 by Tattoo on Tue, Jul 29, 2014 7:29 PM