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 Sat, Aug 10, 2019 12:58 PM On 2019-08-07 05:25, Swanky wrote: I'd guess it came before the OMC myself. Start with your own mug then get more generic (cheaper) over time. Great info. You could be onto something Swanky. The Kona Kai opened circa 1962 and the only documentation of a Kona Kai OMC mug is from a 1974 picture. Which features the OMC fog cutter and SP shakers. We can date the HF tiki mugs from the Detroit Mauna Loa to 1967-1969 (when it was open). And there’s a 1966 Playboy article featuring the Steve Crane Ku mug by HF. HF was supplying Tiki mugs in the mid 60s and thus we could place the HF Kona Kai mug in that time frame. Speculation, I know but HF only produced a very limited number of mugs which were all produced in the mid to late 60s. Also, it is quite obvious that HF mugs were undoubtedly of a higher caliber and quality and no doubt much more expensive. So it would seem a bit unlikely that the Kona Kai would replace their cheaper OMC mugs with a more expensive HF mug. It is, as Swanky pointed out, much more likely that the Kona Kai commissioned HF to produce a signature mug... got sticker shock and quickly had OMC copy it. OMC does have a history of copying mugs made by other producers for a restaurant. The LA Islander comes to mind where they copied the Spurlin mugs and took over supplying mugs. In particular the Spurlin Island Chief which was mass produced for various restaurants (and was even copied by Tiki Farm). So it is not unreasonable to suspect that the HF mug came first. It is unfortunate that these things are so hard to date. [ Edited by: tattoo 2019-08-11 09:36 ]

On 2019-08-07 05:25, Swanky wrote:
I'd guess it came before the OMC myself. Start with your own mug then get more generic (cheaper) over time.

Great info.

You could be onto something Swanky. The Kona Kai opened circa 1962 and the only documentation of a Kona Kai OMC mug is from a 1974 picture. Which features the OMC fog cutter and SP shakers.

We can date the HF tiki mugs from the Detroit Mauna Loa to 1967-1969 (when it was open). And there’s a 1966 Playboy article featuring the Steve Crane Ku mug by HF.

HF was supplying Tiki mugs in the mid 60s and thus we could place the HF Kona Kai mug in that time frame. Speculation, I know but HF only produced a very limited number of mugs which were all produced in the mid to late 60s.

Also, it is quite obvious that HF mugs were undoubtedly of a higher caliber and quality and no doubt much more expensive. So it would seem a bit unlikely that the Kona Kai would replace their cheaper OMC mugs with a more expensive HF mug. It is, as Swanky pointed out, much more likely that the Kona Kai commissioned HF to produce a signature mug... got sticker shock and quickly had OMC copy it.

OMC does have a history of copying mugs made by other producers for a restaurant. The LA Islander comes to mind where they copied the Spurlin mugs and took over supplying mugs. In particular the Spurlin Island Chief which was mass produced for various restaurants (and was even copied by Tiki Farm).

So it is not unreasonable to suspect that the HF mug came first. It is unfortunate that these things are so hard to date.

[ Edited by: tattoo 2019-08-11 09:36 ]

Post #796758 by Tattoo on Sat, Aug 10, 2019 12:58 PM