Tiki Stolen in Florida - please help!

This is a picture of a Tiki that was stolen in the last 3 weeks from Hawaiian Gardens Apartments/Condominiums in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida - a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale - this location is about 10 miles from the Mai Kai.

If anyone has any information regarding this theft or might know who is in posession of it please email me at [email protected] - I have promised the manager that I will post something here - she doesn't have any idea what Tiki Central is, she just wanted to know if I could help.

You can see more of Hawaiian Gardens here:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=16964&forum=2&0

Yee-Haw & Aloha,

The World of Tiki Kiliki

[ Edited by: tiki_kiliki 2005-10-20 10:25 ]

Those bastards!
Not only stealing, but from a retirement home.
Hawaiian Gardens looks like the Tiki Central place to retire. Thanks for posting it and good luck in getting it back.

Kiliki, that is Amazing.. I lived in Oakland park for years, less than 5 miles from this place and never once went inside. Amazing. The stolen mask looks like one of the originals being carved by the same person. I wonder who the artist was??

I know I'll keep my eyes peeled. May end up at some flea market or something...

It's a small tiki community, but a big world. Then again, I always seem to run into someone I know, so it seems like a small world.

Hope it is found soon...

oh how sad is that?
the petty meanness of people never ceases to amaze me.
(alhtough I am blessed with maqny good people around me)

yeah it's a small world... but I wouldn't want to have to paint it.

... the manager and/or owner should file a police report..

May end up at some flea market or something

Watch eBay too.

Compare and contrast

with

Possibly the same carver???

If i was gonna steal stuff and sell it for cash, a tiki would not be my first choice. Good luck tiki detectives!

On 2005-10-20 22:27, TikiGardener wrote:
Compare and contrast

with

Possibly the same carver???

Looks very much the same indeed!! Great photo!

Before I went and looked at the photo over at the Tiki Gardens Memorial Website, I almost thought they were the same piece. It would have been a weird thing to have found a lost piece of Tiki Gardens through a theft report!

Best of luck in the hunt for the perps.

Thinking about it, the Fern God Tiki at Tiki Gardens looked very similar in style to the tikis that serve as posts for the roof over the entryway sign for the place your mask was stolen from.

[ Edited by: TikiGardener 2005-10-21 12:04 ]

This were on Ebay a week or so back, not the same carving but similar in style, could be the same maker. To bad I didn't save the auction link. Maybe there was more info about this carving that could help identify the stolen one :( I want to say the ebay tiki came from the Pittsburgh area, but not 100% sure. I do remember the seller wouldn't ship it, it was a pick up only item. Wish I had some real info to help bring him home :(

[ Edited by: DawnTiki 2005-10-21 12:57 ]

Looks like one of those Orchids Of Hawaii masks that were popular with the East-coast Chinese restaurants. Quoted from bigbrotiki in another thread:

These kind of Tiki masks and poles were standard Orchids of Hawaii issue, offered in their catalogue with tons of other Chinese decor, and made into the early 90s. They got more colorful and cheaper looking as the Tiki devolution of the 80s progressed.

The mask stolen from the retirement village looks to be possibly an early model. (I believe they were making these in the early 1960s).

You can see similar painted masks in these threads:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1099&forum=5&vpost=101324

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=9152&forum=1

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=11646&forum=1
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=44403&hl=

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2005-10-21 21:47 ]

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2005-10-21 21:35 ]

Right, though I don't think this is STANDARD orchids stuff, but individually carved, yet by the same guy who Orchids based their molds on, which later turned into ugly painted plastic. This one is (was) still nice.

I guesstimate from Kiliki's other pics that the place was built in the 70s, and that's when Orchids and Witco were the main suppliers on the East coast. So it makes sense that this apartment complex has a mix of the two.

Sven,

You are correct. The complex construction began in the late 60's and opened in 1971. More pictures will be posted soon in locating Tiki.

Which would make it contemporary with the image from Tiki Gardens! I think that this place is a historical kissing cousin to Tiki Gardens.

It is in the south after all ( kissing cousins and all that razz).

Tiki Gardener,

As soon as I can get back home and things settle after the hurricane, I plan to check on Hawaiian Gardens and ask more questions. I'll let you know what I find out!