Cast metal Hula girl

Hi all,

I just found this hula girl in a thrift shop and was wondering if anyone knew about when it was made?

Thanks
Ojaitimo

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-17 17:42 ]

It looks like the one that Design Toscano sells

http://www.designtoscano.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=4116&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=37&iSubCat=40&iProductID=4116

they claim that their's is a replica of a 1940’s antique. Hopefully yours is one of the 1940's originals.

Thanks Tikiphil, I hope it is as I paid twice what they get for a replica. Anyone know where you can get carbon dating done reasonably?

Orginal or not will look great on your Tiki bar!!!

Thortiki

A friend of mine had this same hula girl....he got it at a store called Z Gallery and it is new. I think he paid like 3 bucks for it on clearance. So it is not old at all, but still cool!

waikiki

Well, you can't pronounce that it's not old just cause they sell them now. They make reproductions of old openers. It is hard to tell sometimes but in some cases the newer ones are not cast iron, not as heavy as the real thing.
george

Judging by the wear, and the patina of the metal where it is chipped (it is a nice dark color, not shiny metal), yours looks like an original, most likely from the 1940s. Nice!!

OK not so sure about this bottle opener / cast iron hula girl. Here's the story of mine. I bought her from a store in New Jersey - it was a nautical store that was going out of business so everything was half price and this was back in 2004. From what I remember she was in area of the store with cast iron figures mostly the same size I think there was a mermaid and a fisherman guy in the yellow coat / pipe ect. I also want to say they were packaged in multipule holders like they were shipped together from the same company sorta like an egg holder / something you could hold matchbox type cars in. There was also the Large cast iron girl in the same area, but I'm not sure if they were from the same manufacturer. It didn't seem like this was a "special" find since there were so many of the same type cast iron figures in the store. If it matters the store was located in Long Beach Island and sold new and a few old/antique items. I think with the previous link to the online store and fact that these Hula girls did not seem like crazy cool Nautical treasures (that could have been th ename of the store by the way) I'm doubting that they are very old like from the forties or earlier. Don't get me wrong they are cool I'm just trying to shed some light on what I know.





Larger girl - could be same company - could not?- But bought in the same place

Nice 'cans' on the one playing the 'uke' !!!!

Try to find someone close by that has a known replica of yours. Take very exact measurements of both. You should find that if yours is the real antique it should be slightly larger in all dimensions. Cast metal especially cast iron shrink during the cooling process. Most people that cast replicas from a mould made from the original do not allow for the shrinkage and don't want to spend the money for a custom oversize mold. This may help you in your pursuit of the truth? By the way take your choice mould or mold? Uncrichie...