Mysterious Moai Lantern

I ran across a pair of mysterious tiki lanterns the other day at a local shop. Unfortunately, I already had about $100 worth of sundry tiki objects in my arms and my wife was in tow, so tacking on another couple of trinkets wasn't in the cards. So I passed on the lanters.

However, I'm still curious as to what in the world they are. The picture below shows one of the lanterns on the side table on the right of the picture. It's a stylized brown moai, with marbels for eyes and a little handle that I suppose you use to hang up the lantern. Anyone seen one of these things before?

looks sorta like the salt and pepper shakers posted by Psycho in tiki finds - minus the eyes

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=1099&forum=5&start=3000

There are pictures of these lanterns and others that are similar in the book "Tiki Quest".

I will look and see if they mention the manufacturer.

PTD

You're right. They look like they're in the same product line.

Even though you spent $100.00, these would definitely be a worthwhile purchase. Do you remember how much they were?

PTD

They were asking $20 per, so $40 for the pair. I have no idea what their market value is.

$40.00 for a pair sounds a little high, are they willing to negotiate? They look pretty cool with a lit candle glowing through the green eyes.

PTD

i have one of those - it's home of course, and i am not, but isn't it quon quon?

they were made in japan i believe..i used to have about 4 pairs..they were a pretty common find even back then...i don't think they will fetch a high price on ebay (if ebay is the yard stick with which you measure an items value)...they also made the salt and pepper shakers by the same company...it looks similiar to treasure craft stuff but it's not treasure craft....i believe there is also a table lighter version as well.

These lanterns show up on eBay once in a while and I bought one for about $10 last year.
A few weeks back I saw one that was marked Westwood on the back.

I pick this one up about a month ago. Minus the wire handle which is easy to make. No marks on mine either.

Mystery solved:
One of the stranger finds I have made:

Box Lid

Inside Box

Small Tag inside box
Made by Quon-Quon, So this is the origin of these marble-eyed lanterns!

I once was lost.....but now I'm found.....