Best type of place to find them

I want to get your opinions as to the best place to find tiki mugs and other items in the wild.

I don't mean retail or ebay, but the other options.

Where do you find most of your finds?

Thrift shops?
Garage/estate sales?
Flea Markets?
Antique dealers?
Other?

I have found most at thrift shops, but then I go there more often than the other kinds of places. I've found a decent amount at flea markets and antique dealers. And while I have found some cool stuff at garage and estate sales, it's just retro stuff, not tiki.

But should I be going to more flea markets? should I stick to thrifting?

And don't worry about me taking away from your finds, because I only really compete with tikisgrl.

I'm in Maine, remember?

..sbim

I used to find a lot my good stuff at antique stores. Not so much any more. Most of my favorite places are gone now.

I don't find a ton of mugs at flea markets, but they're still my favorite places to shop just because there's always so much cool stuff there.

I never find mugs at garage sales.

I hate to admit it, but I used to buy most of my mugs on ebay. That was back when I rarely had to pay more than $9.99 though.

SB,
I would say that most of my finds in the wild have been at thrift stores, but like you, that is where I am able to hunt most regularly.
I have discovered a few nuggets at estate sales (these are my favorite places to hunt because there is always other cool stuff to look at) and rarely at garage sales. Seems most garage sales now are just an excuse for people to unload their crappy old holiday decorations!
The local antiques malls and once a month flea-market will somtimes yield treasure but more often than not you will be paying higher $ for it.
Its all about the hunt though, eh?
Aloha,
:tiki:

I have found most of my stuff at antique shows and thrift stores. A fair amount comes from the flea markets. I even have people find stuff at garage sales. A Hawaiian Village moai and a Hawaiian Inn paddle licker just this week. both for under a buck! I have a few people trained not to leave any tiki behind at a sale. Sure you get some crap most of the time but once in a while BINGO!! There is still alot of good stuff out there, even way up here. It's all about the hunt and I never pass up a sale. Got a Mauna Loa ashtray not too long ago for five bucks and the matchbook to match just this weekend for free! You just never know.

I go to Maine.

SB, Just like what Tiki Royale said, Its all about the hunt...Ya have to look everywhere..I find most of mine at thrift store's and estate sale's

[ Edited by: NOTCH 2007-05-16 16:51 ]

On 2007-05-16 15:40, MachTiki wrote:
I go to Maine.

Darn MachTiki beat me to it... But you already know that I go to Maine! I'm all about thrift stores and antique stores, Flea Markets and the rare garage sale where there is something besides used Tupperware!

Tikisgrl

I just walk along the streets of California and pluck them up, after all, they are paved with tiki...wait a minute...paved with gold...wait a minute...not so much!

My best finds are at the monthly antique shows in Sacramento and Alameda. Most frequent finds of common stuff are found at the flea markets. Antique stores are hit and miss, prices on the high side. I find some items at thrift shops, but I don't go enough and to be quite honest, the workers here cherry pick items or the thrift stores have a "boutique" area where they sell popular stuff at high prices.

Garage sales...I have seldom, if ever, found any tiki. Too many stops, not enough found to bother. Same with estate sales, at least in this area.

I definitely spend more time searching and scouring than I spend money. All of the above have paid off in one fashion or another. Ebay-I have purchased four items here and sell way (never tiki) more than I would ever buy!

Psycho Tiki D (I know I am and you get the picture)!

I am all about the hunt too, I just am looking for insight as to whether or not I should expand my hunting venues more conscientiously.

And these are all good responses. Except the one from Mach. :|

..sbim

• No luck at thrift in Houston for the most part (occasional finds, yes, like a PERfect Tretschikoff for $7.99).

• Garage sales in Texas are so much harder than for you lucky California bastards; they start at 7:00 and are over by noon. This is to beat the heat I guess. There are so many dealers out there that it is rare indeed if I get anything at a garage sale.

*No good flea markets around Houston; mostly new, cheap crap sold by Asians, for some reason.

*Antique malls often yield good fruit for me, but obviously more $$ than a garage sale. But I scored a Bali Hai Tiki Bob, one of my top Holy Grails, at a mid-century modern booth in an antique mall for $7.50! Their Haywood Wakefield was top dollar, but not their tiki! And a Witco tiki for $20 at a cool retro mall in Austin (they're onto Witco now, dammit). Smalltown antique malls can be fabulous, if a big-city dealer hasn't gone through before you. It takes planning to schedule antiquing time on your trip, but it is usually very worth it. I get lots of stuff this way.

• City-wide garage sales rule, if you can get in early. My school where I teach has the biggest in the city, and as a teacher, I get first dibs (after the moms working it). Not much tiki (the parents are too young to have had cool tiki stuff in the past), but they're rich enough to take trips to Hawaii and Tahiti, then later sell their souvenirs. Big church garage sales are rich hunting ground, again if you can get in before the dealers.

• My fave: crappy resale/junk stores. They just wanna get rid of the sh*t and don't take the time to look it up on eBay. They'll occasionally way overprice some stuff that they think is valuable (why are ALL oil paintings "valuable"?!), but if they're clueless about tiki, you're in luck. These stores close frequently, though (for good), so I have to keep on my toes, screeching the brakes if I've passed a new one that's popped up to take another's place. I get great "trader" style stuff here, like giant pieces of coral for $20.

• And yes, the occasional eBay if it's something very very special that I will never find in the wild or at an antique store.

• But there's nothin' like going to the source: the very tiki temple itself. My mugs from the Mai Kai, the Kahiki, Trader Vic's, the Spanish tiki bars - honey, there's nothing better than buying it there! And I buy a helluva lot at every tiki event, be it new carvings or old goodies that someone like Basement Kahuna wants to get rid of to make room (and money) for more stuff for himself.

Best advice? Live where other tiki collectors don't! But then you don't get to have them over to see your cool stuff and have a Mai Tai. I'd rather have the guests; it's all about the ohana for me :)
F

gotta agree that the church sales are the best (must be the need to get rid of that pagan stuff)....being in the antiques/worthless crap business has me scouring the antique malls for dealers that don't have the same appreciation for poly pop while looking for any thing that's has room for profit (but man' these moments can be rare!) all those price guides have taken innocence away...want to make money? ...write a price guide!...... but the HUNT is the juice! ....that and the fear of working for someone else! ....with set hours..and paperwork.....and bosses!

Here in Hawaii the thrift stores are sometimes fruitful - but I generally only find Daga mugs and miscellaneous Coco Joe's items. Usually the stores are heavily picked - there are people who spend the entire day at a store waiting for new items to be stocked. Those of us with jobs are out competed.

That being said, most of those people hanging out at the thrift store all day are dealers at the weekend flea market and swap meet. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but establishing relationships with them is key. Once they know you're after tiki, they'll buy it when they see it, intending to sell it to you on Sunday.

Part of establishing that relationship with the regular dealers is generally paying them what they are asking - if it's too much, I'll put the mug down and thank them. Typically, they'll offer a lower price. If they're just plain asking confiscatory prices, I really don't want to do business with them anyway.

I used to buy a lot of mugs off eBay, but cost with shipping is rapidly approaching $20 per mug, and that's just more than I want to pay for an Orchids of Hawaii or OMC. Gotta be special for an eBay purchase these days.

I agree with everyone, especially Formikahini.

I have found that thrift stores in college towns (Arlington, Lubbock, Etc.) are usually stripped of tiki in the few hours after they open (or when class is out). College kids see them and buy them to drink beer from or what not then throw them away or break them, not knowing what value they may hold. I try my hardest to resuce them before the kids get ahold of them. True there maybe soem collectors, but they are out weighed by the frat boys, believe me I know... I was both.

I think I posted this mostly out of frustration that I go to thrift stores all the time, and in recent months I have found two things, one of which is a modern Dynasty monkey mug. But then Tikisgrl is in the same neck of the woods, and she finds a bazillion things.

Granted, she lives closer to population centers than I do, and has more to choose from, but I feel like I must be missing some stuff.

..sbim

i've had good success finding tiki mugs in sbim's house. it's the best when he's not there.

For the most part every thrift store in this area has a back room with a small computer set up where they sell the good stuff on Ebay that will never make it to the shelves., Even Goodwill gets it’s merchandise from Tacoma where the booty is also separated and auctioned http://www.shopgoodwill.com/search/searchKey.asp?itemTitle=&catID=0&sellerID=122&closed=no&minPrice=&maxPrice=&sortBy=itemEndTime&sortOrder=a&submit1=Search, which is why most thrifts here look more like extensions of Walmart or the Dollar Store. Last week Goodwill had a large Treasure Craft moai with 3 chips on it for the outrageous price of $34.99, I had no remorse about walking past it.

So for my money I’ll get my yard/estate sale list every Thursday night and go on a field trip. Mugs aren’t as cheap as they use to be but scores still can be had.

Well, as I have visited this site quite often and it has been very helpful in my never ending quest for tiki. I feel as though maybe its time I signed up and made a few posts.

Here in coastal South Carolina (Myrtle Beach) Tiki is not very easy to come by. Any thing other than Tacky Tiki that is. Flea markets haven't worked very well around here, at least not for me. I don't care for yard sales ether,It takes to long to weed out the crap from the gold and I just don't have the time.

Now, I have had some luck lookin' in older surf shops in the area. The newer shops have a lot of Tiki-Farm type stuff but not as many one of a kind finds. Not a knock at Tiki-Farm by any means(I have my fair share of cool Farm stuff.) The older shops just tend to have more one of a kind items. Any Tikiphiles that live on one of our fine coasts may want to give that a try.

I travel often and When I do I always Keep an eye on the little hole in the wall or mom and pop run Thrift Shops along the way to wherever I'm headed. I've scored a few major finds this way....

Case in point..........This is one of (if not THE) creme de la creme finds in my collection found in The Outer Banks, N.C. my wife spotted this little rinky dink shop on the side of the road and asked if I wanted to stop and have a look. I reluctantly said O.K. as it looked like a complete waste of time, lots of old lady dresses and such in the windows. Anyhow, as we looked around she calls out to me to come over. I do, and she says, how bout this ugly little guy, Its only 50 cents........I could not believe my eyes.

A Tiki Bob San francisco mug for 50 cents?!! I still can't believe it. See, you just never know where you may get lucky. Needless to say my wife doesnt think the little guy's so ugly after all. Next week we're off to Florida and the search continues........... much luck to you all in your own tiki quest. Hope the surf shop tip helps.

The majority of my in-the-wild finds have been at thrift stores and swap meets (and only certain swap meets, for that matter). And my rate of success for finding anything anymore is about 1 visit in 10.

Antique stores are usually slow. Most of the store owners say how collectible Tiki is, and how it flys off the shelf as soon as they get the stuff. I am still astonished how I can walk into a huge antique store filled with thousands of bowls, glasses, chinaware, etc., but cannot find a single tiki mug.

Garage sales are almost always a bust around here, since most of the people are military who are moving, or younger people who post-date the heyday of tiki.

One place you might want to look, is mini-storage places who are auctioning off property stored in unpaid storage lockers. And you might also want to check for older restaurants and bars that are going out of business. I am still kicking myself over a local bowling alley that closed down. The bar had cases of Morgantown tiki stemware that they never used, and it all went into the trash.

The Tikipedia
www.tikipedia.com

[ Edited by: tikipedia 2008-02-10 22:19 ]

"I am still astonished how I can walk into a huge antique store filled with thousands of bowls, glasses, chinaware, etc., but cannot find a single tiki mug."

Me too. I have a scattering of antique shops I visit... too often. If it's been 6 months since I've been in one, I get my hopes up. A couple of shops that buy estates know what I'm after and they are most fruitful.

I have never found a mug in a Goodwill store, but many exotica and Hawaiian music albums, (25 cents each), and a few interesting tiki shirts... and skinny ties.

On 2007-05-17 08:38, Johnny Dollar wrote:
i've had good success finding tiki mugs in sbim's house. it's the best when he's not there.

Thanks for the false hope J$.
I found nothing.
I got a bottle of Bacardi though.

the only bacardi I have is 151 that I use for fire.
had you touched my pyrat, I would have had to kill you.

I probably see more mugs at antique shops than I do at thrift stores, but the thrift stores are usually more productive because the prices are much more reasonable and their inventories change more frequently. More often than not I will find a mug at an antique store where the asking price is just ludicrous....like $25 for a common Orchids of Hawaii R-6 seen last year in a San Diego store. An antique store closer to home is asking $95 for a Mr. Bali Hai that is missing much of its earring and nose bone paint! I find it interesting that some antique dealers just slap a high price on a mug when they obviously know nothing about its actual worth.

In the last two months one particular thrift store I visit regularly has been fairly productive, which I find interesting because I was unable to find anything over the previous year before that. In the last four visits I have scored about 10 tiki mugs and other tiki items, including a Don the Beachcomber coconut mug and a cool ceramic Ku made by Treasure Craft. Come to find out that there was a manager change at this store recently. Apparently the previous manager was purchasing most of the good stuff and selling it on eBay!

Unfortunately, as Naugatiki states above I would guess that many thrift stores simply auction off the good stuff before it ever sees the front room floor. Employees buy stuff too. I recently purchased a couple of mugs on ebay from a person I met for a local pick-up, and it was admitted that the mugs came from a thrift shop (that I shop at!) where she does occasional volunteer work. That's pretty hard competition to beat. Last week I observed several store employees shopping at another store where they had just emptied a bunch of crates with new stock.

I haven't had much luck with garage and estate sales, but then again I haven't been to that many. Like anything else I suppose it requires persistence. I would say that is the key to finding tiki in the wild whatever the source - go often. Most of the time you will leave empty-handed, but occasionally luck will be on your side.

Admittedly ebay used to be my shopping place of choice. Although I absolutely enjoy the hunt and am out usually once a week in the local thrift and antique stores, ebay is a great resource for some of the harder to find pieces that would take several lifetimes of thrift store scouring to actually find. However, like Tiki-Kate I have backed off of ebay in recent months because of high shipping prices, which raises the average price for a common tiki mug to $15 or $20. In addition, it seems like there has been a big surge of new collectors lately willing to pay just about anything for a mug on ebay. Several vintage mugs that I paid $25 to $40 for just a year ago are now fetching prices well over $100. Amazing. Many more common vintage mugs seem to be going for much more than the average price sightings listed on Ooga.

Don't forget to be on the lookout for the wonderful bars and restaurants that still have mugs for sale. Every collection should have some new along with the old and its important the support joints like Forbidden Island in Alameda that comission new mugs.

Also any secret cave in Hawaii with Vincent Price in it is a cool place to find rare Tiki items.

Here in So Cal everything is pretty picked over. Dealers comb the thrifts and estate sales, so if you go that way, you just have to go early/often. Estate sales in the neighborhoods where the old folks live are the best (Long Beach!). You never know what treasures you'll find amidst the polyester. We have several good flea markets, sometimes you can get a decent deal. But yeah, ebay is crazy $$$ because of the added shipping costs.

I agree. SoCal is picked over, and with the incredible spike of "vintage" shops and antique stores opening up, it's almost futile to find anything in the true wild such as the Salvation Army's, The Goodwill's and such. People decided to go into small business by opening up antiquing stores/ebay stores and they are the ones hitting the true thrifts stores first, while the rest of the world heads out to their 9 to 5...The scenario reminds me of politicians...Take from the poor, to sell to the rich! I've quit buying stuff from "Antique" and "Vintage" specialty stores. I'll eventually find what I want at the local flea markets/swapmeets, and if not, no big loss....Just means more drinking money! :lol:

Ahh, EDIT* because I forgot to mention, the last (2) Salvation Army's I went into....had merchandise with COLLECTIBLES price tags on them(Anaheim) :o , and were in a small more pricey section...Apparently, they hired some "appraisers" who are somewhat more savvy on pricing. Even the remodel of my local S.A. has a separate small section that even has its different entry doors...It's called Salvation Army Boutique(Redondo Beach)! :lol: :lol: :lol: :roll:

[ Edited by: Tom Slick 2008-03-15 09:50 ]

I've never found a mug - or any tiki collectible, for that matter - at a thrift store. After about a dozen fruitless trips, I've quit trying.

Central Texas is a net importer of tiki collectibles. Most of the vintage stores here get their wares from out of state and haul them to vintage-starved Austin. There aren't any locals donating big caches of vintage mugs, etc. to charity.

Good Will, Has a marketing deal going, They hired people, Who are the up and up to pick through the donated stuff, Sort out the valuables and sell them on there own site, ( http://www.shopgoodwill.com/ ) The Long Beach Antique Swap Meet sometimes has some stuff here in So,Cal but buyer Beware! They have the vintage looking mugs, Made in China to look old! A Great Red Flag is if the item appears smaller than the original, When you re-mold an item it gets 10% smaller, Next is the bottom looks like a lot use, The China manufactures put a glaze on the bottom to look like years of wear! If the bottom looks worn but it's a uniform swipe of under glaze, Then pass the item, I saw all the misleading items for sale, As I make ceramics, I can spot them! But easy for you too! Mahalo! Gogo

I was never much into the mug scene till recently when I found a Harvey's Lake Tahoe Barrel Mug at the local Salavation Army. I understand this is a pretty common item as far as vintage items go, but now I'm hooked! It got me excited about hunting for vintage mugs. So my question is this for the for the veteran wild mug collectors: I recently took a job with 1/2 day Fridays, which seems like a good deal for thrift shop visits ahead of the weekend crowd. What is the best day to hit the thrift shops & beat the antique dealers and everyone else? Mid-week, Mondays, Fridays, or just hit & miss random luck? Any and all input appreciated!! :)

Ask your local thrifts when they get their shipments in. They usually get stuff shipped in from a central processing center on a random Wednesday or Thursday so they can sort and stock before the weekend. Then go the day AFTER they get their stuff in. If you go regularly, you can get to know the people working there (be nice and chat them up a bit!) and ask them to save Tiki/Hawaiian etc stuff for you. Sometimes they will!

Aaron, the whole searching and "coming up" on merchandise is hit or miss. I don't think you can really narrow it down to shipments even, due to the fact that more likely than not, they will not have any classic polypop items that came in their new arrivals. Besides, my understanding now is that they have been sharpening their eyes for collectibles in shipments. I go to the thrifts once a month or so now, and mainly to kill a little time. Search when you can and feel like it, that way there is no dissapointment.

I have a theory, and I don't think I'm alone on this:

Look for thrift shops nearest older, affluent neighborhoods. Neighborhoods that harbor older folks who when were younger had money to take NICE vacations, within the US or abroad. The key part about them being older neighborhoods is that these folks are probably scaling down their souvenirs from days past to get rid of what may now be considered clutter to them. Souvenirs from visits to old Florida or Cali or even places overseas (vacations taken in the 40's, 50's 60's). I've had much better luck in areas like this than say, Poe Mill, SC (yes, that's really a place-a tiny mill town with a tiny thrift shop--lotsa wheel chairs--did these people learn to walk again and donated their wheelchairs to the thrift store?). Same with estate sales--I went to an estate sale last year in downtown (way old-school-big money Chaaaalston, sc) that had the most incredible collection of books (on S. Pacific mythology, legends and arts/crafts), souvenirs, vintage wicker items/furniture, Easter Island items, huge collection of antique glass fishing floats, rare shell collections, large sea turtle shells, giant clam shells--I could go on for awhile--definitely world travelers. My wallet sucked badly that day, though, dammit!

Do your demographic research for your neck o' the woods and see what you can find--no guarantees-but worth a shot.

On 2008-03-15 23:13, Aaron's Akua wrote:
I was never much into the mug scene till recently when I found a Harvey's Lake Tahoe Barrel Mug at the local Salavation Army. I understand this is a pretty common item as far as vintage items go, but now I'm hooked! It got me excited about hunting for vintage mugs. So my question is this for the for the veteran wild mug collectors: I recently took a job with 1/2 day Fridays, which seems like a good deal for thrift shop visits ahead of the weekend crowd. What is the best day to hit the thrift shops & beat the antique dealers and everyone else? Mid-week, Mondays, Fridays, or just hit & miss random luck? Any and all input appreciated!! :)

Hey Aaron,
The thrift shops around here bring out little roller tables of new stuff every half hour or so it seems. I've been known to to stop by daily on my way to the gym (lunch time-ish) because it's on the way. Maybe not the best area to be looking (like I mentioned in post above) but still worth a look. I don't think there is a particular day when they haul in the new goods--seems like a daily, or several times daily event (here anyway-@-The Goodwill Stores). I'd say go often as you can like maybe a quick run through during your lunch hour. Good Luck!

Thrift stores in trendy areas are either over-priced or always seem to be picked over. This is true about any kind of thrift store purchases. Until I started looking, I figured Tiki paraphernalia would be particularly elusive where I live. But I've found quite a few treasures so far. My prognosis is this: antique malls/stores, flea markets, and trendier thrift shops tend to cater to collectors and charge way more than most of these things are worth (case in point: the Libbey Moai mug for which I paid about 5 times its worth). Thrift stores in poorer areas or areas with little foot traffic seem to yield the best finds, either because people aren't looking for this stuff (unless Sweet Daddy Tiki beats me there!) or they don't get to the out-of-the-way stores. Garage sales can be great, but you have to hit a lot of them to find anything good. In theory, at least. I never find anything good. Well, that's my two cents.

Hey, Brandomoai. I didn't notice on your Collecting Tiki post that you're from Edmonton. Welcome to TC. I guess you're the competition now that I've run Tiki A. Moaikingbird outta town. I don't "do" the collectibles stores because, as you say, they're too expensive (and patronizing them just encourages them to keep harvesting the thriftstores and estate sales). I find the antique malls (the two on Gateway Boulevard anyway) to be quite reasonably priced, but I hardly ever see any Tiki items there. I think Tiki must still be below most dealers' radar. I agree with you about garage sales - potentially the best bargains but good scores have been few and far between. Thrift stores have been my best hunting grounds over the years - I try to hit a few every day. I haven't been finding nearly as much stuff lately - so either there's more competition or the supply is drying up.

I've found probably 20 tiki mugs in thrift stores in the Atlanta area, practically all modern though. There just doesn't seem to be much in the way of classic castoffs here as in other places like Southern California. We seem to have a much better chance of finding classic things in the Florida vein however. I have better luck with vinyl, but the condition is so rarely perfect with exotica. Other than a few prizes, most of the Martin Denny I find in thrift stores looks like it had a great run in somebody's lounge, and probably got thrown across the room a few times. Its so rare to find those perfect gems anymore.

The theory posted above about thrift store locations is a good one, but there are a few other factors I think that can vary within areas. Thrift stores near affluent areas may have good donations, but some chains, like Goodwill, also have central distribution warehouses which bring the goods from all over. Also, those stores may not have the same traffic as stores in poorer areas with customers that live nearby and shop there for convenience. The affluent places may have more people after stylish and collectible stuff.

My favorite ones are (now) in mixed areas, and are a little out of the way from hip city centers. The ones not yet discovered. All mine! (Almost - the other day a gentleman searched the 45s moments before me and got the Strangeloves "I Want Candy". He was a nice guy though so we could talk about other finds).

Hey, thanks guys. I guess it's all hit & miss. That Goodwill that I've been frequenting is right near a huge enclave of affluent old folks (called "Leisure World") in South Orange County. You'd think all kinds of good stuff would come through, but it's been pretty meager. I'll have to look for some of those out of the way thrift shops and stop by once in a while. Seen some cool stuff in antique stores, but I gotta agree, they're generally way overpriced. I'm looking for the $1.99 vintage mug - that's what it's all about!