Mug information: New variation?

I just picked this mug up on ebay, and wondered if anyone had info on it. It's a hoffman potttery Headhunter, like the ones used at the Kahiki. But the bottom is marked Hawaii Tai instead. Was the Hawaii Tai another restaurant in the Columbus area, or was the mug supposed to be marked Hawaii Kai and this is a mistake?

Mahalo!

Yes, I have a mug exactly like that. I was starting to think maybe I owned the only one Hoffman ever made. Here are the markings on mine:

I've never known for sure what it says. However, I always thought it was "Hawaii Kai", but it could be "Hawaii Tai". I also have an official Hoffman Kahiki Moai. Comparing the two, I cannot see any differences other than the bottom markings.

ModMana :drink:

Thanks for the reply ModMana. We are probably the only two with these ultra-rare collectibles! It would be cool to know if there was a restaurant named Hawaii Tai that used these. Anyone know?

Sorry to bring up this really old thread, but does anyone have any additional info on the Hawaii Tai? I just got one of these mugs as well.

Here's the picture of my mug.

[ Edited by: Ratzaroony 2008-04-01 19:40 ]

A little digging turned up a few references to a Hawaii Tai, used to be on Broadway in New York. Could be he was approached to make some for another restaurant, or these were samples? Hoffman did a lot of experimentation and used several marks, but this is curious.

On 2009-03-31 06:41, wentiki wrote:
A little digging turned up a few references to a Hawaii Tai, used to be on Broadway in New York.

pretty sure the new york restaurant was the hawaii kai. hawaii tai is almost certainly a mistake, ta'i is the tahitian cognate of the hawaiian word ka'i, which means "good". so it would either be tahiti tai or hawaii kai. not hawaii tai or tahiti kai.