Help ID this Tiki Mug

Hi all -

I'm fairly confident this was mass produced somewhere (no signature or maker's mark anywhere), but I got it via a friend who donated to my small yet growing collection (just got into collecting tiki ...). It looks like a promotional item, as the back is not carved at all and has a stamp from the company my friend worked for at the time. Anyhow, just curious if anyone has any info on it. Thanks!

Hey! That looks similar to some mugs I found in an antique centre recently (In the photo on the right).. The ones I found were marked DAGA and made for Kon Tiki:

Liana.

Hey SciFiGuy... I believe that is actually the
Queen Kapiolani Gaping mouth tiki from the hotel in Waikiki, looks like the Daga mug but a little different..
Here's the OoGaMooGa Link:
http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/mug.cgi?mode=view&mug_id=351

Aloha

Thanks, Beachbumz - that looks like it exactly! Mine has a bit more glaze on it, but it's clearly the same mug. Only difference is that it's not marked with the hotel logo on the back, but rather a white company logo. Thanks for the help and the link!

Those mugs were made by Louis B Ceramics in Honolulu - they are still listed on the Louis B website (which strangely remains active even though the company is closed, I think) as the "Kon Tiki" mug:

http://home.hawaii.rr.com/louieb/ceramics/co133.htm

Ooga-Mooga lists Daga as the manufacturer, but I don't think I've ever seen one marked Daga. It's a knockoff of their much nicer Steven Crane Kon Tiki mug; maybe Crane retained the copywrite or something. However, Louis B took over most of Daga's product line after Daga stopped making tiki mugs, so it's possible.

It's interesting to watch the mould degrade over time as they remained in production - from Oooga-Mooga:

Nice crisp details:

Getting kind of fuzzy:

These mugs were based on a carved tiki at the Kon Tiki restaurants - there's a line drawing of the tiki in one of Jeff Berry's books; I'll see if I can find it.

[ Edited by: Koolau 2008-11-09 22:11 ]

Another "Beeeep!" (as in "NOT!") in my book, this ugly duckling of Tiki mug history comes in second to the worst mug design out there, the Kowloon "Potato Bug" mug (the potato bug mug being the ugliest insect in creation). It is undoubtedly called the Kon-Tiki mug because it was an attempt to depict the equally missbegotten Sheraton Waikiki Kon-Tiki menu Tiki:

thank god, i was hoping it wasn't a KON TIKI mug.

I was wondering about that design and how it came about, thanks Sven.. I think I like the one on the menu much better.

On 2008-11-10 14:38, bigbrotiki wrote:
Another "Beeeep!" (as in "NOT!") in my book, this ugly duckling of Tiki mug history comes in second to the worst mug design out there, the Kowloon "Potato Bug" mug (the potato bug mug being the ugliest insect in creation).

Blasphemy!

The Kowloon mug is one of the coolest mugs designs ever! And totally unique. Not derivative of an authentic Tiki or any other Tiki mug design. Kudos for originality, and I just love that Tiki. It's clearly an example of subjective preferences, or "different strokes for different folks".

I REALLY like the more rare tall Kowloon mug. Looks like the S&P shakers. I've yet to find one of these. Anyone have one they want to trade?

Um... wait. You are right. These mugs are awful. Nobody would want them. Send yours to me and I'll make sure they are properly disposed of. Yeah... Especially if you have the tall one. You really don't want to even be seen with the tall Kowloon mug. Bad scene.

I like the Kon Tiki design as well– but when it has good detail, not all crappy, crude, and blown-out.

-Duke

[ Edited by: boutiki 2008-11-10 21:40 ]

Even though I grudgingly acknowledge BigBro's point, it is funny to hear criticism of odd tiki aesthetics from THE proponent of Witco. :wink:

Remember, this mug design began with the Stephen Crane Kon Tiki mug from Daga:

(Photo from Ooga-Mooga)

Daga did a nice job on the original mug - nice color glaze, heavy solid feel, and lots of detail in the early production run. Later on, the moulds wore, and it lost the crispness.

I always thought the mug that SciFiGuy started this thread with was just a result of the original Kon Tiki moulds remaining in use far too long, but it is obviously a different, simplified interpretation of the original design.

By the way, I found the best version of this mug in my collection, and it is indeed stamped Daga on the bottom, so it did start with Daga, and then migrated to Louis B Ceramics. Now Gecko has many of the Louis B moulds - it may live again some day!

[ Edited by: Koolau 2008-11-10 22:15 ]

On 2008-11-10 21:20, boutiki wrote:

On 2008-11-10 14:38, bigbrotiki wrote:
Another "Beeeep!" (as in "NOT!") in my book, this ugly duckling of Tiki mug history comes in second to the worst mug design out there, the Kowloon "Potato Bug" mug (the potato bug mug being the ugliest insect in creation).

Blasphemy!

The Kowloon mug is one of the coolest mugs designs ever! And totally unique. Not derivative of an authentic Tiki or any other Tiki mug design. Kudos for originality, and I just love that Tiki. It's clearly an example of subjective preferences, or "different strokes for different folks".

I REALLY like the more rare tall Kowloon mug. Looks like the S&P shakers. I've yet to find one of these. Anyone have one they want to trade?

Um... wait. You are right. These mugs are awful. Nobody would want them. Send yours to me and I'll make sure they are properly disposed of. Yeah... Especially if you have the tall one. You really don't want to even be seen with the tall Kowloon mug. Bad scene.

I like the Kon Tiki design as well– but when it has good detail, not all crappy, crude, and blown-out.

-Duke

[ Edited by: boutiki 2008-11-10 21:40 ]

I have the salt & pepper shakers like the Kowloon mug but, I don't have the tall one. It is on the top of my want to find list! I love knowing that it is a potato bug that just makes me want it more. I'm sure the potato bug was just misunderstood and this is a fitting tribute.

Beth

On 2008-11-10 21:20, boutiki wrote:
Blasphemy!
I REALLY like the more rare tall Kowloon mug. Looks like the S&P shakers. I've yet to find one of these. Anyone have one they want to trade?

Potato Bug, Potato Bug, na na na na na naaaa :music: :wink:
You know Duke, I never really looked at THAT version above ( I probably instinctively averted my eyes each time), it IS ....well, UNIQUE, for sure, compelling, I admit....but still, all in all, a rather "unfortunate" fellow. It has so little to do with any authentic Polynesian art and is so stylistically outrageous that -Heck!- it could be said it anticipates some of the Tiki Revival art out there today! :D

On 2008-11-11 09:18, Tikisgrl wrote:
I love knowing that it is a potato bug that just makes me want it more. I'm sure the potato bug was just misunderstood and this is a fitting tribute.

Beth, I just call it the Potato Bug mug because I thought it fits, just like I called the black Trader Vic's mug the "Suffering Bastard", (while Vic just called it the Mai Tai mug).

On 2008-11-10 22:03, Koolau wrote:
Even though I grudgingly acknowledge BigBro's point, it is funny to hear criticism of odd tiki aesthetics from THE proponent of Witco. :wink:

Haaa, I saw that coming somehow. I did notice a certain kinship to Witco in the original mug, too. The difference is that I wrote a whole book that explained WHY and HOW we all should and can see past the first "ugly" impression of Witco and appreciate the genius behind it. I'm just not feelin' that here. :)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-11-11 12:04 ]

P.S. Love ya Sven!

:lol: That's not quite right: Most subjects assume that "barfing puppy" posture only after the 4TH (!) Sven-Tiki cocktail.
...wait! Is that a new name for the mug now? :D

On 2008-11-11 14:35, bigbrotiki wrote:
"barfing puppy"
...wait! Is that a new name for the mug now? :D

Quit picking on that great mug!

You too Grog!

-Duke

p.s. How dare you disparage the Kowloon? We have yet to make it there, it's at the top of our list of must-see Tiki temples. Guess it's time to visit that family in Boston.

Sorry, folks, but I am getting more and more fascinated by that " Duke's favorite" (name No. 3) mug abomination now:

I just realized how it possibly was designed: What is the name of that game were you put a drawing of a person together out of three different sections of the body (head/torso/legs)? Because that's how it must have gone down:

Let's see, the feet of a DUCK,
the body of a PLUCKED CHICKEN,
the head of ....my god, the head has about three different creature origins in itself! This IS the true FrankenTiki!
I also detect secret messages in the face, like those RUNES on the forehead, and that M (!) for a nose!

To think I have been ignorant of this absurdist gem all these years! :)

exquisite corpses.