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Tiki Central / Collecting Tiki

Ever see a Bali Hai mug like this one?

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I have several but none like this one. Even my brother Bongofury hasn't seen one like it.

So here's the deal. Saw it in an antique store back in the corner behind some other tiki mugs several years ago. Move them out of the way & I see it's "different".
No paint- never been painted. None anywhere- even in the crevices (the white spot on left side is a piece of styrofoam). It is clean & no chips. 2 straw holes in lid. Flip it over & base is concave, has the OMC sticker but the Bali Hai print is all in reverse! I've looked through every tiki book I have, searched the internet to no avail.
Anyone ever see one like this?
Value? (I'm not trying to sell it)
Date?
Any more info?
Rare or no big deal?
Input appreciated.

K

If you've ever made the mistake of letting one of these mugs soak in hot, soapy water for awhile you'll know what happened to the paint - it's more like cake frosting than paint - and comes right off. The dissolved remnants of the OMC sticker is more evidence that this Mr. Bali Hai has done a bit of hot-tubbing in his time.

The backwards lettering is unusual, but not unprecedented. The lettering was probably applied with a transfer decal by workers in Japan that don't read English - backwards or forwards looks the same to them, maybe better because the capital letters are on the "correct" end of the words. I have a couple of the Hawaiian-American Cruise Line mugs with all the lettering backwards.

That backward lettering definitely make him unusual, and a keeper, but I doubt it adds much value, because this mug is so common. Fun to see, though.

My votes would be a dishwasher disaster for the cold paint.

Oh well- at least it has the reverse printing going for it.
It was an exciting find no less.

On the OMC tag- the flash on camera washed it all out. It's actually looks great in person.

And it has the concave bottom so it is the older version of the mug and it has its lid (so often they get lost or broken) and its a Mr Bali Hai mug possibly one of the most iconic tiki mugs.

I think you can see I have the lid taped to the mug. Had buddy come over & wanted to see the bottom of another one I had a few years ago. Flipped it over & you know what happened next.

Since I like to collect variations of the same mugs, this would be of particular interest to me.

I have yet to see a reverse printed logo on a mug, which, IMHO, would make this a rarer version of this mug.

Not sure how it would effect the value, but it is cool to see, nonetheless, so thank you for sharing your find.

PTD

Pages: 1 6 replies