Anyone know who made this and if it's a bowl or mug?

I've had this for a few weeks now and my resarch has not come up with anything? This holds 16 ounces and is oval in shape with a tiki face on both sides. It's marked on the bottom in red with what looks to me to be very faintly " ____ Honolulu Hawaii". Not sure if it could be a sugar bowl or a mug for two? Anyone have any clues or Information?







Ok, so I got carried away with the camera. :lol:

It looks like the "Octopus" mug from Trader Vic's Hawaii, though slightly more refined (and not green).

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1099&forum=5&vpost=195821

"Refined" in what sense? :lol: What a poor bastard of a mug. Lock him in the stairs closet. He's a Tiki Mug Freak!
The Waikiki Trader Vic's mugs, though they may have a certain primitive, "hacked clay" charm, are already part of 70s Tiki devolution, but who would try to improve on them by defining the features more? Oh lordy :roll:

OK Sven, :(

"Refined" in what sense? What a poor bastard of a mug. Lock him in the stairs closet. He's a Tiki Mug Freak!
The Waikiki Trader Vic's mugs, though they may have a certain primitive, "hacked clay" charm, are already part of 70s Tiki devolution, but who would try to improve on them by defining the features more? Oh lordy

:( Does this mean it's a piece of crapola and I should just shit can it? You have to remember that us folks up here in the boonies don't have that luxury of finding all those great finds that you folks on the west coast get to scavenge up everyday. Especially the well travelled TC's like you. :lol: So I guess I have to take what I can get and be happy with it. :D

Display it with pride!
It being "hideous" probably caused most of these to not be collected. Consider it rare in a weird sense.

It's a Daga for sure, but beyond that...

It'll fall right in line with those "unfortunate" mugs like the Sheraton Waikiki Kon Tiki mug, the German Moevenpick mug, and Duke's Kowloon potato bug! The ugly ducklings of Tiki mug history. :D

Isn't that the very rare California Raisins mug? :wink:

Tikipaka - congrats on finding a vintage Hawaii-made tiki mug. Vintage Hawaii-made mugs are often crude, as Bigbro points out, but I admire the individuality and handwork expressed in these mugs. Hawaii was very distant and isolated in the 60's and 70's (and we still are) - I'm amazed that manufacturers were able to make anything here in quantity.

I have that same mug, but it has a glazed bottom and is not marked. I bought it on Maui, thinking it was the Trader Vic Octopus mug. It's not, but is obviously based on the same design. I would imagine it's a knockoff of the Octopus, but you never know.

I doubt it's from Daga - Daga was fastidious about marking their wares, even in their early Polynesian Pottery phase. I've never seen a Daga mug stamped after the mug was fired, as appears to be the case with your mug. I'd suspect an early effort by Louis B (who stamped his mugs and often left the bottom unglazed), the mysterious "SSS", or one of the other small manufactures on Kauai and Maui.

It's a scarce mug, and an excellent addition to any Hawaii-based tiki mug collection.

Koolau, thanks for the information. There is a very faint mark in red on the bottom that does not show in the photo. I had to get my loop out to even see the "Honolulu" part above where the "Hawaii" stamp is. That's when I noticed there were actually 3 lines. "_____Honolulu Hawaii". It's always nice to find something unusual. :lol: I did post it on OM under the Octopus mug, and I mentioned Daga. :lol: Since I couldn't find a template of it, I thought that would be the next best thing?

The ugly duckling story ends with him becoming a beautiful swan.

Maybe you're meaning "the Ugly Step-Sister" or, perhaps, "Red-Headed Step-Child"?

:wink:

I like it because it's an actual piece of history. If it were a reproduction, that would be a different story.

Well I did a little more research because I thought I saw one of these mugs here before. And sure enough, going back through this forum, there it was.. Tikisgrl posted a picture of it along with a couple of other mugs she found. :( Well it's not old and it's not rare, but at least now I know which restaurant it came from in Hawaii. Buzz's Steak House! My mug doesn't have that logo on the side of it. And I think I can see it on Tikisgrls photo, but it's the same one.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=1099&forum=5&start=2790

Tikisgrl is yours a two faced mug also? I couldn't tell by your photo. Well, I guess instead of searching Google and other places, I should have went back through this forum first! Lesson learned. This is why it's great that everyone puts up photos of their finds. Thanks

[ Edited by: tikipaka 2008-11-27 19:02 ]

Hmmm - I don't know why you'd jump to those conclusions Tikipaka - Buzz's has been in business since the 1960's, yours was only the second one of those mugs I've ever seen, and I've never spotted one on eBay.

Maybe by rare you meant valuable - no, it's not valuable, but rarity and value don't always go hand-in-hand. The Stephen Crane Ku mug is valuable, but there's virtually always one for sale on eBay.

It's a nice mug, and a great part of a Hawaii-made collection. It would still be nice to know who the manufacturer was.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm Koolau, :lol: I went to bed last night thinking about this damn mug and its age. And when I woke up this morning, my husband and I were talking about it, and he said the same thing. I assumed it wasn't old because of when I searched Google for Buzz's Steak House the place looked brand new. :lol: And I couldn't seem to find out any history of how long it has been open. Then again it was late last night and I was tired. But since I'm another one of those people who live on approximately 4-5 hours of sleep each night, I'm right back here checking out TC. Hoping someone would come back and prove me wrong. Besides what else can you do this early in the morning. :lol: Thanks for the information. And do you happen to have any photos of the place from the early years? Thanks once again for your help.

Nope, sorry - I've willfully stopped myself from collecting postcards, so I don't have any old images of Buzz's. Maybe Dustycajun can help with that request.

The Buzz's in Kailua is an old wooden beach house and is wonderful - local legend is that if the restaurant ever burns down or closes, it will not be allowed to re-open, as the area is now zoned for residential. I don't know if that's true, but it makes each visit special.

I have one of the other Buzz's mugs in Tikisgrl's photo - I'll see if that one has a manufacturer's mark.