Crypto-Mugs. Do these legends exist and who has them?

This post is prompted by TC member pa'akiki's recent find of the until-now-undiscovered Cobra's Fang mug from the Islander in La Cienega:

This fantastic find knocks another mug off my "cryptid" list. Just as "Cryptozoology" refers to the search for animals which are considered to be legendary or otherwise nonexistent by mainstream biology like the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster, or the unlikely Woofmutt, a "Crypto-mug" is my term for Poly-pop mugs and glassware that appear in old pictures on menus or postcards or photos, but which haven't been found yet by collectors. They may be fanciful artist's renderings that never existed, or they may be extinct or super-rare or just overlooked by collectors until now.

Remember how back in 2003, hardly anyone had seen an Imperial Glass Voodoo Grog, but then someone finally listed one on eBay as as a "Trader Vic's Tiki Mug" and suddenly they began to appear on the market.

Sometimes collectors have had them all along, but because they were rare, the majority of us didn't know if they were out there. A good example is the Trader Vic's Nautilus Mug. All it took was posing the question, "Does this mug exist?" and several collectors posted their pictures.

So I propose this this thread as repository of Crypto-Mugs (and other crypto-glassware). If you know of a mug in an old menu or photo and can't find it on Ooga-Mooga, and don't know if it really exists - post it here and let's see if we can find it.

I'll start with my list. Please add to it, as I know it's just a fraction of the Crypto-mugs out there.

I have a feeling a lot of these are going to be big scorpion and volcano bowls. They were made in very small numbers and were easily breakable, so probably few of them survived.

SAM'S SEAFOOD

This mug appears in a postcard photo of the Sam's Seafood gift shop. It also appears as a rendering in their old souvenir menu. There is also a volcano bowl in the rendering that we know existed because on the larger four-panel postcard, you could see them resting on the floor of the gift shop. TC member Traderpup remembers seeing one of the mugs appear on eBay back in 2001 or 2002. As far as I know, another has never appeared.

:down: You can see the bowls on the floor at the lower left of this image

THE LUAU 400 SCORPION BOWL

From a mint, unused drink menu. Did this bowl exist or was it a prototype, which like the menu, was never released?

(And as a paper collector, I'd like to find this takeout box too):

THE POLYNESIAN IN TORRANCE
I've never seen either of these two bowls. I think DC might own this menu, so if he could post a larger scan, it would be most appreciated.

The Tiki Bowl above also makes an appearance in this menu from an unknown Bali-Hai location:

In the same Bali-Hai menu is this great Zombie mug with a Ku Tiki on it:

THE TONGA LEI in MALIBU

The menu shows a wonderful pig bowl and a unique black volcano bowl.

We know the volcano bowl existed because a photo of it appears in one of their brochures:

THE HANALEI ISLANDS RESTAURANT, SAN DIEGO

Has anyone ever seen the two-moai volcano bowl in this menu picture? Also is the Moai mug a standard one, or unique to this restaurant?

THE HILTON HAWAIIAN VILLAGE MUGS

So far, I've seen just about every one of these custom mugs from the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Hawaii appear on TC over the years:

The exceptions are the "Chimp In Orbit" and the "Suffering Haole"

In this old Time LIFE photo of U.S. Senators having a luau at the Hawaiian Village, you can see a Suffering Haole glass in use:

Just for kicks, here's another photo showing the Hukilau and Diamond Head mugs. I know these have since been found, but it's cool to see contemporary photos of them in situ:

THE MARK THOMAS OUTRIGGER, MONTEREY

This last one I'm skeptical of. I'm afraid the artist might have gotten a little free in his rendering of a standard outrigger bowl ala the Stockton Islander version. But it would be cool if an outrigger bowl this shape really existed. And what about that Captain Cook's Grog glass too?

Ok. That's enough for now. I'm interested in seeing what the other paper collectors have in the way of Legendary Crypto-mug pictures. And I'd like the mug-collectors to post photos if they have them that prove these drinking vessels really exist.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-03-04 00:58 ]

Excellent post, Sabu! I have been dreaming about that Tonga Lei pig bowl. Let it be real!
Some of the others I was never aware of. There is that Kahiki Mystery bowl, too, of which very few existed/exist, the Ku-with-straws-thru-mouth one.

Cryptomugologist Sabu!
Your brain is a valuable asset...
get it insured! :)

Great post!

Awesome thread....I too would love to see one of those Sams Seafood Mugs....I think it's amazing that there are none to be found around here, especially by you, Sabu...you've been collecting and yard sale-ing for years...that is a real anomaly.

Also, what about the other mug in that photo...the green one ? Not a Tiki mug, but a cool on nonetheless.

wonderful post! Really looking forward to seeing what mugs come out of the woodwork based on these hunts.

If only the people in the photos knew then to save those mugs and pass them on to their children as heirlooms.

Xlnt post Tim .You have finally provided images of the missing Sam's mug , I have
been hearing about for years .Im thinking not too many survived , cuz no one seems
to come up with one unless KC is holding out on us.The Sam's bowl is insane also.

On 2010-02-25 08:20, tikiyaki wrote:
Also, what about the other mug in that photo...the green one ? Not a Tiki mug, but a cool on nonetheless.

There is a green AND a brown version of this mug with the wood grain concentric whorls. I actually held a brown one in my hand. It was at an antique store and they wanted $25 for it, but it was in pretty bad shape. The glaze is a matte/not a glossy finish and something had stained it. Maybe old engine oil. I wasn't totally convinced it was Tiki related either. So I let it pass. Now I wish I'd bought it, regardless of the condition!

Yep, those are Fogcutter mugs, probably by Spurlin - a local ceramics company. I've got pictures of the brown version and know several people that have it. I'm not sure that anyone's found the green version yet.

Spurlin also made mugs for the Islander on La Cienega, and I think they may have made that Cobra's Fang mug at the top of this thread. If that's the case, then the green Fogcutter might have the same color and finish glaze as the Cobra.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-02-25 10:43 ]

Great, Sabu! Speaking as one person who will be a spectator on the sidelines for this thread, it'll be fun to see what comes out of the woodwork.

I suspect that MY list of "crypto mugs" is much longer than Sabu's! Meaning, I know a lot less about the absolute state of which things have been found by ANY collectors.

F'rinstance, the bamboo mugs on the "unknown Bali Hai" menu. I wonder if there really were some bamboo mugs with those exaggerated curves - looks neat. The Hawaiian Village "Hawaiian Eye" mug is also cool. Probably for some people those are as common as dirt though.

10 years ago it would have been hard to imagine the kind of collective knowledge that exists these days from the collaboration through TC, Ooga-Mooga and all the other resources. Now it's getting down to SINGLE instances of mugs and other items that are still crypto!

I've always thought it would be fun to try to make a truly authentic looking set of materials for a fictional place, which introduces some "crypto" artifacts that don't overlap with any known places. Not in a malicious way, but maybe just a gentle hoax for a little while! Of course, that would require illustration skills that I don't possess, so don't expect it any time soon. Anyway, back to the sidelines...

-Randy

Thanks Randy,

I agree. Through the great internet intersection of this site, Ooga Mooga, eBay, and others, many crypto mugs have been found in recent years that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. I think this thread is a good place to celebrate those accomplishments too - the Kahiki ceramic sleeve that went over the glass, for instance, or that South Pacific Rum Barrel that was recently found. Those were great discoveries and should be commemorated together in one place.

I'm definitely coming at this subject as a paper-collector instead of a mug collector. I too am probably unaware of a lot of what the mug collectors have found and what might be commonplace over on Ooga Mooga. I'm sure some mug collectors are looking at my selections and chuckling, saying "Oh yeah. I've got one of those." In fact, I hope they are and I hope they post pictures!

Bigbro - here's that Kahiki Mystery Bowl. Tikiskip indicates that it's very rare and possibly one-of-a-kind. Certainly one of the most beautiful bowls I've ever seen:

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-02-25 14:16 ]

I'll bite- http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=22742&forum=5 I am pretty sure we unearthed these Beachcomber Mayfair salt and pepper shakers on this thread. I almost passed on them they are so ugly. Now I sit and wonder how in the heck they ended up in Deland FL for a tiki freak like me to find.

Proud wife of an addicted carver! Check him out at http://www.Delandtiki.com

[ Edited by: Bora Boris - Fiixed link - 2010-02-25 21:08 ]

I like how excited the UK collectors got when you posted those :)

I wish that postcard that bifcozz used for picture-reference was still up.

Let's cover the 1944 Trader Vic's Tepco pieces:

The Samoa Fog Cutter has been found, correct?

The Hot-Buttered Rum Skull - Is this version different than the all-white version that I've seen? The photo makes it look like there is a wash of color under the glaze.

The Scorpion Bowl: Found. :down:

:down: The Kava Bowl:

:down: Found:

:down: The PB2Y Gremlin bowl (size for two people), Found:

:down: The larger B-17 Gremlin (for four people), Not Found Yet:

I haven't seen the single-serving P-40 Gremlin either. Has anyone else?

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-02-25 17:51 ]

I saved them!

These are kind of like the Coelacanth Fish, formerly thought to be extinct...

but then fished up, alive and kicking, off the coast of Africa!!!

Cool thread! Very interesting to see this stuff.

I immediatley thought of the Sam's Seafood Maori tiki mug when I saw the thread title. I always wondered if it were, in fact, a mug we are seeing in that photo,or if it is simply a carving...

...I'm leaning towards "mug".

Here's one that been bugging me for a couple of years now. The Outrigger Club in Oklahoma City featured the mug seen in the upper right of this menu (from Critiki):

I've found two of this mug over the years; one terribly painted over, and this one, which I think may be a reproduction (although WHY anybody would be reproducing these I can't fathom).

I know there are others, but I've never seen any photos anywhere in anybody's collection. I'd like to know if I have an original, but have never seen any others.

On 2010-02-25 19:47, SilverLine wrote:

I know there are others, but I've never seen any photos anywhere in anybody's collection. I'd like to know if I have an original, but have never seen any others.

Silverline, I'm stoked that I can help you out in this case. I bid on a set of mugs and a bowl from the Outrigger Club back in 2006, but I believe Kohalacharms won the auction. They were so unique that I saved the pictures. These are the real thing and are marked with the restaurant's name. I never knew about that menu picture. I didn't even know they were from Oklahoma.

Definitely some of the rarest mugs and bowls out there and they belong in this thread.

I love this thread.

and you know its a shame Kohalacharms won't add to this thread. If anyone has come across these elusive items during their hunts it would have to be him. One can only wonder.

I'm hoping he might be tempted to post :)

He posts every so often and this is a thread where his expertise is definitely called upon.

I'm also curious if that Gremlin bowl he won is actually the 2-person size or the 4-person size. Only he can answer.

Sabu

On 2010-02-25 09:58, Trader Tom wrote:

On 2010-02-25 08:20, tikiyaki wrote:
Also, what about the other mug in that photo...the green one ? Not a Tiki mug, but a cool on nonetheless.

There is a green AND a brown version of this mug with the wood grain concentric whorls. I actually held a brown one in my hand. It was at an antique store and they wanted $25 for it, but it was in pretty bad shape. The glaze is a matte/not a glossy finish and something had stained it. Maybe old engine oil. I wasn't totally convinced it was Tiki related either. So I let it pass. Now I wish I'd bought it, regardless of the condition!

Awesome idea for a thread Sabu!! It's great to see all these rare birds in one spot. Maybe KC will post a reply with a bit of info. and some photos on here. That would be cool. He would be the man to maybe tie up a few loose ends.

I too, am still waiting to see the Tiki mug from Sam's Seafood. Here is a picture of the brown Fogcutter mug that was made by Spurlin mug as in the photo above:

TabooDan

Crypto-mug collecting? Wow, excellent topic, Sabu. Talk about a renewal in faith for these parts. Keep up the great work, please. That Cobra's Fang mug? Interesting. If that is a "real one" I just heard the stock of my OA cobra mug fall through the floor. I will still love it no matter (sort of).

Speaking of OA mugs, my collecting started in earnest many years ago because of, maybe in spite of, Bob and Leroy's "grail" case. I went back and checked it out because of the photos of the Sam's fog cutter. On the second shelf from the bottom, way on the right side, next to the Mahi Mahi mugs (a fun story in their own right). There, way back in the corner, just visible. Is that the green fog cutter? I concur with the theory they were Spurlin product. Love me them Stella Bodey mugs.

Some closer looks, one a photo from Al, of same mug. At least part of it. Looks like same design to me, color is just much lighter.

I did not save the ebay auction photos of the oh so rare Kahiki glass sleeve, but I will try and make up for that with my little contribution. My collecting has changed over the years, and many of my mugs are hidden away now. I do, however, keep this one out. The Kahiki Barrelito, a heavy little beast. And yes, inside it is the miracle of The SF Tiki Crawl: Baby Forbidden Island.

The famous Kahiki bar manager postcard

Rum barrels and me do not mix, long story, but his one is a fave and it survives. I had a couple over the years and sold the better one. This Barrelito, even with the chip, will remain mine. I think everything in these menus did exist at one point, even the elusive Luau 400 bowl, if only as a prototype. Frank, I know you're out there. Chime in, amigo.

Good to see the Life Magazine Trader Vic's photo. Are we certain there was a four-person PB2Y Gremlin bowl (always figured just the one sized bowl)? I have seen the tall Samoa Fog Cutter in another TCer's collection. That one is definitely found.

Will be fun to see what people have, get the ole envy juices flowing. Then again, I STILL don't have a Suffering Bastard! Heh heh, a little blast from the Tiki Central past for you old timers.

Kudos, Sabu. Now THIS is a cool & current topic, fukkin' ay!
midnite

On 2010-02-25 20:31, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:

Definitely some of the rarest mugs and bowls out there and they belong in this thread.

That's fantastic! Thanks Sabu! That also answers a question I had about the hideously-painted mug I'd found earlier (but didn't buy). The mugs in your photos are clearly marked on the front of the base while this "Farmer Tiki" (as I call him) has no such markings. So I have to conclude that there are other unmarked mugs out there, either home ceramics projects or manufacturer-made mugs sold to the public. Weird.

Here is an entry from the Trader Vic's in Hawaii. Some of you may not know that the two Trader Vic's in Honolulu were not owned by Trader Vic. Consequently, the created their own mugs made in Hawaii. Here is the illustrated menu with many of the mugs shown that I clipped from ebay some time back.

Many of the mugs from this menu have been posted on TC but there are still a few that I have not seen documented.

The Catamaran on the upper left of the menu looks to be a variation on the three faced bucket mug.

On the bottom right, there is the Scorpion bowl and the Navy Grog mug with the anchor logo. Have we seen these before?

DC

On 2010-02-25 09:58, Trader Tom wrote:

On 2010-02-25 08:20, tikiyaki wrote:
Also, what about the other mug in that photo...the green one ? Not a Tiki mug, but a cool on nonetheless.

There is a green AND a brown version of this mug with the wood grain concentric whorls. I actually held a brown one in my hand. It was at an antique store and they wanted $25 for it, but it was in pretty bad shape. The glaze is a matte/not a glossy finish and something had stained it. Maybe old engine oil. I wasn't totally convinced it was Tiki related either. So I let it pass. Now I wish I'd bought it, regardless of the condition!

I have one, the wifey found it on Ebay, and have seen the other color.

Swanky??? Randy??? Mid-of-nite????, Silverline??? Slack Ferret?? The Mighty Sabu??? Youngsters, pay attention! This is old school TC at it's Finest!!!!
Mahalo,
Al

Midnite - thanks for the photo of the green FogCutter in the OA glass case. I think I need to make another trip down there soon and bring my camera. Nice Barrelito mug too. I forgot about that find.

On 2010-02-26 00:00, midnite wrote:
Good to see the Life Magazine Trader Vic's photo. Are we certain there was a four-person PB2Y Gremlin bowl (always figured just the one sized bowl)? I have seen the tall Samoa Fog Cutter in another TCer's collection. That one is definitely found.

Here's my explanation on the whole Gremlin-bowl question. I got this info directly from William Shatner at Tiki-Con 1986, just before he told us all to "Get A Life!", so I trust it implicitly.

The complete Time LIFE article from 1944 can be found on a Google Book Search:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Vk8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&dq=%22dennis+king%22&lr=&as_brr=3&as_pt=MAGAZINES&cd=62#v=onepage&q=%22dennis%20king%22&f=false

It's a good read, though very short.

The article states that many of the drinks "are served in two-quart bowls from which four people sip through straws". Exhibit A: Photo of four youngsters drinking from the Scorpion bowl:

Then there's the photo of the bowl described as the "B-17 Gremlin". Note that it is full to the brim and has four straws. I assume it is also two-quarts.

The captions states the Gremlin drinks vary in size. That could either mean that there are three different-sized bowls or they fill the same bowl up to different levels.

In the main view of all the mugs, the bowl is identified as a PB2Y Gremlin. This should be the two-person size:

But this drink is also filled to the top. If it was the same-sized bowl wouldn't they have just called it the B-17 Gremlin? Also, to my untrained eye it looks slightly smaller and shallower than the Scorpion Bowl below it.

This and the fact that other manufacturers made their bowls in three sizes...

... makes me guess that there might have been three sizes to Gremlin Bowl. Please feel free to discuss in geek-like fashion.

Just judging by the images, I think the PB2Y bowl image and the B-17 are the same bowl. It may be that the image and caption on the B-17 don't match. They took a pic of the PB2Y and captioned it B-17.

My thought is that painting that stuff on a small bowl would be ridiculously hard. May well be that you are right. Same bowl is made half or all full for the PB2Y and the B-17. The single version, who knows?

I've seen 2 Gremlins the same size. Which size that is, dunno.

[ Edited by: swanky 2010-02-27 06:52 ]

• Dustycajun wrote:*
  Here is an entry from the Trader Vic's in Hawaii.

This is fun, it's like rousting Mr. Peabody and taking a trip in the wayback machine. See, that's how old I am. Instead of using the more "current" time travel allusion of Doc Brown and a DeLorean I employ Rocky and Bullwinkle sub-characters. So, keeping things current and topical, let's look at this one:

I don't recall seeing this before and I cannot identify it from the menu. Thought it may be the Tortuga (a fine cocktail btw) but think it is different. One may take a chance on the item as it is currently on eBay:
Flux Capacitor...fluxxing. Engine running. All right!

*"makes me guess that there might have been three sizes to Gremlin Bowl. Please feel free to discuss in geek-like fashion." *

I don't know, Sabu. I see your point but still lean to one bowl for both drinks. I have only seen photos of the Gremlin and Scorpion bowls. Have never been in their presence. One special night at Vic's I did get to drink a Kava Bowl cocktail from an original Kava Bowl. That was pretty cool, if a bit geeky. Right now, I believe you shall lead the "Two sizes bowl faction" and I will captain the "One size for both" team. Then, if I am proved wrong, I shall call you all "mug weirdoes!"

If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour...you're gonna see some serious shit,
doc midnite

Tim... great topic, however, you've exposed my greatest source of information in discovering and searching for rare and unusual vintage drink ware.... the reason I've been willing to spend a small fortune on drink menus.

I'm a little short on time but I do have two pics I'll offer up for discussion.

First: The Trader Vic's Gremlin bowls (left: the prototype for the gremlin bowl and right: a later version)

The Honolulu Vic's had a number of unusual mugs and bowls other than the ones seen in the posted drink menu. Here's the Tortuga mug as depicted in the menu:

[ Edited by: kohalacharms 2010-02-26 14:55 ]

Great stuff KC! Thanks for sharing the pics.

Looks like KC also has an original Mai Kai mystery bowl as well, another impossible
bowl to find.Thanks for taking the time to post KC much appreciated.

Thanks Mucho, KC! Love looking at your collection.

The Gremlin bowls in your photo definitely match up with the one labeled PB2Y in the LIFE group photo - just a tad smaller and shallower than the Scorpion bowl, but not by much:

And I agree with Swanky and Midnight that the B-17 and PB2Y bowls in the article sure do look the same. They might have been mis-captioned. But without anything sitting next to the B-17 for size comparison, we'll never know. And what about the P-40 single-server? There has to be another size for that! Doesn't there? They wouldn't pour that big bowl a quarter or third full and then make the rest up with ice, would they? And why go through the effort of explaining the three distinct sizes (other than the fact that they were named after three WWII aircraft, which is unbelievably cool, btw), if there wasn't some basis in fact? Maybe the small one had a single naked girl-gremlin on one side and single boy-gremlin chasing her on the other side, I dunno.

If Kohalacharms gets his third Gremlin Bowl and it's the same size as the other two, I'll concede. I'm glad, btw, that they went with the second bowl artwork rather than that prototype - still pretty cool though.

And Honolulu Trader Vic's made mugs that aren't on the menu? Egad! How's a mug-collector gonna cope with that?

DC - I've seen good, near-complete collections of the Hawaiian mugs in that TV menu, but always missing one or two. The one I don't remember for sure is that "Chi Chi" mug - the elongated coconut. I've never seen that one.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-02-26 17:10 ]

Not the Chi Chi vessel from Trader Vic's, but I'm confident it's out there....

KC,

Thanks for sharing.

While were on the subject of the Outrigger menu mugs (yesterday), what about the Fog Cutter Mug?

I don't own the menu so I can't get a better scan, but I have never seen this one around before. Would be nice to see a better scan of the artwork and the mug together.

Any takers?

PS Sabu, I will get you some better scans of those two bowls from the Polynesian menu, just need to dig it out of hiding somewhere.

DC

Hey Kohalacharms, glad you posted and thanks for the pic's and info.!!
A gremlin prototype???!!! What the hell? Great stuff!!

Here's my shot of that Tortuga drink mug from the Honolulu Trader Vic's:

Good questions DC. I haven't seen some of those mugs like the Navy Grog Anchor etc. and was wondering the same. I think they are all out there because most have them have been found. Some are just so damn ugly we might walk by it 100 times and not realize it!!
Like really..... have you seen the "Red Pants" drink mug???? Or the "Peeping Tom" mug??? Those are some ugly mugs and nothing remotely close to Tiki style!!! I have the Peeping Tom but never seen the Red Pants...or have I????

Keep em coming!!!
TabooDan

Sabu and company,

A question about the Trader Vic's mugs, do you know if they were manufactured for the original Ward Ave location or for the second International Market Place location owned by Spencecliff, or both?

Here is another possible sneaker that I remember Sabu posting a question on years ago.

The mug on the table is show in a postcard from Heddy's Hawaiian Room in Echo Lake, PA.

There is also a rendering of the mug on the menu I posted from ebay.

Could this be a custom mug from the Hawaiian Room with the palm trees or a standard piece?

DC

Dan, let me dig through the pics I took for Tiki Daze. I think the red pants mug is in there. Maybe the otherstoo.

Dan, let me dig through the pics I took for Tiki Daze. I think the red pants mug is in there. Maybe the otherstoo.

Like everyone else said, thank you Sabu for starting this! Definitely a great thread in the making. And the best part, other than all this great eye candy, is this (and hopefully there will be a lot more of examples of this):

Silverline, I'm stoked that I can help you out in this case.

That's fantastic! Thanks Sabu!

Now as much as you serious mug collectors salivate over the rarest-of-the-rare ones, and I do too, when I look at old restaurant and bar photos, my eye often gravitates to the glassware that was used. Even in a tiki bar, maybe even more so in a classic tiki bar because of the savage-sophisticated contrast, just the right glassware can make the perfect presentation for a cocktail.

I searched high and low for the (then) elusive Derby Daiquiri glass from the Mai-Kai :down:

until I finally located one :down:

Fortunately some more later surfaced and are now in the hands of some appreciative collectors.

I'm still searching for this ribbed glass that was used in oh-so-many tiki bars and shows up in several of the menu pictures in this thread (this picture from Sabu's post - glass on left) :down:

It shows up on the tiki scene as early as the 1930s at Don the Beachcomber's in Hollywood (see lower right) :down:

And as late as 1990 :down:

Yes, there's a glass in that picture, trust me. :wink: You'd think with a glass that was in such widespread use over so many decades that it would be easy to find, but I still haven't located one. Jeff Berry has not seen one either and he's been looking for years. Does anyone have one in their collection? If so, do you know who made them? I've scanned many old drinkware catalogs and haven't found it. I did find this one :down:

and thought I'd finally located it, but having shown it to Kern Mattei (Mai-Kai manager), he's convinced it's not the same that they used, but it's awfully close. I'm pretty sure he's right because this one is rather thin and delicate and would not hold up at all to everyday use in a restaurant or bar. But then again, that may be why none are left... they all broke!

GatorRob, I have been collecting glassware for years I found a few of the thin ones on eBay several years ago. They came in different colors of yellow, pink, green and blue they were so thin that one of them arrived broken in the mail. Last year at a local Goodwill store I found a few blue color ones, they are a little taller and thicker.

hiltiki, right, those are likely the same ones I have. The ones used in the classic tiki bars were all clear and, best I can tell, have 7 rings/ribs whereas mine has 6.

Great thread. Here is one I have wondered about since I found and posted the picture on the Mai Kai thread. I wrote

This has got to be an ultra rare mug, The cocktail is the Orbit Drink. I want one of these, hell I want the drink recipe. The caption with the picture says.

"Waitress in Mai Kai restaurant serving Orbit Drink in honor of John H. Glenn's space flight. January 1 1962"

I like Fara ... wonder where she is these days ?

On 2010-02-26 19:41, Dustycajun wrote:
Sabu and company,

A question about the Trader Vic's mugs, do you know if they were manufactured for the original Ward Ave location or for the second International Market Place location owned by Spencecliff, or both?

DC, here is a thought on this and another question. Daga's homepage says that they started in 1971, and Trader Vic's moved to the International Marketplace in 1967, so I would assume that if the mug says Daga, it is from that second location. However, I know that the name before Daga was Polynesian Pottery, and not sure when that name/company started. How are these other mugs marked on the bottom?

I have a couple of the green handled Tahitian Lanai mugs which are marked PP for Polynesian Pottery, but have also seen that same mug marked Daga, so I might not be helping at all?!?

Mo-Eye,

Thanks for the input, but...

I think most of the custom Hawaii Trader Vic's mugs, like this rare bowl I spotted on ebay,

Were marked like this on the bottom:

DC

(PS any luck on finding the missing Don the Beachcomber locations?)

Yup this thread is my favorite! Thanks KC for chiming in with pics. Knew you would be a great source of confirming the existance of some of these mystery pieces .

I think the Bowl above is very early and was made by a specific artist/company on the Islands and at the time of the Ward Ave location. Probably specifically done for that location and was not available at other restaurants. I would say after 1941 when Spencecliff took over but before their move to the IMP.

What about those other bowls and some of the cups and plates that you see, with the drawings of Trader Vic's building with all the plant life and the beach scene? These are probably pre-1960 and probably much older than that.
One came out of a collection earlier this year which I think had a date of 1948 with it. These were all made by Vernon Kilns and are marked as such. These items, I think, are all from around the time of the Ward Ave location. They do seem to resemble this specific location. Does anyone know if these were actually available on the mainland??

EDITING THIS POST because I just saw Trad'r Bill's post in locating Tiki thread. In the background of a photo he shows from the Oakland location dated Aug.1950, the above Vic plates that I am refering to are on display in the background. Very much available on the mainland and not exclusive to Hawaii location. Great how one picture clears it all up!!

The DAGA and Polynesian Pottery mugs were probably for the International Market Place location which was a bit later. We know that DAGA didn't start making under that name until atleast 1971 so that dates these pretty good.

Some of the bases of these mugs that you see like the Tonga, Octopus, Tiki Like or the Tortuga are seen marked "PP Hawaii" for Polynesian Pottery. Some are also marked DAGA. Also, the same mugs are seen with no markings but so far have only ever been seen in the Hawaii Trader Vic's menu.

We really need to see some inside pictures of the inside of these locations to see what was being used and available at certain dates. Start asking your friends and families to go through their old albums!!

TabooDan

[ Edited by: TabooDan 2010-03-03 09:00 ]