The show me your Witco thread.

Congrats, it looks like you are the proud owner of a "Watusi Bar Group", a very early Witco bar, pictured on page 238 in Tiki Modern. That's the first time I have seen one in natura.

Thanks for the info Sven! I'm super stoked to have this! I've been looking for a nice Witco for about 6-8 months and haven't found anything that I've liked, that's also in my price range.

I have The Book of Tiki and this find will probably give me a little more motivation to pick-up Tiki Modern a little quicker.

Luck was on my side, yesterday. The guy selling it, was at the exit of the Rose Bowl swap meet. I was selling at the swap meet, so I was there early, and forgot to bring cash to go "picking." I was exiting the flea market at 7:38 am to go to the ATM and what do I see?

I asked the seller if he knew anything about it, and he said, roughly, "I bought it from a guy, who bought it from a guy," and said something else. I didn't hear the last part as I zoned out and stopped hearing, because I had already verbally committed, and couldn't believe this was mine.

Thanks again,

Roots Rocka

Hey Man, it looks alot better than it did on the phone pics you showed me that day. It is exactly like something I was hoping to pick up myself, though happy it has found a good home. It's funny how you spotted it at the exit too! Enjoy brotha

Thanks, I'm definitely enjoying workin' on it so far! Here's some progress pics with some cleaning and resoration questions at the end of the post, if anybody has any suggestions. Mahalo!

Sorry in advance if this gets a little long, I just don't want to screw this up because it seems to be in pretty good original condition.

On the front of the bar, I've taken the cover off to reveal the original fabric, cleaned the wood, and given it 3 wipes with pledge orange oil.

The fabric is disintegrating. What do I do? One suggestion was to paint-in the disintegrated parts and put a lacquer or some kind of finish in hopes of preventing more disintegration. Does this sound right if I want to leave it as original as possible? Any other suggestions?

I'm leaning towards leaving the wood on the tikis and top running board the way they are. There's not many chips and the finish is still pretty nice.

The running boards on the floor have less of the finish and more chipping. How should I touch-up them up? Is it okay to wipe over them with a dark finish? Should I sacrifice a little bit of the originality, here, and sand/refinish them?

Here are some pictures of the back.

The top two shelves are super clean, so I'm just going to leave them. Should I try and keep the original floor board and do the best I can as far as stripping, sanding and refinishing it and just covering it with a piece that fits, or should I replace it to try and gain more stability for the bar?

The bar is pretty solid, but still rocks if you lean on it. Is there anyway to make it feel a little more sturdy without compromising the originality, or do I just have to face the fact that I'm never gonna get to have sex on this without it breaking? :)

Thank you again for your suggestions.

Roots Rocka

use contact shelf paper to line the shelves
it rocks because the feet are missing,either 4 pads or wheels.
flip it over you will see where they were.
make yourself 4 square blocks for each corner,glue/tack them in place
that should solve your rocking problem.

I'm not expert, but I like the zebra stripe. Even worn, it has a good look. But then, in person, it might appear less inviting.

Thanks for the replies so far!

I can live with the zebra print, I actually kind of like it, so I think I'm going to put that on the back of the priority list.

Stripping and sanding the bottom shelf, then adding some feet, like TD suggested, will probably be my next steps.

Until next time

I'm so glad you are keeping the zebra print original - for now. I think it makes it look so cool. If it were mine I would maybe recover it with more zebra fabric - with the old still under the new fabric. In fact, my wife and I were so inspired by your bar that we are wanting to recover our rattan bar stools with zebra.

gabbahey

I do a lot of work in historic preservation (buildings mostly) and although this is a bar and not a building some of the same principles apply. First, I wouldn't do anything that can't be un-done, like sanding and refinishing. If you put new fabric on it, save the original. Don't try to "fix" anything you can't reverse. The chips and scratches are part of it's history. If you need to do something drastic to save/stabilize it, that's different. But for the cosmetics . . I'd just clean it. Don't be that guy the Antiques Roadshow appraisers curse 50 years from now.

When people say to me "I can do (whatever modification they're considering), it's not historic." I say, "You do that, and it never will be."

from today;

![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/1828/4e54386d.jpg[/img

[img]https://tikicentral.com/uploads/1828/4e543857.jpg)

and a wall hanging bar

[ Edited by: TIKI DAVID 2011-08-23 16:37 ]

A bargain at 10 bucks, my first too!

Dude, nice find! Congrats on the first WITCO!
TD - You're out of control! What % of this thread have you directly contributed? :)
Gab - Zebra print + rattan = gonna be awesome!
Silverline - Thanks for the input! Wow, what a relief, now I have a lot less work to do than I originally anticipated :)

Thanks again for the responses and good luck hunting.

hey Tikiroots, Great find on the bar. Thought I would answer your questions from your email here to help folks out. Here is a picture of the original. I would use a black fabric paint to touch up the zebra print. A dark shoe polish or stain will blend in the light areas. Other than that I would just clean it with a furniture polish. There were sliding doors on the back of the bar. I guess what tikidavid was calling feet was the standard gold roller balls for moving the bar found on many Witco bars. So it does not really matter if you put those back on. Hope this helps

-Ken aka Keigs

my point on the feet was,it is easier to keep it from rocking by using
4 corner points of contact with the floor.
could be rollers,wood blocks, wood balls or even matchbook covers.

"Pets are welcome,Children 'MUST' be on leash" TD

[ Edited by: TIKI DAVID 2011-08-30 03:47 ]

Thanks Keigs! That's awesome! I really appreciate the photo and touch-up tips.

Here's something interesting that caught my eye on the catalog photo.

On my bar, look at the two spots on my tiger print, on the front of the bar, where the fabric shows fading/deterioration lines.

Now, look at the catalog photo. You can see the same fade lines, in the same spot. It doesn't seem to be as visible as mine, but, they're still there.

Any thoughts on why it was designed like that? Or, am I just trippin', and I'm the only one who sees the lines in the catalog photo?

Also, anybody have the antelope pictured in the catalog that they'd like to part with?

On 2011-08-23 16:34, TIKI DAVID wrote:
from today;

I've got a couple of shorter Witco shelves to go with that that I'm not doing much with.
They have two corbels. I believe they're the medium size not the smallest.

Picked this up at the Aku Tiki Room auction in Kewaunee, Illnois a while back. Tripped over it for a couple years until we spotted the right place for it. The piece in the center is a Lake Tiki.

TT

"Pets are welcome,Children 'MUST' be on leash" TD

[ Edited by: TIKI DAVID 2011-10-31 05:47 ]

WOW David NICE!!!!
Great find.

Where did you get that cool tiki bar sign behind
the 7 foot Witco Tiki you have for sale?

thanks.I now have the 6' version and the 5' version of this bar.
I made the sign about 3 years ago.it lights ,low voltage.
Hey,by the way ,did you vere do anything with the Kon-Tiki light?
I think I may be bringing stuff to the Scotts show in Dec.
We should get together.

before restoration

the sign

"Pets are welcome,Children 'MUST' be on leash" TD

[ Edited by: TIKI DAVID 2011-10-06 04:51 ]

I don't really like signs that say tiki bar.
That's the only one I've seen that I do like, good job!
I wanna make one for myself.

"I think I may be bringing stuff to the Scotts show in Dec.
We should get together"

We will be at that show.
And we should get together.

Oh and the Kon Tiki lights are lit.
see them here.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=18485&forum=18&start=450
Thanks for giving them to me they are great!
I owe you one.

Hi!

I am new to tikiroom and am overwhelmed by everyone's amazing Witco collections! Hopefully this is the right discussion for this, but I am looking source a few pieces of Witco furniture for a project I am working on. I am having a difficult time finding anything local (NYC). I was hoping some one of you might have some ideas of where I could purchase, rent or borrow a great piece or two of Witco. Something like a carved stool or chair. Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated!

Always a great day when I get to contribute here!
I found the Tahitian couple first and then the outrigger about 50 yards away.

Outrigger Canoe

Tahitian Maiden

Tahitian Warrior

Thanks for looking and good luck in your tiki search!!!

Also, any opinions on the background for the outrigger, would be appreciated. Should I recover it or just leave it? Mahalo!

Christmas came early this year !!

Scored this awesome witco tiki fountain. I was planning on getting some sort of fountain eventually until this fell into my lap. One step closer to completing our tiki room !!

Awesome fountain! Very nice!
I've got another wahine WITCO wall hanging being delivered today. Will post pics when it gets here.

On 2011-12-10 06:04, Tipsy McStagger wrote:
Christmas came early this year !!

Scored this awesome witco tiki fountain.

Great score, Mele Kalikimaka to you Tipsy. Never seen that one before. And you even have the perfect size corner platform area to present it in. Is the water flow system intact?

DC

PS Would look good in a Santa Hat pic.

VERY COOL!
But I do not get the 'pivot point' aspect of it.
does it tilt,rock or is it an adjustment feature?
LOTS of detail ,LOVE IT.

Definitely great. I think I remember a pic of that piece at the Hala Kahiki?

thanks all !!

the pivot thing is weird, it doesn't pivot and is set securely in place and was probably never intended to pivot. There is no pump or tubing, but the holes are there to install new ones. Most of these fountains had a wooden tongue or spout. This one is missing so I will have to make a new one or buy one from ken pleasant to replace it. otherwise the water would drip down the face of the tiki instead of slightly away from it. A new submersive pump and some color change led fountain lights will work great in this when the time comes.

The tiki head and the base look like two different colors. Do you think maybe the head was from something else and they salvaged it, drilled a hole thru it and made the base for it?

It's so odd..... and awesome!

Not as cool as Tipsy's fountain, but I'm stoked to add another wahine to the collection.

tiki shaker-

I think it's the spotlight that makes the wood look different in the photo. Also, if they were 2 separate pieces, what would the bottom have been other than a fountain? the base is lined with copper to keep the water in the basin from leaking and the tiki head has all the openings required to run plumbing for a fountain in it already. Right now, I have my best guy on this mystery, ken pleasant working hard to dig up any history or refernces for this piece. It may well have been a one-off that was custom made for a client years ago.

and here's the other weird thing i never mentioned. This fountain came with a pair of old, small, bull horns - each one was used as a cap to cap either end of the pole going through the head. They were not permanently affixed but just press-fit on there. I kept them because even though they looked strange on there, they kinda worked! - and we all know witco used weird, common items at times to decorate their pieces (i.e. closet door pulls as shields on the viking ship wall hangings) - I'll wait till I hear back from ken and see what he thinks.

I'm also waiting for big bro to chime in... he usually is quick to jump on these things with a wealth of info.

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2011-12-11 06:01 ]

Tipsy- TM pg252. HK was using it as a planter, though.

Wellll...ask and ye shall receive. Not a wealth of info other than that I found a catalog pic, from 1968, good year!:

It is simply called "Polynesian Tiki Fountain" and came just like what you have, no spout or horns:

I believe the mounting system is just part of Witco artistic license, not functional design, in the vein of their other "rustic" furniture genres, sort of "Flintstones" technology.

Congrats to your X-315 ! I don't think they carried that for too many years, so probably not too many were made.

awesome !! thanks sven !!

Took some junk to the thrift store on a New Years clean-up and found this little kitty.

Not Tiki but, my first ever Witco!

DC

Tipsy here's a similar fountain / planter from Hala Kahiki from when I was there on Dec 23rd 2011..
similar yet different in the "eyes"

injoy

We could use a little help in identifying this fellow... I found it at a local thrift store for $14.91 (price is still written on his forehead in grease pencil when I took the photo).

Anyone have an idea? It reminds me of a Witco?

Many thanks in advance!
Cheers!
Paul

Great find DC,
3Tikis it's a Witco, I have a mask in a similar design, maybe Sven would know?

Bosko

Thanks so much for the info! Another lucky find! He looks quite handsome next to the door that leads out to my tiki bar.

Cheers!
Paul

On 2012-01-15 14:46, TIKIBOSKO wrote:
Great find DC,
3Tikis it's a Witco, I have a mask in a similar design, maybe Sven would know?
Bosko

You know, it does not immediately ring a bell in the Witco catalog of my mind...but then there was one or the other carving that never made it into ANY of the catalogues. They cranked out a lot of stuff, sometimes single pieces on spec, and some were never documented. I don't think this is a Gale Haner or Woodcarver piece, and it's wild enough to be WITCO.

Again thanks for the information. My wife and I have been collecting tiki for a bit (mostly mugs) and we're just starting to learn a bit more about some of the vintage designers and companies. Our best find so far was a 1960s Bantam products tiki bar. We refurbished/reconditioned it so it could be on our screen porch.

When the weather gets warm again; I'll take a photo and post it in the appropriate forum.

Cheers,
Paul

On 2012-01-17 03:00, 3Tikis wrote:
Our best find so far was a 1960s Bantam products tiki bar.

Now what did that look like? I know of Johnson Products selling bars, and Witco, but never heard of Bantam - and at such an early date. Was that a Rattan furniture maker, perhaps?

I unearthed (literally had to dig it out of the ground) a mainlander fountain (missing the basins/bowls, base and box) a few months ago in the Northwest Chicago Suburbs. The owner didn't know where it came from but it has been outside in his backyard for years. On a related note, I finally (after asking to purchase for many years) acquired an absolutely pristine Mainlander fountain with the base, box and all basins/bowls from a local store in Rockford yesterday afternoon. I swear, my hometown of Rockford was a Witco mecca (check out what I discovered in an earlier post on this thread a couple years ago). I will be posting photos shortly of the fountains. Does anyone have a set of basins/bowls for sale or trade? Interestingly enough, the two fountains, while identical in subject matter, are different in height and width. I guess the poles that Witco used were not necessarily uniform for these fountains? Or were there multiple sizes for the mainlander?

I don't know what year exactly in the 60s Witco introduced the Mainlander fountain, but it was clearly one of their bestsellers, a staple of the catalog. Considering how many were made throughout the decade from the mid-60s to the mid-70s, they might have varied quite a bit, even if there was supposed to be one standard size that they came in.