A Collection of Cannibals

Just as a reminder: Since all the Steven Crane's Kon Tikis were modeled after his The Luau, many had these cannibal posts in them, too. This is how some of them ended up at La Mariana:

Just like the Hanalei did with the Luau, La Mariana took these over from the closed down Waikiki Kon Tiki. So maybe Tiki Nomad's post is from the Boston, Chicago or Cleveland Kon Tikis.

Thanks for all the info Big Bro...the Boston Kon Tiki would make more sense because where I picked them up from was only about 1 1/2 north of Bean Town...

Super Score Tikinomad. A whole bunch of them. Plus you saved them from rotting away. I was happy to get one years ago when ebay was just getting rolling. Mine was out of San Diego. I put a Luau matchbook on him and tell everyone he's from there. Thanks for the input on the Witco mask. Here he is. Aloha....

Things turn up in the strangest places...

Found today, asssuming this is a cannibal carving/lamp?

PTD

Killer lamp PTD !

The stuff you find, PTD! What you have there is an original, vintage O.A. lamp! I am not at home so I can't post the catalog page, I will though later. Congratulations!

The "Youngen between the legs" does not necessarily denote a cannibal concept, in Maoridom it was quite common for fertility and other themes:

In the early 2000s, O.A. made 3 replicas of that Marquesan lamp Tiki which were given as Thank You trophies to Otto, Hanford and me for keeping Tiki Culture alive. Photos will folow.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2012-01-08 22:47 ]

OK, here we go:

I have never seen one of those big O.A. table lamps in the wild - and with the original shade intact!
What "strange place" did you find it in, if I may ask?

The lamp is the same pattern than this freestanding O.A. Tiki:

Waitaminnit, something's missing on mine, you're saying now. Note the last line in the catalog caption:

And since the lamp was meant to sell for not only the rumpus room, but the whole house, I would assume it was never made WITH.

My modern trophy version mentioned above came uncensored, of course:

Here is a full frontal view, without spectators:

And here the nice plaque that Bob and Leroy had made for each of us.
Very sweet:

I feel that as a utilitarian object such as a lamp, this Tiki is even cooler.

bigbro,

Mahalo for posting the pictures from the OA sales brochure. Any idea what year these were carved? The tribute one looks great and I like the reflection of you on the plaque.

This is where I found this...a consignment shop in Salt Lake City.

http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/fud/2786763358.html

PTD

Can't help you with the exact age, we would have to ask them. The catalog came out in 1970, it was their first real collection of all their offerings. During the heyday of Tiki they were just too busy to make one, they went from job to job.

The plug looks quite old, how does the wiring look? I would guesstimate mid 60s to mid 70s.

PTD,

Well that lamp has turned into quite an extraordinary find, my friend. Nicely done. Were you on holiday in Salt Lake City?

DC

bigbro,

Wiring is in excellent shape and the lamp works extrememly well. I would date the wiring to the timeframe you indicated, no earlier.

dusty,

I wish. I am here due to a very severe ill family member, which seems to be most of my reasons to travel to Salt Lake. My father has been diagnosed with Mesothelioma and it has spread and he is in stage 4 right now. Good diversion to otherwise bleak days...he came with me to buy it though. Now I just have to get it home!

PTD

This one went for about $350 a few years ago on ebay:

Buzzy Out!

Time to bump this great Tiki-Kate thread.

A color photo of the cannibal posts at the Chicago Don the Beachcomber.

DC

Weekend Swap meet find..... A pair of Cannibal lamp bases....

Oceanic Arts?

NICE FIND KU!

WOW! Great score!

I miss TIKI KATE !!!

House of Ku for the win!

Great find my friend!!

Here's a shot of some of my cannibles
I gave the 2 on the left to a friend.

These are sooooo rare. I don't think OA ever made these, but then who did? Maybe they stood around at some of the early Don The Beachcomber franchises back in the day....

On 2013-04-11 14:16, bigbrotiki wrote:
These are sooooo rare. I don't think OA ever made these, but then who did?

I've had this theory swimming in my head after I checked out Kate's tikis and was wondering about the 1923 date on them. Because, it seemed real early for tourist pieces, (which these obviously were) when most other islands' prevalent and recognizable tourist/trade produced examples seem to have come after World War II(except maybe Maori?)...
I figure Gauguin was in Tahiti in 1891, which would have put the isles into the European consciousness from thereabouts until the turn of the century. Interest would spawn adventures and cruises to those lands, thus bringing in a tourist based carving economy as a result. 20 years down the line, Kate's tikis are made, and then a long decade later, Don's looks for fixtures in the new place and spies(or even has) these cool lamps from Tahiti(If these were ever in a Don's-I'm just using this as hypothetical because it would fit in the timeline...)
Tahiti wasn't exactly isolated from Hawaii, as far as trade and interaction were concerned. So thirty years of Tahiti producing tourist grade pieces would have given plenty of time for examples of that piece to get around. How many cruises could haven gone to Tahiti, and then Hawaii, to the mainland(and Europe) and back again in those 30 years? And how many Cannibal pieces were carved, bought, and produced in that time? Hundreds, if not thousands? Those large Cannibal lamps were probably the high end big spender souvineer you bought for yourself , and Kate's trio were probably like buying a $5 ironwood Mexican marlin carving in Puerta Vallerta now for your friends back home when you go on a cruise. Maybe more would surface if people actually knew what they were? Most were probably, broken, painted, and thrown away by now. Given the small sampling of people who would actually know that motif today, odds are low that one of those few would ever actually run into one. Looks like in the tiki world, maybe a dozen or so of those folks were at the right place at the right time and have one or the old set. I saw one on the shelf of a used bookstore a few years back. Guy didn;t know what it was, but had it so long he wouldn't sell it. It's kind of a vague concept without the background of the trio or being familar with Tahitian culture. One of the trio alone is almost meaningless. Thus, they languish as old and unknown wooden oddities in barns and attics across the continents.

So my final hypothesis is: That they were the earliest examples of Tahiti's locally produced, whimsical tourist oriented pieces based on original Polynesian motifs and themes. The true first wave of the PolyPop carver.

I now present this hypothesis for peer review and debate.

Thank you for your time.
Buzzy Out!

I think your theory has a lot of merit, Buzz-man. The motif of the cannibal Tiki was produced by some Marquesan carver for the Tahitian tourist trade. The interesting thing about THESE is that they were machine-made on a lathe, mine have the cross marks on the bottom. That seems more like a mainland US deal. Or other Asian wood-item manufacturing country? Maybe the lamps were re-imported to Tahiti?

On 2013-04-11 23:26, bigbrotiki wrote:
Or other Asian wood-item manufacturing country? Maybe the lamps were re-imported to Tahiti?

The hardest part I guess I have with accepting your theory fully on the non Tahitian manufactured origin of these, is that for it to be true, then there couldn't have been a lathe in use in all of Tahiti. And that just seems too improbable to me. It would also have to entirely discredit Tahiti as having their own wood manufacturing economy altogether.

My counter argument: Lathes, in one mechanical form or another, were already widely in use for hundreds of years. It wouldn't make sense for there not to be any lathes in use in Tahiti. If they were working with wood there, then they would have had access to those tools for a long time by then.

My opinion on the execution of the carvings of these pieces on a lathe:
The piece of wood in those(your) carvings was definitely placed in lathe at some time, but that more likely would have been done in the log prep stage. Those carvings weren't done on a lathe totally, but the raw carving log was definitely prepped on a lathe. If you look at the way the carving was done, there are not any places that can be explained on the finished form from the use of a lathe. At most, the very tops of heads may have been partially formed on a lathe. That would minimally credit the use of a lathe in the manufacture of these carvings. However, the way the carver first removed the sides in relation to the original log footprint, shows that the only time a lathe would have been used on any of the profile was on the very exterior perimeter, and that was only initially. The first thing the carver did when carving the pieces was to chunk off the sides, effectively making it in a rectangular or elliptical form, both of which couldn't be produced with a lathe. That makes me think the log was debarked, and brought to a standard and consistent dimension by a logging mill type operation. The carver may have even bought his logs prepped on the lathe from the local lumber mill, or more likely speed cleaned his logs with his own lathe. Making the raw logs in a standard dimension on a lathe would have made it possible for the carver to stencil his pieces from one master, thus quickening the process of repeating many of the same pieces. Which seems in the tourist mass produced carving shop,would be the goal.

My final thought: Thinking that the pieces were made by another wood-item manufacturing country solely based on the tool marks, seems to ignore many simpler and practical explanations.

An open call to all of TC to help us finally get to the bottom of this. I've been thnking about this crap for years...

Does anyone out there have one of these with the original manufacturer tags or price stickers? How about an old dated tourist photo with dozens of these lined up in Tahitian flea market. maybe an old ebay listing with a verified factula account of their origin. Any of those would help....Anyone?

Buzzy Out!

Buzzy, thanks for your "experienced wood worker" perspective! My sole thinking of "why not done in Tahiti if machine-carved" was based on the fact that the majority of Tikis for sale to tourists in Tahiti up until the 60s were hand-carved, so: Not hand-carved = Not carved in Tahiti.

Which, as you pointed out, is way oversimplifying the matter. You are right, who says there weren't lathes used in Tahiti then.

I still also want to know if the basic concept of the Cannibal carvings had roots in some traditional pieces that did not survive the missionaries, or if they were conceived as "whimsical" tourist carvings to begin with.

Except for the fact that they say "Bora Bora" on the bottom, not "Tahiti."

Tahitian Cannibal Trio by Bosko.

I'm the proud guardian of Gecko's first set out of the mold Cannibals that MikeyTiki posted.

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Wow
Great page

Eric October (Tobunga) cannibal tiki art.

ceramic platters

Acrylic on paper

[ Edited by: GROG 2013-05-11 22:17 ]

Muddler made by Wiill Carve in Florida.

Nice!

A few more cannibals found while searching for inspiration for the current art swap

Carving by David Lozeau

My cannibals by Lake Surfer. He says that I am the only other owner of the complete collection besides the tiki bar Hale Pele. I like these guys!

Hello all. This is my first tiki purchase. Can anyone help me identify these? They seem to be mismatched.

My homage to Steven Crane's Kon Tiki. Hand carved from White Pine. 5' H x 8" W.

This is fantastic!

Yer one helluva talented hand... will you be at Fong Fest this year?

-Pete

Here's an 8 foot one I carved for Billy's at the Beach in Newport

It's wrapped around and hiding a 5" pipe

Ordered and started on a Tuesday afternoon. Finished and installed by opening time Monday morning

Buzzy Out!

This is my latest large tiki mug called Kannibal. The "K" in Kannibal is in honor of Kate, the gal who started this thread and who also lit the fire for my quest to come up with my own rendition of these classic icons. Mahalo also to all of you who contributed to this thread, it has all been inspiring.

Nice Falin! Will we be seeing this gem in marketplace anytime soon?

On 2013-08-26 05:17, surfalaia wrote:
Nice Falin! Will we be seeing this gem in marketplace anytime soon?

Mahalo. The five first batch artist proofs all sold at Tiki Oasis. I'm making the regular run, but it will be a while.

Saw them at Oasis
Awesome

Lake and Buzz- yours kicks ars

Jon

Worst sound ever, slurp of an empty tiki mug through my straw!!!

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2013-08-26 15:01 ]

On 2013-08-20 21:35, Lake Surfer wrote:
My homage to Steven Crane's Kon Tiki. Hand carved from White Pine. 5' H x 8" W.

And to think I was about to send you this link!

Obsessing over the cannibal poles since I saw one in a picture from inside the Kon Tiki here in Portland. We do have the BIG individuals behind the bar at Hale pele protecting the rum, but a pole may be in order in the future.

-Blair

On 2013-08-25 10:44, Tiki Kaimuki wrote:

Very nice.

Here are a few more Cannibal variations that I've carved:

Split log catcher on the left:

A big fat stumpy one I sold before I got a finished picture of:

He was a bigger version of another one that I previously did

Small eater:

The trio

Scale picture of me with the Billy's pole cover

Buzzy Out!

Cannibals with a buzz...

On 2013-04-12 00:32, Bay Park Buzzy wrote:

On 2013-04-11 23:26, bigbrotiki wrote:
Or other Asian wood-item manufacturing country? Maybe the lamps were re-imported to Tahiti?

The hardest part I guess I have with accepting your theory fully on the non Tahitian manufactured origin of these, is that for it to be true, then there couldn't have been a lathe in use in all of Tahiti. And that just seems too improbable to me. It would also have to entirely discredit Tahiti as having their own wood manufacturing economy altogether.

My counter argument: Lathes, in one mechanical form or another, were already widely in use for hundreds of years. It wouldn't make sense for there not to be any lathes in use in Tahiti. If they were working with wood there, then they would have had access to those tools for a long time by then.

My opinion on the execution of the carvings of these pieces on a lathe:
The piece of wood in those(your) carvings was definitely placed in lathe at some time, but that more likely would have been done in the log prep stage. Those carvings weren't done on a lathe totally, but the raw carving log was definitely prepped on a lathe. If you look at the way the carving was done, there are not any places that can be explained on the finished form from the use of a lathe. At most, the very tops of heads may have been partially formed on a lathe. That would minimally credit the use of a lathe in the manufacture of these carvings. However, the way the carver first removed the sides in relation to the original log footprint, shows that the only time a lathe would have been used on any of the profile was on the very exterior perimeter, and that was only initially. The first thing the carver did when carving the pieces was to chunk off the sides, effectively making it in a rectangular or elliptical form, both of which couldn't be produced with a lathe. That makes me think the log was debarked, and brought to a standard and consistent dimension by a logging mill type operation. The carver may have even bought his logs prepped on the lathe from the local lumber mill, or more likely speed cleaned his logs with his own lathe. Making the raw logs in a standard dimension on a lathe would have made it possible for the carver to stencil his pieces from one master, thus quickening the process of repeating many of the same pieces. Which seems in the tourist mass produced carving shop,would be the goal.

My final thought: Thinking that the pieces were made by another wood-item manufacturing country solely based on the tool marks, seems to ignore many simpler and practical explanations.

An open call to all of TC to help us finally get to the bottom of this. I've been thnking about this crap for years...

Does anyone out there have one of these with the original manufacturer tags or price stickers? How about an old dated tourist photo with dozens of these lined up in Tahitian flea market. maybe an old ebay listing with a verified factula account of their origin. Any of those would help....Anyone?

I'm also a woodworker and I think that's a very plausible and probably correct explanation. But it doesn't necessarily end there.

First of all, these were definitely hand-carved, no matter how the chuck marks got there. As an earlier poster pointed out: you simply can't do this sort of work on a lathe. And automated carving was nowhere near sophisticated enough to make even the latest of the vintage finds shown in this thread.

It's entirely possible that the piece remained chucked up during the hand-carving process, simply for the sake of stability and ease of handling. Carvers also use a turntable or a "carver's vise" to spin a piece rather than to have to walk around it or turn it in hand as well as to hold it stationary at odd angles.

But what brought me to this thread was the possible symbolic origin of the trio. The first set I saw was the one Blair has at Hale Pele, back when it was Thatch. I was skeptical about the common interpretation of their meaning. What I saw the instant I looked at them was: Fecundity, Birth, Death—womb to tomb. The Earth Mother births us and consumes us. At least that's the way a lot of pre-technological societies saw it. Apparently some of the reproductions appear to have the large figure straddling the smaller one, but are we sure that's not simply a misinterpretation on the part of the copyist, sort of like a 3D version of the old "Telephone" game, down through the years?

The stone figure posted earlier that the gold Indy Jones figure was based on is the pre-Columbian "Dumbarton Oaks Birthing Figure".

Cheers, all! What a fascinating thread!

Its old, Don't know who carved it. I bought it from a piece that originally came from Jungle & Sea Imports, so possibly it did too.