Help identify this mystery lamp

I am posting this for my brother-in-law. I have not held the piece and am working only with photos. He found two of these today. I am almost positive that they are bases for table lamps. They measure 6 1/2" tall, 5 1/4" wide. The hole measures 2" and steps down to about 1 7/8". The bottom is marked with five stars made by some type of punch. On a whim I googled " five star flags of Polynesia " and quite a few countries use five stars on their flags. This may just be a coincidence or a good clue to the origin of the lamps. They are made of a soft wood. Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks.

"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2015-05-04 17:22 ]

Here are some more pics.

Super cool. Not sure what to make of them and I have never seen them before. Nor do they ring a bell. However, the center smaller hole might be for a spring loaded candle contraption. Which might help date them. Congrats!

Do not know who made them or where they are from, but
I think that big hole may have been for a oil lamp
set up.
Cool lamps! need to light em up.

The old Kahiki table lamps had big holes like that and were table lamps with oil,
Coconut scented oil as told by Herman L.

see photo of reworked oil lamp set up for electric lights.....

Hiya Trav - That lamp seems to be based on a specific Moai design (note the eye balls) used at Skipper Kent's and at his Polynesian Villages. I don't know who the carver was:

Kent used it for his mugs, this one is from the Polynesian Village:

Your lamp:

…but others used it too:

I got the mug on the left at the Kahiki, it has a handle in the back.

I think any place could have used the design. In the beginning, these janus table lamp bases adhered to the logo Tiki principle, like the Trader Vic's Maori Tiki for example, but later new lamps

Thanks Sven. I knew I had seen that moai somewhere before. I have been very busy as of late and have not taken the time to really dig into the research. Thanks again for your input.

The Southern Cross (the Southern Hemisphere's version of our Big Dipper) is 5 stars and is visible to all of Polynesia except Hawaii*. That would help explain the 5 stars on the flags but they are usually represented in this pattern

Not very similar to the pattern of your stars unless you would call that a stylized version.

*The Southern Cross CAN be view from Hawaii but only for a couple weeks in January and just for a few minutes before dawn

When you hurry through life, you just get to the end faster.
Pirate Ship Tree House

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2015-05-15 04:23 ]

Thanks for all the input guys. Every little bit of info helps fill in the blanks.