Is this new tiki find a Witco?

Got this at a local thrift store. Also just got a digital camera so I can now post pics of more finds. It looks like the Witco style of carving and finishing but there are no markings on it. I took a pic with it next to a PMP mug to show scale. So what are your thoughts...

tiki junkman

I don't quote me on this, as I don't know Witco very well, but I'm leaning towards "not" Witco. Either way, I'd say it's a helluva thrift-store find! I was just in Chicago and was wondering about the second-hand TIKI market.

BTW: I like the tiny PMP!

The picture's not helping much, but-
were there really knockoffs that looked that MUCH like Witco? I thought Witco was (even in those days) a very specialized market. But this piece, with the nice roundy edges, the burnt finish...I think it's Witco.

Kava King, I've been puzzling over the Witco/not Witco question myself and started a thread for it: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=10281&forum=5&14
Laney (whom I believe to be the justly crowned Queen of Witco) has a thread which has more pieces of the puzzle:
https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=3849&forum=5&vpost=34917
Personally, I'd love to see the publication of every scrap of info on Witco...every catalog, interviews with Bill (how's that book going, Sven?), pics of the stuff in furniture store ads, etc. Until that time, even mediocre photocopies of catalogs would be most welcome...anyone got one they can scan and post?
I'd like to know what the burned-finish wood market was like before Witco and what imitators, from within the company and without, it spawned. For that matter, can anyone tell when the company got started and when it wound down?
As to Tiki Junkman's tiki, in my very limited experience, I don't think it is Witco (which in no way demeans it; you should be happy it found you). Bill, via Keigs, would be the last word on its Witco-ness, but I hate asking him so often since he is an artist in his own right and frankly, I'd take a Keigs as fast as I'd snatch up a Witco.
You know, Keigs, if you did a reprint of Witco catalogs, even a cheaply bound one... heck, if you just scanned the things and offered a disc, I bet a bunch of us would buy it. Can we have a show of hands on that?

I would I would!!

Also thanks for your posts on my no-name tiki

tiki junkman

On 2004-08-25 14:57, tikijackalope wrote:

Laney (whom I believe to be the justly crowned Queen of Witco) has a thread which has more pieces of the puzzle:
https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=3849&forum=5&vpost=34917
Personally, I'd love to see the publication of every scrap of info on Witco...every catalog, interviews with Bill (how's that book going, Sven?), pics of the stuff in furniture store ads, etc. Until that time, even mediocre photocopies of catalogs would be most welcome...anyone got one they can scan and post?
I'd like to know what the burned-finish wood market was like before Witco and what imitators, from within the company and without, it spawned. For that matter, can anyone tell when the company got started and when it wound down?
As to Tiki Junkman's tiki, in my very limited experience, I don't think it is Witco (which in no way demeans it; you should be happy it found you). Bill, via Keigs, would be the last word on its Witco-ness, but I hate asking him so often since he is an artist in his own right and frankly, I'd take a Keigs as fast as I'd snatch up a Witco.
You know, Keigs, if you did a reprint of Witco catalogs, even a cheaply bound one... heck, if you just scanned the things and offered a disc, I bet a bunch of us would buy it. Can we have a show of hands on that?

first, please, hardly "queen" (although I do have the king and queen Witco pieces) just a collector, still trying to add to my small stash.

Second, catalogs are as hard if not harder to come by than Witco pieces. They fetch a pretty penny on ebay and hardly show up at that. I've tried to get color copies from a few TC members who have them and they won't even give those up. There were Witco knock-offs and even now people out there are copying Keigs unique pieces.

Personally, I like that Witco information is not "out there" as I am not looking forward to more collectors, higher prices, and even more attempted copies. For me as a collector (I don't plan to sell any of my Witco) the smaller the market, the better.

While at the Orange County Fair this year I looked at people's collections (they have a building filled with all sorts of collections) I read one ladies story of how she started collecting carnival and milk glass covered animal dishes. (you know the chickens, bunnies, etc) She said she stopped collecting when they started making new copies that looked so much like the vintage ones, you often couldn't tell them apart. Don't forget that most Witco aren't marked and there are so many "is this a Witco?" now, I hope it never gets to the point where I don't want to collect anymore.