Question on two mugs in my collection...

Hey all.
Go t a quick question,Does anyone else have mugs that have the "patch" (for lack of better terms) of no glaze? its about an inch by an inch, I have one that has a name written into it, "Trader Pangs" and the other is blank. Anyone have any info on these mugs? or how common they are?

Trader Pang's is Hilo Hattie's store 'tiki mug' for general consumption.

thanks Bong, I had no clue on these two mugs, Is it normal for the name to be hanwritten into the glaze free spot like that?

RBCat,
That's pretty common practice. The restaurant/bar would buy the generic mug in bulk from the distributor and then stamp their own name in the blank spot. Cheaper than having them personalized in the mug-making process. Writing it in by hand is really going the cheap route!

I've seen it most often on the the OMC's three-faced "bucket" mug. Doctor Z has a whole collection of 'em from 23+ places.

-JTD

So I had heard too that "Trader Pangs" was a made-up locale, just a name to put on mugs from Hilo Hattie's until a couple of weeks ago...
I was talking to a friend at a party and mentioned something about tropical/tiki drinks. His eyes lit up an he told me about how when he was in college in Chico, CA. he friends used to go to this crazy place where they served "drinks in bowl with long straws". I asked him the name and he racked his brain for a minute or so... "Oh yeah, Trader Pangs!"

This guy is few years older than me so I assume that his college days were in the early to mid 80's.
So what gives? Are the Hilo Hatties mugs a knock-off from the original or just an odd coincidence?

Aloha,
:tiki:

A few years ago Otto (Tiki News) bought a Trader Pangs from me (or was it two....or did I just give it/them to him.....). We were discussing the origins of the mugs and I relayed Bong's comment about Hilo Hattie's, Otto didn't agree. I had picked up a bunch at an antique store about 6 or 7 (?) years ago for a couple of bucks a piece...I didn't like the colors so I sold 'em off. Also, a few years ago when Hilo Hattie's opened up in Orange, they were selling tons of the Trader Pang's mugs for $2.99 each. I know this probably doesn't help, just thought I'd throw in some whatnot....

Hello all,

This is an intriguing thread, I’ve had an amber “Trader Pangs” Moai since the eighties and have always wondered about it's origin. In fact I brought it to Otto's first mug party to see if anyone else had any info on it. In 1990 I went by Hilo Hatties in Hawaii and didn’t see anything Tiki, let alone a mug. Below are the two Trader Pangs mugs I have, now looking at the blue one it sure could be made in China junk but they both have the same logo (which was fired onto the mug) so they are from the same source. Another strange element, I have seen a Trader Pangs matchbook (at least ten years ago) but it didn’t have a location on it, maybe Sven remembers (I think Chester?) who it belonged to? Are these the mugs that are being referred to? If so what to make of the matchbook?

My very best alohas,

Bosko

Yo Bosko,
I had the Blue one, that may be the one that Otto got from me. I also had a tan one in the same style. I also had a green Dragon mug with the Trader Pangs logo. I've never seen the Moai you have. Don't have any of them left, maybe in retrospect I should have held on to them....

WOW its been 2 years since I had posted this and now there is all this interest in the darn things... LOL I still have mine, I think the lettering is different on the one that is lettered but it looks just like the one blue mug that Bosko listed...

On 2007-11-17 13:20, Tiki Royale wrote:
So I had heard too that "Trader Pangs" was a made-up locale, just a name to put on mugs from Hilo Hattie's until a couple of weeks ago...
I was talking to a friend at a party and mentioned something about tropical/tiki drinks. His eyes lit up an he told me about how when he was in college in Chico, CA. he friends used to go to this crazy place where they served "drinks in bowl with long straws". I asked him the name and he racked his brain for a minute or so... "Oh yeah, Trader Pangs!"

This guy is few years older than me so I assume that his college days were in the early to mid 80's.
So what gives? Are the Hilo Hatties mugs a knock-off from the original or just an odd coincidence?

Aloha,
:tiki:

Tiki Royale - I went to Chico State from 1984 to 1989 and I never heard of a Trader Pang's. i could have missed it but it sure doesn't ring a bell. Now I live just up the street from Hilo Hatties. I bought this Trader Pang's mug from Hilo Hattie's about 4 years ago. Hilo Hattie carried a lot of Tiki Farm Mugs and other Tiki Mugs for about a year, but now don't cary anything but little resin Tikis.