Tiki Finds

I got what I thought was a Tonga Room menu recently, but got a surprise.

You can see all the images and story on the Swank Blather.

Sweet finds, Swanky!

That's the R-3 (hey, I didn't have one), unmarked Green Guy, (I guess the OMC sticker fell off) and two different Honolulu mugs. One says Westboro, MA on the back (see?) and t'other say Rt. 9 Westboro and Rt. 1 Norwood on the bottom. So I guess those two were related. Westboro one is a Bertucci's now. No other markings.
Crying tiki candle holder seemed neat at first but now I don't wanna look at it. Can't carp too much for $1.

Yesterday while waiting for a connection in San Francisco airport I stopped by the San Francisco store (near Brookstone and the See's Candy cart). I wasn't expecting to find anything interesting but there was a shelf that had some glasses that looked familiar so I took a closer look.

Sure enough they had TV Mai Tai glasses and the best part was that they were on clearance for $3.99 each. Not the most amazing find but it certainly made my day and I bought two of em.

Here's the vintage Tiki I found in Modesto. Actually I didn't find it at all. It came to me in a phone call. I feel very lucky. It was located hardly a mile away from Minnie's and closer to The Tiki Lounge. The owner of the home where it was knew nothing about it, except it was at her house when she bought it in '89. They didn't like it and wanted it gone. I gave her 100 frog skins for it. It is now standing in my backyard. SCORE.

yeah vic, that looks like it may have been at the tropics. do you think it used to be a rootball? sort of looks like it.

i cannot believe how lucky you are! :drink:

The style looks like the ones at the Modesto Tropics, I agree. Excellent score! Congrats.

Sabu

VERY cool! That's a really nice carving! I'd love to have something like that!

Chris

Great score.

Thanks guys.

It could've been a rootball at one time.

So you think it might be an Ed Crissman/Oceanic Arts?

Wow great find JT!
That would be one of my ultimate wet tiki dreams - finding one that's been hiding in someone's backyard, and hearing they don't want it anymore!

Nice JT but the next time that they don't want the tiki, then you can remove it for them with only a small fee of $30.

On my way home from a wedding I stopped in at an antique mall I last visited 3 years ago. It's a good one, but about 30 minutes away from home and tends to be quite overpriced.

I picked up this cool umbrella stand

This mug or possibly a vase from the Hilton Hawaiian Village, anyone seen this before?

Bottom with inscription

And finally, a big vintage Japanese float that just happens to already have a hole in it! Not the original net, but it will do for now.

They also had some things I did not purchase, I'll post them in a separate thread.

Very nice finds, Wahine.

That umbrella stand is a nice, unusual piece and the glass fish float is going to look great in your tiki bar.

The mug is hard to find and definitely goes into your tiki mug collection. It was used to serve the "Tapa Punch" at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu. The image is from an ancient Hawaiian petroglyph of a Hawaiian outrigger canoe paddler. Here is a so-so photo of the drink menu, showing the mug - one of several really unusual tiki mugs from this location:

Reading from my copy of the same menu, it says:

Tapa Punch
Too Ikaika for Wahines, (sorry Wahine :)), With Rum, brandy, limes and sliced pineapple, $1.90

Congratulations on your finds.

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2006-07-17 21:10 ]

WOW! Thanks Sabu! That is sooooo cool!

I'd love to see a more detailed photo of that menu lay-out, any chance you could e-mail me a bigger version? I'd love to print it out to have on-hand.

The mug is quite heavy and shows no signs of crazing. I estimated it to be made in the sixties at the earliest, but I never thought I'd see it in a menu!

That really made my day. Thanks again!!

I Never get to post anything here because I Never find anything..that is until today.
I found this cool sailing ship . On the back it says W225 and nothing else.



My guess is that it's a Witco, but I don't know for sure.

Thats a Witco! Nice score, BigBen

SuhWEEEET!!

I think the light blue "Water" was added by a Non Witco person. They were sloppy and got it on the frame.

Ben hunts, Ben Scooooores!!!

Sweet Witco!

Now doesn't feel awesome! Looks minty too!

Mahalo

Mc

On 2006-07-19 15:47, Benzart wrote:
I think the light blue "Water" was added by a Non Witco person. They were sloppy and got it on the frame.

Yes, I have the same boat and the background is a beige with those flags screened on it.

Last month my girlfriend talked me into going to a karaoke bar, which, as far as I'm concerned, is one of the nine levels of hell. However, alone in a bar full of country decor and inflatable NASCAR cars stood this 38" (Witco?) statue.

Last week the girlfriend was driving by the bar and noticed they were closed for renovation. After several attempts I finally contacted the owner and discovered they were selling much of the decor, so I managed to get this guy.

Can anyone confirm this is a Witco? Would anyone know what the bowl on his head was for? I would have assumed an ashtray, but it is very cracked and never would have contained the ashes unless it had a liner at one time.

http://www.thelope.blogspot.com

[ Edited by: tikijackalope 2006-07-21 12:28 ]

Well, it certainly has the look of Witco! But I can't help more than that.

And I have a find of my own! I managed to score a hardback copy of BOT for $20 including shipping! I found it on Craig's List for $10, and the seller was willing to ship it to me. It's a first printing, rather than the rarer 2nd printing with the corrections. I was just stoked to finally get a copy :)

Chris

Incredible find, bless your girlfriend! Proves again that it is worth it to be vigilant once an artifact is spotted, to monitor the site, and try to be at the right place at the right time.
You scored and early 60s Witco "Haitian Woman" planter, and in such good condition!
It'll be in the book, I photographed it in Bosko's collection.

Excellent finds recently everybody! Here's a few of my latest:
A Hilo Hattie LP. I had to pay quite a lot for it since I bought it from a record dealer:

Got a copy of Arthur Lymans' Taboo for only $2 last week, sorry for the crappy pic:

Got a Trader Vic's Hawaii mug last week too. It's got one hairline crack and a few chips on the back, but it was only $6.

And here's the latest from today, a Coco Joes Ku for $10, it's about 8 to 10 inches tall or so. Pretty hefty. It could probably double as a murder weapon. It was TikiJosh, in the Bar, with the Ku statue. Not a great picture, but you get the idea:

Woop! Little while ago I snabbed this @ a local Value Village (pic from ebay; my webcam is so grainy it looks like everything is filtered thru sand)for 1.99, all pieces (including teeny Kon-Tiki) intact!

PS Played the game with my roommate, but even with Lyman playing and some cocktails it was lacking in excitement. Usually when a boardgame fails the first time, we go "Drinking-Game Rules" to liven it up, but we'd have to make up new cards for this one. "Bottle of orgeat lands on deck. Build a Mai Tai"

Nice score on that Witco!

Today I did a little garage-saling. I should preface the following find by first telling you that I am a huge fan of local Los Angeles Exotica legend, Korla Pandit. Over the years, the garage sales have been kind to me and I've amassed a small collection of about eight of his albums, including some of the nicer covers. My luck continued today. While looking through a milk-crate full of albums among piles of old tools and car parts at a junkyard of a house, I found the following Korla Pandit lp:

Not one of the greater covers, but one that I don't have yet. The next record in the box was this one:

:up: A private pressing of Korla's from 1965. Nice that it was signed as well, although this isn't very uncommon. Mr. Pandit seemed to sign a lot of albums. The vinyl of both albums was in minty condition.

But the best was yet to come. Inside the jacket of the second lp, was this nifty signed 8x10 glossy :down:

Plus - This great signed order-form for his upcoming Christmas lp :down:

AND - This brochure from 1970 promoting a Korla Pandit concert at SEARS of all places! :down:

Suddenly my Korla Pandit collection has an air of respectability! And the fact I only paid 50 cents for all of it ain't bad either.

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2006-07-22 23:55 ]

Nice find, Sabu. I have two copies of K.P.'s "Universal Language of Music" volume 1. It looks exactly the same as volume 3, but with a green background instead of white. As you say, both copies are autographed. One is dated 1957, the other Feb. 1959, and one is on red vinyl. I think they both came from the same church rummage sale.

Aloha all -

Ms. VanTiki and I hit the Hawaii Collector's Show last night and had a great time. Amongst the treasures we brought home was this fellow:

a neat glass tiki "mug" that I picked up for 15$. The seller (of course) knew nothing about it. It looks almost new, so I assume that this is a modern tiki item - I just hope that it isn't at Target for 2$ each. Anyone seen this fellow before?

Mahalo!

VanTiki

PS - collector's show continues today for anyone on Oahu!

Hey vantiki, that right there is a vintage piece! Congrats!

have a look here

First post in finds...be gentle :).

A week or two ago I found this one at the used book n' record shop...at first I thought it was an album with dolly parton's "pele", but then I saw Arthur Lyman and did a little dance.

Then today I went down to a different shop, and while searching through the country section (I've found I have to go through everything) I found this one :).

Right before I gave up, I looked at the comedy section, and right on top was this one:

Also had to pick up the soundtrack to Hawaii starring Max Von Snydow and Julie Andrews...and some Hawaiian stuff.

Total Bill: $12.

Nice finds, tekoteko! Never even HEARD of that Lyman lp before! Have to add it to my 'Hunt' list...
About 3 years back I found a 10" version of 'Voice of the Xtabay', in an embossed brown faux-leather jacket with no picture, just the text in fancy gold lettering. Never seen another copy since...

On 2006-07-23 11:08, VanTiki wrote:
Aloha all -

Ms. VanTiki and I hit the Hawaii Collector's Show last night and had a great time. Amongst the treasures we brought home was this fellow:

a neat glass tiki "mug" that I picked up for 15$. The seller (of course) knew nothing about it. It looks almost new, so I assume that this is a modern tiki item - I just hope that it isn't at Target for 2$ each. Anyone seen this fellow before?

Mahalo!

VanTiki

PS - collector's show continues today for anyone on Oahu!

never seen this exact item before but I have to say its a beauty.. are there any markings or identification marks at all on the piece?

On 2006-07-27 01:02, bunnnay wrote:

On 2006-07-23 11:08, VanTiki wrote:
Aloha all -

Ms. VanTiki and I hit the Hawaii Collector's Show last night and had a great time. Amongst the treasures we brought home was this fellow:

a neat glass tiki "mug" that I picked up for 15$. The seller (of course) knew nothing about it. It looks almost new, so I assume that this is a modern tiki item - I just hope that it isn't at Target for 2$ each. Anyone seen this fellow before?

Mahalo!

VanTiki

PS - collector's show continues today for anyone on Oahu!

never seen this exact item before but I have to say its a beauty.. are there any markings or identification marks at all on the piece?

These come in a few different colors. I have the clear and the amber version. I've seen these on Ebay a few times but haven't grabbed one yet.

a neat glass tiki "mug" that I picked up for 15$. The seller (of course) knew nothing about it. It looks almost new, so I assume that this is a modern tiki item - I just hope that it isn't at Target for 2$ each. Anyone seen this fellow before?

It was originally marketed as a planter rather than a mug with a green leafy plant pictured on the box it was sold in.

On 2006-07-23 11:08, VanTiki wrote:
Aloha all -

Ms. VanTiki and I hit the Hawaii Collector's Show last night and had a great time. Amongst the treasures we brought home was this fellow:

a neat glass tiki "mug" that I picked up for 15$. The seller (of course) knew nothing about it. It looks almost new, so I assume that this is a modern tiki item - I just hope that it isn't at Target for 2$ each. Anyone seen this fellow before?

Mahalo!

VanTiki

PS - collector's show continues today for anyone on Oahu!

These are pretty common. They come in clear or brown or frosted, and I have seen them opaque in white I think. They also come in two sizes. One is pretty large. Looks like you have the large version there. Age is hard to guess because they are still making them I think, and still serving out of them at Disney's Polynesian Village. Lately they are marked with the Disney logo. These brown ones are older. Brown and clear are older. A few other places served out of them, but I think that was more of a later thing, like in the 70s. I have maybe 4-5 of this style.

The old drive in theater that shut down about a year and a half ago was a great place to go dig up goodies on Sundays when they had the flea market. The other local flea market sucks as it is like going to a dollar store! A few months back, another drive in opened up not too far from here. They too are having flea markets on Sundays. I have a manged to pick up a few goodies and love going to this sort of flea market as this is the type when you get the family or relative that is cleaning up the house or garage and pack it all up to get rid of their "trash". All you hunters out there know what I am saying!!

I was racing through the different tables and was trying not to trip over all the stuff that people lay out all over the ground last sunday. It was damn hot here so I was moving quick in this open market. There under a table something bright, colorful and round caught my eye. At the same time my fiancee noticed this item as well and we shared this really distorted look of amazement and excitment. When I realized what it was I had to hold on to my excitment which was pretty damn hard!! There were two, not one, but two Bird of Paridise Bowls by Stephen Crane and Associates just laying there amongst a bunch of crapolla stacked inside one another.

I dont remember walking over to them but maybe kind of like launching across to them and quickly asked "how much are these bird things" trying to hide the thrill in my voice. The man calmly said $2.00. As soon as I started breathing again I gave the man $5.00 and said keep the change. I had to feel a little bit better after robbing him of this bit of Tiki history. He was quite happy about the extra three dollars anyway! I couldnt believe our luck!! I have long admired these bowls from a far and watched them fetch huge amounts of bread on ebay. Its not about how much these are worth out there but the thrill of finding them in the wild and getting a very hard to find vintage piece of history. Paying next to nothing for them is just the icing!

As I looked at the next table, which happened to be the previous sellers Mom selling stuff as well, she said she got those bowls with her husband about thirty years ago at a Kon Tiki Restaurant and they shared a drink in them. Nice little connection to them and probably the best find in the wild that I have had in a long time.

Here are a couple of other things I picked up in the last couple of days:

On the left is a Skull Mug with it's original OMC foil label on the base, a Hapawood Tiki made by HIP dated 1974, a black double sided Tiki glass which I believe are new pieces that are being made now, two small Tiki cufflinks which I will have to thank TikiWahine for as I got fed up looking at all the jewellery in places until I saw some of the cool items that she has picked up on her hunts, second from right a nice old Orchids of Hawaii Fuman Chu mug and on the right a white ceramic Tiki face mug made by Louis B Ceramics, I think of Hawaii, which has the ink stamp on the bottom of a bee waving his arm. The back of this mug is marked Royal Lahaina Resort in Kaanapali Beach, Maui. Overall not too bad. Sure made it worth while as I have been really too busy lately to go on hunts so this has been pretty good! Thanks for looking and happy hunting!! TabooDan

Nice haul TDan!

The only things that I ever find at flea markets around these parts are broken tools, grungy toys, and cheap household goods from Mexico.

TabooDan
I picked these up a a local Goodwill. They look like the black double sided Tiki glass that you found. I burn candles in mine.

[ Edited by: R U Tiki 2006-07-28 18:49 ]

[ Edited by: R U Tiki 2006-07-29 20:28 ]

TabooDan beat me to the punch on showing an image of a "painted goblet". Here is a pic of mine that I've found over the years. Just wanted you all know that they come in different paint applications. I have two extra Disney Polynesian Village shorties if anyone is interested in having one for their collection. Sale or trade, it doesn't matter to me. :)

http://www.unklejohn.com

My Tiki Lounge http://unklejohn.suddenlaunch.com/index.cgi

[ Edited by: Unkle John 2006-07-28 10:46 ]

I picked up these Matson Line menus recently for five bucks each. They were from a cruise aboard the S.S. Monterey. I found them together, so I presume they were souvenirs of somebodys trip. I almost didn't get the Australia menu, but I couldn't bear to break up the set.

The menus depicting Samoa (l) and Fiji (r) are dated August 16 and 17 1957, respectively. They were for the Sydney to Auckland leg of the trip.

The menus depicting New Zealand and Australia are dated August 25 and 26, 1957 respectively. They were for the Pago Pago to Honolulu leg of the cruise.

Wow, Dan, way to go! That's like the ultimate flea market find! I spent quite a bit of time this past weekend going through a couple of flea markets hunting for an elusive 'big score', I'm glad to hear you found one of yours! You must have been so excited!

I did find a few things, I'll post them here tonight.

As promised, here are my recent finds:

Large Corner Starboard(green) Lamp, found at a weekend antique show(set prices, unmanned booths)

I believe this to be a Witco tiki containing it's original lighter, but I could be wrong. It has no markings. Found at the same place.

Cheap resin Moai. It's about 14" and was found by DrunkenMunky at a dollar store. They were all slightly different so he took me back to pick one out myself.

All these records were found at a different antique mall.

The fishfloat was also found at the antique mall, the kissing fish at a Value Village.

I found this a couple of weeks ago at Value Village. It's a Frank Schirman bust, more than twice the size of the last one I found.

I found these tikis over the past month, and forgot to photograph all but one of them.

I also brought home some lucite grapes, two amoeba shot glasses & a 1961 window design book. You can see pictures of them over here in Beyond Tiki Finds.

nice records there TW! I found a few of those recently myself, albeit down here in So Cal. The Bing Crosby record rocks! It's one of my favorites!

That's great Josh!
I can't wait to listen to them. I'll put Bing on tonight while I clean house.
Roy Smeck is one of my favorites, I was stoked to my first record of his.

[ Edited by: Tikiwahine 2006-08-01 13:09 ]

Stuff obtained over the past few months. A lot of Westwood this time around. Apologies if I've posted any mugs previously... I am running out of room and my mug organization is falling into disarray.

I got these mugs from all over: antique store, Ebay, swap meet, and thrift store.

3 Westwood; a Leilani; and a Suck-em-up mug.

Unmarked OMC Kon Tiki; a mug from The Patio, Sheraton Skyline (my first Brit mug); a vintage Trader Dicks, and an Orchids R-3 type mug manufactured by Quon Quon.

A Tahiji mug; Don the Beachcomber, San Diego matchbook; another Westwood; unmarked mug; a handmade Ku mug (my first homemade item).

The two unmarked green cups look like the homemade mug on TQ page 61 (any info on these?); Orchids Mask Bowl; unmarked S&P shakers.

Trader Vic's seahorse mug; unmarked R-5 mug.

Moais from the Fireside, WI; Aloha Jhoe's (this has been previously posted)

Back of the Moais

Tiki Farm Tiki Goddess mug; Tiki Farm mug for the 'Marriot International Mission 2006'; Munktiki Oasis 6 (numero 81).

Back of the above mugs. I got the Tiki Farm mugs at Bamboo Source in Oceanside. The people who own the place are very nice... pay a visit!

Just when I was ready to give up on Goodwill I found these 2 babies for $2 a pop.
A Trader Vic's of Hawaii Sea Horse mug, I've never seen one of these in the flesh but the dorsal fin contours nicely to your fingers.

Although not tiki, this Cock's Roost mug was made by the same company as the seahorse that after a little research I see that it was located in that big banyan tree in The International Market Place in the 70's who knew?

On 2006-08-06 14:07, naugatiki wrote:
I see that it was located in that big banyan tree in The International Market Place in the 70's who knew?

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-16 14:14 ]