We got ourselves some Ren Clarks...

I FINALLY registered my own account on TC because I am sick of begging Kilikopela to post on here. I don't claim to know a lot about tiki, and this post will probably be both my first and last to TC, but I wanted to share with you guys.

As some of you may know, we are now living in Korea, and since we've been here, we've found a few cool tiki finds — nothing special, but the fact that we got them here makes them special to us. Anyway, I'll leave that post to him if he ever gets around to it.

Nonetheless, although we are no longer in Houston, we have a good friend there who is a vintage photo dealer, and so she spends most of her days going to antique stores and estate sales. She is under strict orders to look out for good buys for us, especially anything to do with Houston's Trader Vic's or Frankoma stuff (since I'm from Oklahoma I'd like to own some Frankoma tiki).

Anyway, our friend went to the estate sale of a family that had lived several years in Hawaii and came across a lot of authentic tiki and urban tiki. We received the package in the mail a few days ago, and it included a salt and pepper set and a ku-like mug from Ren Clark's! We've never seen these anywhere in Houston before, and I've never seen the ku-inspired mug.

It may not be the Headhunter, but it is a Texas-related item and we didn't have to pay $1400 for them either! It's funny we got these just as Ren Clark's stuff is getting a lot of attention on here lately...

Pictures are up on my web site, http://abroad-abroad.org/index.php/2005/10/20/christmas-done-come-early-yall/. Please ignore the elementary information about tiki collecting, as most of my friends are so not into this stuff and require a lot of backgrounding.

(BTW, Christopher is doing much better. He had his cast removed a few days ago and is now starting to walk around again. We'll be coming back to the states in a week or so for vacation.)

Wow, after years of collecting and scouring eBay relentlessly I thought I had seen nearly every mug that was ever produced. However, I've never seen or even heard rumors of this one! That has got to be one of the rarest mugs out there! Not as dramatic as the severed head but still a cool design. Anyone else ever seen this mug before? If you ever decide to eBay that one I'm picturing a death duel between the usual high rollers ($,$$$). You may want to be cautious about telling your friend what this one is worth on the open market. Nice find!

ModMana :drink:

She already knows. Besides, tiki's not her schtick, and as a collector, she's totally against eBay. (It's like the WalMart of antiquing...)

Wowee-wow-WOW, Brit!

WHY isn't Scrappy MY friend!?!!!

Congrats on a super-duper-cool find! I'd so love to have something from more vintage Texas tiki places. My card from Houston Trader Vic's and lots of trader Vic's stuff that may be from here are the closest that I can claim.

Wouldn't that be nice to have the time to just hit estate sales all week long!!!

F the E
(Formica the Envious)

Those black Disney style tiki mugs are used at the Tiki Tiki in Japan...

They look like fakes to me. Just have a look at the base - surely those were fired in the past year. I wouldn't be surprised if a few of these hit eBay suddenly over the next few months. Be warned.

Trader Woody

hey how very cool for you!
swapatorium is one of my very favorite sites! i was trying to think of a reason to post about it! swapatorium and snapatorium are amazing. i was gonna ask if hse came across vintage hawaiiana, now i know why nothing's ever posted..you got there first!

great finds, great friend ~ with the most amazing luck at estate sales!

elicia

On 2005-10-20 10:07, Trader Woody wrote:
They look like fakes to me. Just have a look at the base - surely those were fired in the past year. I wouldn't be surprised if a few of these hit eBay suddenly over the next few months. Be warned.

Trader Woody

Those are not fakes. I have seen that design before and I know a few collectors who have those same pieces. They are rare, as is most of the stuff from Ren Clark's, but they are out there.

I actually like their "signature" Tiki mug better than the severed head, because it is precisely that– a Tiki.

Great find and and great story. Cherish them.
-Duke

A very interesting story, thanks for the info.

I've seen a few other Polynesia stuff on Snap's site. I've also been to her house when they were having a garage sale — they live right down the street from us in Houston — and it was INSANE the junk (I mean that in a good way) they have. Her husband gave me a grass skirt made in the '50s in Hawaii (still has the tag).

Ha — those mugs are fake like my "mangoes" are!

Thanks for all the comments, y'all!