Anyone recognize these mugs?

I stumbled across this link by accident.

http://www.bagofdonuts.com/ding/tiki.htm

I emailed the guy and he said he didn't even know this page was still up and that, no, he didn't have any mugs left and, no, he didn't know where they came from. Aargh!

The one on the right I know, but the left two (and especially that awesome Vegas-y alien mug on the far left) are new to me.

Anyone know where these came from? Have any to sell/trade?

Reever
[email protected]

[ Edited by: Reever on 2002-11-22 08:42 ]

Not sure, "into the volcano" maybe? I'll have to check the pictures in my Tiki News when I get home.

yep there from "inot the volcano" at tleast the first two.

Ah! That would be why I can't find them, eh? Hasn't he stopped production? Does he post here?

Hey Reever,

I pasted the email from the Tiki News mail archive that may answer your question.

Sat, 16 Feb 2002
Otto
Into the Volcano Tiki mugs

Many of you have been writing about the cool Tiki mugs shown in Tiki News #17

the website http://www.intothevolcano.com is down and you have been wondering where you can find these mugs

well unfortunately the answer is, Nowhere. At least not right now. The owner/designer/mugmaker, Raffi, had to temporarily stop production. He will resume again within the year.

Please email him directly and get on his email list so you will be notified when he goes back into production

Raffi
[email protected]

[sulltiki]-The original message had the wrong email address...I have corrected it here.

I emailed Raffi back in Feb, I have yet to hear from him.
http://www.tikinews.com/mailarchive/msg00307.html

Sull, thanks again. I had seen that article and tried to email him, and the email was returned. Now I know why! I'll try again...

Interesting that this article is dated Feb, 2002 because I emailed this person sometime last year and got no response either.

Yep, I tried e-mailing too in the dim and distant past. Some great mugs. Perhaps it's all an elaborate ruse and they will all start creeping onto eBay now that the legend of intothevolcano has started to build.

Trader Woody

I also tried to track down those mugs after I started my subscription to tikinews - got as far as speaking to his old room mate, who gave me a new number - but that number didn't pan out. Dead end. Get the feeling those mugs will forever be limited in their issue.

I'm curious about two mugs in this lot.
The mug(s) in question are the matte bisque type, located far right in the first photo & dead center in the last photo.
They look to be vintage, but I've never seen them before.
Anyone have these or know anything about them?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=738776713

[ Edited by: bigbadtikidaddy on 2002-11-23 12:44 ]

Don't know those, but boy do they look naked.

I'd buy that entire lot for those flickering bulb tiki lamps, but the landlord might not accept the excuse "I spent the rent on Ebay"...

Yeah, those nekkid guys are weird, never seen them before...but they are the only ones in the lot.
Those "super rare movie prop house 60s flickering lamps" can't be so rare, because Orchids Of Hawaii used to make them until the early 90s. And I always thought they were very ugly, made out of this metal made to look like antique brass. I have one somewhere in a box...

I think those S&P shakers are Getty period Don The Beachcomber...but which items are supposed to be from Trader Vic's? That "rare and funky Tiki Glass" is not so rare either..

Hope he finds an appreciative buyer.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2002-11-23 15:28 ]

Sven, ugly is in the eye of the beholder. If you've got one of those lamps stuck in a box somewhere rotting away, name your price and I'll pay for shipping, my friend. I consider myself to have an artist's eye when it comes to collecting, and I don't like cheap tiki junk, but those things are just tacky enough to win their way into my little heart!

I'm with you, Reever -- those little lamps are what I would covet most out of that selection, although I wouldn't pay an arm and a leg for them.

On 2002-11-23 15:50, Reever wrote:
Sven, ugly is in the eye of the beholder. If you've got one of those lamps stuck in a box somewhere rotting away, name your price and I'll pay for shipping, my friend. I consider myself to have an artist's eye when it comes to collecting, and I don't like cheap tiki junk, but those things are just tacky enough to win their way into my little heart!

I caution you Mark, what you are seeing in the images posted is akin to spotting a seemingly beautiful Wahine in a distant Tiki bar booth after you had a couple of Navy Grogs: blurred vision and dark flicker lighting do not make for objective judgement!
Trust me.

Mine has a retractable candle tube and is not wired...will have to pull it out sometime again...

Hehe... I'll take your word for it, Sven.

My wahine (whom I selected when sober and in broad daylight, by the way) would prefer I not bring anything too tacky into our little grass shack. So if you say it's junk, then I trust you...

:)

Quick update:

I managed to get ahold of Raffi Apelian (of "Into the Volcano"), thanks to your leads and email addresses. It seems he's out of the business of mug making, at least for the time being. He's gone back to school and is currently "looking for work in a number of different fields; product design, packaging design, graphic design and advertising" in the New Jersey/New York area.

He said I could update you all. The sooner he can land work the sooner he might be able to get back into the Tiki design business, which would be great. So if you have any leads or words of encouragement, send them his way!

You can reach him at: [email protected]

[ Edited by: Reever on 2002-11-26 08:03 ]