Ancient Mysterious Tiki Cake Holder?

I found this Tiki Item today at the Thrift Store!
Wondering if anyone knows anything about this item?

Mahalo!
-Tiki Den

I would say it is from the Philippines. This style and wood is pretty common for knick-knacks from the PI.

I have what looks like could be a serving piece from the same "set"--three tier tray. The carvings are very similar. On mine there is a label that suggests it was sold in Hawaii, though to me the carvings look like it was made in the Philippines, as Tikipedia suggested.

I always figured these were jobbed out to the Philippines where labor was cheaper and exported to Hawaii for the tourist trade.

Thrift stores here are full of odds and end monkey pod pieces, but I haven't seen the "cake server" before. It's probably fairly rare? Nice find!

[ Edited by: ManFromT.I.K.I. 2007-07-08 21:45 ]

ahh cool multi layered setup!
so it is most likely from the PI, hmmm interesting
Thanks for the info!

also, I was wondering what would be best used to clean it up? Pledge? Wood Oil?

Mahalo,
-Tiki Den

Yeah, there are a lot of items with the same design. I have seen the pineapple server thing about a zillion times. I have seen a "keg" on a stand, and a wooden punch bowl, and lots of wooden cups. All with this same pattern. They must have made tons of these. Especially the pineapple server thing. I bet there are 30 of them for sale in antique and thrift stores in town right now... and only one is intact...

From the label on mine:

"The monkeypod tree, grown in Hawaii and other tropical Pacific Islands, is an evergreen that lives for hundreds of years and can be seen shading many parks and school yards in Hawaii. The golden brown color and whirley wood grain is enhanced with age and use. It takes very little care and will beautify your home for many years. Use with hot or cold food. Rub each piece with vegetable oil before the first use only. After each use wash with luke warm water and dry. Enjoy"

If you plan on actually using it for storing/serving food, you'll want to use an edible oil, like vegetable.

I used to have a lazy susan just like the one ManfromTIKI has. We used linseed oil for the wood. I know that some types of linseed oil are edible, but the stuff we used smelled pretty bad, so there may be a version just for wood finishes. Orange oil might work too.