Recently I had the good, good fortune to be able to buy a Frankoma "War God" mug from the old Club Trade Winds in Tulsa, OK. This was the large version of the War God in Cinnamon glaze, the #T3. (The one in the BOT in Flame Red is the smaller #T3S). When it arrived I was truly astounded by it's size. Here is a picture of it, with some standard mugs next to it for comparison:

Best of all, the previous owner is the Manager and Photographer for a newsletter published by the Frankoma Family Collectors Association (FFCA). We corresponded a bit about the reasons I had bought the mug and when he found out I had other items from the Club Trade Winds restaurant and was a tiki aficionado, he sent me a newsletter with a great, informative article about all the items that Frankoma had produced for Club Trade Winds.

There's no way I can keep this article to myself - I've got to share it with you guys. There are tiki mugs and serving items here that I never knew existed, and they're all quite rare, evidently. Check out the Bird of Paradise Coconut Pitcher, the Tiki Bowl, and the Leaf Platter in the photos at the end of this post. I know I'm giving myself competition to find these items now, but I'd be happy if anyone from Tiki Central was able to acquire them, now that we know they came from a tiki restaurant. I already own a marked Giant Clam Shell tray and some unmarked Small Clam Shells and an unmarked Coconut Mug.

If you would like copies of the newsletter for yourself, you can send $5.00 plus $1.50 for shipping ($6.50 total) to:

FFCA
PO BOX 32571
Oklahoma City, OK
73123

Make the check out to "FFCA" and ask for the Autumn 1996 Issue, with the Club Trade Winds article.

Following is the text from the article itself and following that are the photos from the article. I hope it proves valuable to you hard-core collectors.

Sabu

*The Trade Winds, located at 51st Street and Peoria in Tulsa, was the first of the Trade Winds Motels. Later it became known as Trade Winds West. When it opened, the restaurant was called Club Trade Winds, and was Polynesian in concept and motif. (The management changed some years later, and it became The Tiki Nook.) It was originally planned to be the ultimate in Polynesian style restaurants, to surpass and become the superior successor to the then-popular Trader Vic restaurants.

Club Trade Winds followed Trader Vic's practice of serving exotic drinks in exotic containers that the customer took home, the cost of the container being included in the price of the drink. Frankoma was contracted (1960-1961) to furnish a number of appropriate pieces, and Joniece designed these interesting items, with Father's assistance on the #T12 Bird of Paradise Pitcher and the #T11 Palm Leaf Platter (see February 1996 issue, "The Palm Leaf" on Page 16). The original beverage containers were the #T3 War God and #T4 Widow Maker Mugs, and the #T7 Coconut and #T2 Bamboo Tumblers. The reason these containers were so large is that Club Trade Winds could charge a whole lot of money for a whole lot of ice, while the customer felt he was getting his money's worth!

As companion pieces to complete the Polynesian line, there was the Bird of Paradise Coconut Pitcher, the Palm Leaf Platter, #T5 Tiki God Salt and Peppers, #T8 Fish Ash Tray, #T9-7" Clam Shell Dish, #T10-13" Clam Shell Tray, and #T6 Tiki God Serving Bowl. The latter piece was half of a 3-sided coconut shell, held by three Tikis (Tikis same as #5 Tiki S&P), used not only to serve food, but drinks as well. It has what seems to be a little "foot" on the bottom, but if you'll look at the inside, you'll see that foot is actually a "well" that a tall highball glass fits down into. When the bartender set the drink down into the center, he then filled the bowl with ice, and the drink stayed chilled in its nest of ice. It also kept the glass upright as the ice melted and/or as the drink was consumed.

All of the original pieces, except for the Salt and Peppers, had "Club Trade Winds" on the bottom, along with either "Tulsa, Okla." and the stock number and/or the copyright symbol with "Frankoma" on the unglazed bottom. The Salt and Peppers have "Trade Winds" printed on their backs.

Joniece tells us that -as best she can remember- the original order was for 350 of each of the drink containers, with an appropriate number of the other pieces, probably 25 of the pitchers and platters, and maybe 50 each of the other pieces. She also says that she remembers only the one original order. If there were reorders, she says, they were very small, like a couple of dozen each of one or two items.

In the first few months, the theft rate on these beautiful pieces was so very high, it became cost prohibitive, and the Club Trade Winds could no longer justify continuing to use the Frankoma pieces.

As these were popular items, several of them were put into the Frankoma line for a short time. The #T3S War God Mug and the #T4S Widow Maker Mug were reduced in size (1967-1971) to become either vases or decorative drinking mugs, but only a small quantity was made.

In about 1971, Joniece became friends with two men who were starting a small Polynesian restaurant in conjuction with an after-hours club called The Cultured Pearl. With the encouragement of her father, Joniece made a few of the old Club Trade Winds items - perhaps 25 or so of some of the smaller items. Both the restaurant and this association were very short lived, and items with The Cultured Pearl marking are very rare.

For the actual Club Trade Winds order, the colors used were Woodland Moss, Prairie Green, Desert Gold, Onyx Black, Clay Blue, White Sand and Flame, although other colors - even Gracetone's Cinnamon - have been found. And remember, this was the time of brick red clay that produced the richest glaze colors. Some of both sizes of the Shell Dishes were lined in White, though most of the Club Trade Winds Shell Dishes were one color. When items were placed in the general line, all the colors then being used can be found.

The #T9T and #T10T Clam Shell Dishes with White inside were marked with a "T" after the number and were offered only in Prairie Green, Woodland Moss and Satin Brown from 1962 to 1964 - I have, however, seen them with the second T designation and in other colors. Miniatures were made ofthe Fish Ash Tray (#468) and the Clam Shell Dish (#476), which were also used as Christmas Cards in 1960 and 1963, respectively.

All of the Club Trade Winds and the Cultured Pearl items are difficult to find, and are a very fine addition to any collection. However, the unmarked pieces are also certainly worthy of collecting. In short, keep your eyes open for these unusual and beautiful examples of Joniece's artistry and inventiveness - truly a collector's prize!

My thanks to Joniece Frank for her invaluable assistance with information contained in this article - By Ray Stoll-Oklahoma City, OK*

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy on 2003-04-09 12:57 ]

Sabu,

Once again, thanks for the interesting information!

Great stuff, Sabu. This is the type of thing that really makes this place. That article is a fine resouce of info..I had never seen a few of those items.

Our meager collection includes a few of the pieces there (not marked from either locale). The clam shell, bamboo tumbler , and a couple of the coconut mug. We'll have a great T7 mug in our next sale, one with the "flame" glaze. It ain't the B.O.T Rotary Club War God mug, which was just sold on Ebay, but it's pretty cool.

Thanks for posting this, and congrats on your new mug. I saw you "won" that...the baby fund took a hit, eh?

midnite

Awesome! Thanks for passin' on the info. I have had one of the smaller war god mugs for a long time and have seen other Trade Winds items in the Frankoma book but never the entire assortment! Besides the war god mug I have a couple of the coconuts (anybody wanna' trade?) and once had the shell bowl- I gave it to a friend and fellow tiki collector who grew up in Oklahoma and wanted something from the Trade Winds. I have pretty much given up on finding any other pieces, despite the fact that we come across quite a bit of other Frankoma stuff. Have you seen what the salt and pepper shakers have brought on ebay?!

Sabu,
Based on the article, it looks like you got one of the earlier mugs since its so damn huge! Great Score!

Thanx for the info on the Frankoma stuff from the Tradewinds. We got a couple of the coconuts and have been chasing the illusive War God for some time now. Now you have shown me there is even more to look for, Oh Boy!! A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go.....

[ Edited by: atomiktiki on 2003-03-26 12:38 ]

Wow, that is great info, ANYTHING on Tiki mug heritage is so hard to come by because so much was made in Asia (notice the lack of it in my mug chapter!).
I took the opportunity and enlisted that crazy Japanese guy who paid a mint for my video to see if he can find out anything about OMC over there, I keep my fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, does anybody have postcards, exterior or interior, of the Club Tradewinds in Tulsa? Do any menus exist for the Tiki Nook?

...I remember the Tulsa TV guy mentioning something on his website. What URL was that again? Wasn't there a place called Jade East in Tulsa that was Tiki, also?

very nice find. I been loking for one of dem myself.

I got this coconut mug from frankoma trade winds on ebay. it had me tossin and turning all night in my sleep because i mistakenly bidded $1501. as my highest bid!

da auction didn't end till 5:30 am Hawaii time so i checked it da first ting in da morning to see what i ended up paying fo da dam ting....$26 woah! i get lucky on dat one!

if there was someone rich who would have brought da bid to $1000 i would have been pissed! thank God it was under $50, dats wat i was praying for.

hey the pics are broken- can you get them up again?

Don't know if ya'll lucky folks saw this just happen on ebay -

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2622659279&category=449

$356 - wow. I USED to want one.

PS - Doesn't ebay support bid retractions specifically for the "opps,-I-added-an-extra-zero" reason?

Bigbro,

I know it's not much, but here's a photo of an ashtray I just purchased off E-bay from the Trade Winds Motel chain in Oklahoma. I'm assuming this is the chain mentioned in the Frankoma article. The Tulsa location would have housed the Club Trade Winds restaurant. This ashtray may pre-date that.

BigBro is this what you were looking for? http://tulsatvmemories.com/tulstiki.html
:) Here is a picture of the Trade Winds from this link.
Sabu did you ever figure out where that one picture of the guy standing ouside a motel or bar wearing shorts was taken? Any good leads? - Dawn

The Trade Winds must have been a chain of motels along Route 66 here is a post card on ebay now for a trade winds motel in Amarillo.

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2003-03-31 17:05 ]

Man, the guy that scored those two redwood tikis from the Jade East is S-T-O-K-E-D!

Fantastic stuff on Frankoma...all right under my nose here in Tulsa, and I was unaware of it.

...but what about the interior of the restaurant?:
"...When it opened, the restaurant was called Club Trade Winds, and was Polynesian in concept and motif. (The management changed some years later, and it became The Tiki Nook.) It was originally planned to be the ultimate in Polynesian style restaurants, to surpass and become the superior successor to the then-popular Trader Vic restaurants..."

Was it just an attempt, or did it truly rival Trader Vic's? If not, this might be the first place where the MUGS outdid the decor...

A little correction for the Tulsa Tiki site (which is truly great, thanks for the BOT links):
Adam Troy's schooner was simply called the "Tiki", and featured a grinning Marquesan Tiki as it's figurehead. He also wore a Tiki necklace, which is what the ad on page 240 of the BOT refers to: "..Millions of TV viewers have each week seen the TIKI GOOD LUCK CHARM worn by the romantic Sea Captain.."

Aha, THAT romantic Sea Captain, yeah...
They didn't want to get in licensing trouble so they didn't dare to name him.

BigBroTiki, thanks for the compliment and the correction...added to the page:

http://tulsatvmemories.com/tulstiki.html#paradise

Sabu, may I use the material you posted here on my site? I would be glad to credit you.

Hi Tulsa,

I have no problem with you using the photos and text from this post, but I wouldn't credit me - I'd credit Ray Stoll and the Frankoma Family Collectors Association, whose newsletter it came from.

They probably won't mind either, but just be prepared in case they do.

Sabu

I got permission from Donna Frank to reprint, so here it is:

http://tulsatvmemories.com/frankoma.html

Sabu, you are credited also.

Thanks Tulsa!

The webpage looks great. Good work getting the permission and all. I suppose the competition for those obscure Frankoma items is going to be hotter than ever. Damn.

Sabu

Here's a chance to score one of the rare Frankoma Tradewinds pieces. Act fast, not much time left.

#T11 Palm Leaf Platter

I'd bid on it, but with the way our auctions are going, no dice. We do have the Frankoma T7 coconut in the glam "flame" glaze.

Good luck!

Midnite's Tiki Flea Market

Here's a view of the pool area of the Trade Winds Hotel in Tulsa (still haven't found any views of the restaurant). They had some nice, modernist tikis on either side of the small bridge. Hints, perhaps, of what was inside the adjoining Club Trade Winds? The postcard is dated 1971. Address: Trade Winds Motor Hotel East, 51st and South Harvard, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2009-11-06 15:13 ]

Another auction of the large leaf platter, this one in the provocative Flame glaze.

Frankoma Platter Ebay

midnite

I can't believe I went away from E-bay for a week and didn't catch this Bird of Paradise pitcher from the Club Tradewinds on Ebay. Probably only 25 of these ever made. I'm just sick that I missed it. Sigh.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3700349082&category=449

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy on 2004-01-28 17:19 ]

I remember the Trade Winds sign from childhood trips to Tulsa. I'll be there next month; I think I'll drive by the site and sniffle a bit. At least Tulsa has some great googie left...for now, anyway.

[ Edited by: tikijackalope on 2004-01-28 17:43 ]

I was watching that auction as well. The seller revised the auction this morning to include a Buy It Now option. Literally 3 minutes later, it was gone. No, I was not the buyer. If they would have just left the auction alone it would have sold for a much, much higher price. I'm sure there were others here watching too. Personally, I'm not that fond of the design, so I would not have bid anyway even though it is an extremely rare piece. Was that a TCer that won it?

Well, in some respects I feel better in knowing that there probably would have been more bidders and it would have gone out of my price range anyway.

On the other hand.... to miss that "buy-it-now" this morning... Oh well, I can't stay on Ebay 24 hours a day. I hope that buyer was a TC member too.

Sabu

I was hawking the Bird of Paradise pitcher myself...that is one rare bird...I would have preferred it in Prarie Green, but hey Woodland Moss ain't all that bad.

You can find the T2- Bamboo Mug, T7 - Coconut Mug/Planter, the T9 7" Clam Shell and T10 12" Clam Shell up on eBay all of the time. However, I have never and I mean ever seen one with Club Trade Winds on it.

However, I did see a Flame-colored War God mug (the small one) sell for over 600 bucks last month and watched idly by when a "Cultured Pearl" Widowmaker mug sky rocketed past what I would pay for it...:)

As a side note, my girlfriend collects Frankoma so we always appreciate the Frankoma stuff just a tad more :wink:

[ Edited by: Cool Manchu on 2004-01-29 18:26 ]

I realized this thread needed bumped up into the light of day after I lucked out this afternoon and found a T9 Clam shell for a buck.

Thought I'd throw this into the mix.

I ran across this on eBay this past week. I was hoping the auction would slide under the radar - it didn't, winning bid $357.50...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400084053985&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Mrs. Fury found this ashtray

There are some great images on the following website:

http://frankomacollector.com/Shaker%20Groups/Advertising%20Shakers/Trade%20Winds%20Tikis/TikiAdvertising-main.html

I just scored a nice ashtray from the Trade Winds Club at the Trade Winds. Stoked on this one as items from the Trade Winds Club seem hard to come by and I have never seen this one before.

The logo Tiki used for the ashtray is quite a bit different than the one on the matchbook.

DC

A glass measuring 5 1/4" A slightly different shape than one I found earlier.

I've been working hard on my collection of Frankoma tiki :)

[ Edited by: TraderJames 2016-06-29 07:37 ]

Trader James, you have an amazing collection.

On 2016-06-29 07:20, TraderJames wrote:
I've been working hard on my collection of Frankoma tiki :)

[ Edited by: TraderJames 2016-06-29 07:37 ]

That is spectacular! Beautifully displayed! Cant find envy emoji!