Crypto-Mugs. Do these legends exist and who has them?

On 2014-08-19 18:07, 1961surf wrote:

On 2014-02-22 19:38, vegastikidude wrote:
I'm not sure how rare it is but I have the Tapa Punch Mug from the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

[ Edited by: vegastikidude 2014-02-22 19:39 ]

I found this "tapa punch" petroglyph design tiki mug just yesterday and purchased it on fleabay .Much different looking glaze and over all design from vegastikidudes mug that he posted.What do you think Phil Roberts ...have you ever seen one like this before ?

top view inner glaze

back

That had been relisted on eBay a few times with no buyers. It looks to me like the same design, but that there was a problem with the glaze (maybe applied too thick?) and it ran. Otherwise, the design looks identical.

Added: so the pics don't get lost...The Trader Vic's Waikiki bowl...

I came across a cobra's fang mug in March and had hypothesized that it came from Don The Beachcomber. While researching Tonga Lei I discovered that the mug is illustrated on their drink menu:

now we have the mug and illustration to match.

Excellent eye Cavemoai!!! Nice to have found an actual Tiki bar/menu connection for that mug. Interesting that Vermonde apparently made pieces for Don the Beachcomber and the Tonga Lei. So, is the one at the Tiki Ti from the Tonga Lei? And if so, is there some connection between Ray Buhen and the Tonga Lei? Also, looking at that menu I feel that I have seen that fog cutter mug somewhere...

Anyhow, I recently found this odd mug from Doc's Town & Country in Toronto, Canada:

An obvious "tribute" :wink: to the Trader Vic's Fog Cutter mug. Okay, after some research there is some oddities to this mug. It is obviously from "Doc's Place Town & Country"

Whose only other mug I have found is an all ceramic copy of Trader Vic's Voodoo Grog glass:

There's a pattern here. But here's the curve ball, Doc's Place is located in Toronto, Canada. However, the bottom of the Doc's Place Fog Cutter mug is marked Westminster Hotel:

And guess what, The Westminster Hotel in British Columbia also had a Tiki Bar - the Tapa Room.

So, is this Doc's Place Fog Cutter mug from the Tapa Room or Doc's Place??? What is the connection between these two places that are so far far apart???

Too many questions, too little rum...

[ Edited by: tattoo 2014-12-05 10:45 ]

On 2010-02-26 16:57, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
Thanks Mucho, KC! Love looking at your collection.

The Gremlin bowls in your photo definitely match up with the one labeled PB2Y in the LIFE group photo - just a tad smaller and shallower than the Scorpion bowl, but not by much:

And I agree with Swanky and Midnight that the B-17 and PB2Y bowls in the article sure do look the same. They might have been mis-captioned. But without anything sitting next to the B-17 for size comparison, we'll never know. And what about the P-40 single-server?

On 2007-04-15 08:42, Benehune wrote:

Here's the bowl in the middle:

The elusive PB2Y2 Gremlin. I had never seen one before, I wanted this one, but c'est la vie, mon ami. It's a cool drink, and there's much history behind the item.

This is a fantastic and rare bowl. If I had seen it I would have taken out a new credit card to get it. I don't begrudge Frank because he has done his best to put together one of the most comprehensive collections of all things tiki. He is truly devoted to preserving tiki, and represents the most devoted tikiphiles in our ranks.

When I first read The Book of Tiki I wondered why a WWII place mat of Hitler had been included in the piece about Trader Vic,so I bought Victor Bergeron's autobiography. I discovered that he was an active supporter of the brave men fighting the war. He sent crates of liquor to unknown destinations for the servicemen, who set-up little officer's clubs. He gave preferential treatment in his restaurant to those in the military. He even made mugs, drinks and a menu to honor them by poking fun of the gremlins who plagued the airplanes overseas. When these men came home, they had a warm place in their hearts for Trader Vic, which did not hurt his business and the promotion of tiki.

Additionally, I think the gremlin tribute predated the menehune by twenty years. Oh, and correct me if I am wrong about any of this.

I spotted a Trader Vic's Gremlin menu that features the three drinks with graphics of the planes. The P-40 was 50 cents and served one person. The PB-2Y2 was $1.00 and the B-17 was $2.50 for 4 persons, so there must have been two different bowl sizes.

DC

I thought that i would post these here. Although not a mug, but S&P shakers, i think that these would quality as crypto. Found last week.

I wonder if there is a mug version out there?

[ Edited by: Bail Tekey 2015-03-18 10:07 ]

On 2015-03-18 10:06, Bail Tekey wrote:
I thought that i would post these here. Although not a mug, but S&P shakers, i think that these would quality as crypto. Found last week.

I wonder if there is a mug version out there?

[ Edited by: Bail Tekey 2015-03-18 10:07 ]

Crypto shakers indeed! I have never seen them before. And yes, there is a mug version out there...

Very few items from The Los Angeles Islander actually incorporate their iconic Tiki image:

I have to say that the S&P Shakers probably match the closest. The only other marked Islander Tiki item (that I know of) with their signature Tiki is the ashtray:

But when it comes to mugs... The LA Islander "signature" Tiki mug is of course the awesome Island Chief made by Spurlin:

Which doesn't match their logo at all. But yes, there is a Los Angeles Islander logo Tiki mug:

which is better known as the Kelvin Tiki Mug. There's no documentation of it ever being used at The Islander and I don't believe it ever was. It was however used at the Kono Hawaii:

[ Edited by: Tattoo 2015-03-21 11:45 ]

My set of Islander S&P has the red mouth. It also has the gold OMC Japan sticker on the bottom.

This bowl has the Don the Beachcomber salt and pepper guys at the ends of it but is not marked.

I searched old DTB menus and came up with nothing.

Anyone seen or have an idea where this came from?

On 2015-05-05 14:43, Thrift Tiki wrote:
This bowl has the Don the Beachcomber salt and pepper guys at the ends of it but is not marked.

I searched old DTB menus and came up with nothing.

Anyone seen or have an idea where this came from?

Yes, that bowl was used at Trader Nick's in Pismo.

http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/mug.cgi?mode=view&mug_id=6125

Here's a postcard with it on it:

One would imagine it would have been used at Don the Beachcomber but I guess the DTB shaker Tiki's were borrowed. Pretty cool and quite rare indeed. Congrats!!!

[ Edited by: Tattoo 2015-05-05 15:22 ]

On 2015-05-05 15:20, Tattoo wrote:

Yes, that bowl was used at Trader Nick's in Pismo.

http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/mug.cgi?mode=view&mug_id=6125

Here's a postcard with it on it:

One would imagine it would have been used at Don the Beachcomber but I guess the DTB shaker Tiki's were borrowed. Pretty cool and quite rare indeed. Congrats!!!

---

[ Edited by: Tattoo 2015-05-05 15:22 ]

Tattoo thanks for taking the time to reply! Super awesome of ya!

Liz, I mean Thrift Tiki, nice find!

DC

It doesn't get much better than this. 4 original Kahiki Zombie mugs obtained together at an estate sale in the Columbus area. Old lady that had them said that they were obtained at the Kahiki soon after it opened. Everything appears to be right and they do not look like Linda Sapp's repros.

[ Edited by: Tiki Toli 2015-05-13 09:40 ]

On 2015-05-13 09:12, Tiki Toli wrote:
It doesn't get much better than this. 4 original Kahiki Zombie mugs obtained together at an estate sale in the Columbus area. Old lady that had them said that they were obtained at the Kahiki soon after it opened. Everything appears to be right and they do not look like Linda Sapp's repros.

Amazing and super cool!!! Congrats

Tiki Toli,
Great find!They are in fact Kahiki. They were made in a light and dark brown bark color as well as a light and dark green face. some of the faces were painted with a fluescent paint that is visible with a black light.

On 2015-05-13 16:22, umeone wrote:
Tiki Toli,
Great find!They are in fact Kahiki. They were made in a light and dark brown bark color as well as a light and dark green face. some of the faces were painted with a fluescent paint that is visible with a black light.

Thanks Linda!

Aloha,

Ah, the Polynesian Pottery bamboo (Fogcutter) mug from Trader Vic's circa 1967-1968... Quite happy. $2.00 well spent.

Menu

Nice score! I got to mine from a thrift store in Lone Pine ,Ca. on my way to Mammoth a few years back. paid 20 for it and thought I got a killer deal..

On 2014-12-04 20:46, Tattoo wrote:
Excellent eye Cavemoai!!! Nice to have found an actual Tiki bar/menu connection for that mug. Interesting that Vermonde apparently made pieces for Don the Beachcomber and the Tonga Lei. So, is the one at the Tiki Ti from the Tonga Lei? And if so, is there some connection between Ray Buhen and the Tonga Lei? Also, looking at that menu I feel that I have seen that fog cutter mug somewhere...

Anyhow, I recently found this odd mug from Doc's Town & Country in Toronto, Canada:

An obvious "tribute" :wink: to the Trader Vic's Fog Cutter mug. Okay, after some research there is some oddities to this mug. It is obviously from "Doc's Place Town & Country"

Whose only other mug I have found is an all ceramic copy of Trader Vic's Voodoo Grog glass:

There's a pattern here. But here's the curve ball, Doc's Place is located in Toronto, Canada. However, the bottom of the Doc's Place Fog Cutter mug is marked Westminster Hotel:

And guess what, The Westminster Hotel in British Columbia also had a Tiki Bar - the Tapa Room.

So, is this Doc's Place Fog Cutter mug from the Tapa Room or Doc's Place??? What is the connection between these two places that are so far far apart???

Too many questions, too little rum...

[ Edited by: tattoo 2014-12-05 10:45 ]

Tattoo, I can help you…

Just picked up this mug outside of Toronto at a Thrift store:

And, since I'm a Toronto guy who only knows of the Trader Vic's that used to be here (in a downtown hotel) and the Bali Hai Room at the Ports of Call (which was in mid-town), I'm always on the hunt to learn if this city had any more tiki bars, since, sadly, it has exactly ZERO right now. So, I can confirm for you that there was a Westminster Hotel in Toronto:

And there was a "Town and Country" room inside of it:

But, a-ha! The Westminster was listed to be at 240 Jarvis St. (now demolished), and, as you can see from the matchbook, which shows a low-rise building, the Town and Country is at "Mutual and Gould"…if you check a Google map of Toronto, you'll see it all works out, geographically, as that intersection is right behind the old hotel. So, old 1920s hotel gets a new low-rise building in the 1950s, and puts in a restaurant. MY GUESS is that Doc's Place was a little room within the Town & Country….but so far no pictures of that have come up for me. Only this one of the dining room:

The other thing to note is that this would have been about a 7 minute walk from Maple Leaf Gardens (where the Toronto Maple Leafs used to play), so it was a hopping neighbourhood at one time.

BTW, I am an architecture journalist, so it's in my nature to sleuth these things out.

Cheers,

Architourist

PS: my mug didn't say "Westminster Hotel" on the bottom, only Japan, so your mug helped solve the mystery!

[ Edited by: Architourist 2015-07-19 18:53 ]

Thanks Architourist for all the research and making sense of it all.

And welcome to TC. Input like yours is always very much appreciated.

On 2015-07-20 06:21, Tattoo wrote:
Thanks Architourist for all the research and making sense of it all.

And welcome to TC. Input like yours is always very much appreciated.

Thanks for the welcome! I have been a tikiphile since founding the MTAS--Montreal Tiki Appreciation Society--with John T. around 1998 or thereabouts, and, actually, he pointed out to me that a later article in our newsletter, the Mai Tai, mentioned Doc's...shows you how much I pay attention:

http://www.maitaionline.com/mike-scott.html

hi Architourist, nice to see you here! $$$$$$

Okay Tikiphiles... here's a real Crypto Mug. From the "Hawaiian Room" in Omaha, we have the Tarantula Bowl:

At first I couldn't quite understand why a Tarantula Bowl since it's not Tiki at all. I thought that it should be a Scorpion bowl at which point it all made sense. Tarantula's and Scorpions are both arachnids! It is the Hawaiian rooms clever, albeit odd, interpretation of the Scorpion Bowl. A bit of a stretch maybe but would love to see one in person.

Has anyone seen one? Does this even exist?

Good job identifying a crypto mug. Could it be a standard scorpion bowl with fake spiders attached? I'd tend to think that would be too corny for a swanky place back in the day. I'll hold out hope for a tarantula bowl from Nebraska to show up.

gabbahey

To continue with the Town & Country theme, a friend in Canada just found two of the pineapple mugs that were used to serve the "Wahine" cocktail at a thrift store. I believe she's put one up on eBay.

Always hoped I'd be posting a mug here
I'm posting but the spousal unit found them
:)

And the mug version of the bowl Sabu posted on page 6
Gecko said this was the inspiration for his mug
Unknown maker per him

Score

And yes da Wahine found them both :)

Worst sound ever, slurp of an empty tiki mug through my straw!!!

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2016-01-26 23:10 ]

Wow! Nice score on that Bumatay hang10.

Thanks Swiz
It's purdy

Wow!!!! What an amazing find. Congrats hang10.

Thanks Tatt

Aloha,

As you all know, these are the only one's I really collect!!

On 2010-03-06 8:58 Dustycajun wrote:

I have never seen one of the Waikiki Rum Barrels before, they look like the Aku Aku style. Anybody got one?

Hey DC, I found a Waikiki Room Rum Barrel.

Mug is 5" tall and photo next to HV barrel for comparison.

Nice Find Aqua, Rum Barrels are one of my fave mugs. Mahalo for the post.

Phil and Aqua: good ones

On 2016-02-23 09:55, senioraqua wrote:

On 2010-03-06 8:58 Dustycajun wrote:

I have never seen one of the Waikiki Rum Barrels before, they look like the Aku Aku style. Anybody got one?

Hey DC, I found a Waikiki Room Rum Barrel.

Mug is 5" tall and photo next to HV barrel for comparison.

Not the Aku Aku style, but the later Mai-Kai barrel style.

Holy cow would you look at these amazing mugs!

Posted by the grand nephew of the owner of the Hurricane in San Francisco as seen here:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=39052&forum=2&11

DC

Whooaaa! I do remember someone here zooming in on that great SF Hurricane bartender photo and musing about the mug he was holding:

…but nothing came of it, because there was no "proof of mug"! Spectacular pieces. The new Ren Clark Severed Head.

There is a curious likeness to the weird menu concept of THIS place in San Diego:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=32973&forum=2

Wow those are great. I'll have to try and find one for my collection :wink:

Thanks DC for the post!

Good one that's for sure

Dusty is the man with the info

I found this yesterday
Not sure where it was from
It only said Hawaii on the bottom
DC to da rescue
Thanks Bruddah

Mug from Honolulu Hawaii Trader Vic's

Here it is

Dusty
Thanks again for the detective work

Worst sound ever, slurp of an empty tiki mug through my straw!!!

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2016-03-29 07:54 ]

Found on Oahu

Found in Portland

Sadly I also found design #3 and the only one in the box was smashed to pieces because the shipper packed each glass in a single sheet of tissue paper :(

Design#1 (seen)

Design#2 (not seen yet?)

Design#3- was the girl running with the man chasing.

Mock- good catch
Sad about the fractured glass :(

Two of the same mugs
One in great shape, one not so much

Finally found an original version of this iconic Trader Vic fog cutter mug by Tepco!

I first learned of this version through this post about a Tepco seminar:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=40077&forum=17

The Tepco version is a bit different in that it is taller (8 1/2”) and most noticeably is that the “Trader Vic’s Old Time XXX Rum” wording on the barrel is on a white smooth background. In all other versions of this mug the barrel is completely painted with the wording over the brown of the barrel. The ribs on the barrel are actually in the mold and part of the relief (very noticeable in the picture above) while the white area with the lettering is smooth. All the other versions, the whole barrel is one simple smooth relief without any ribs.

Tepco version:

The more common version with the wording over the brown of the barrel and the barrel is completely smooth:

With the Tepco version, the brown (or green) rims are wider and in general the painting is more detailed. Although this can vary widely with Tepco as can be seen by great variety in the Samoan Hula Girl fog cutter.

There are also the other tell tale Tepco signs - in case it isn’t marked (they aren’t always). It is extremely thick and heavy. And because of the Vitrified firing process (super high heat) it is rock hard and has little to no crazing.

With the Vitrified firing process most Tepco pieces often look brand new even if they’re 50+ years old. It can be a bit confusing to collectors.

This mug is actually EXTREMELY rare. In my many years of collecting, I've never seen one on eBay. Of course doing some research I discovered that one was sold on ebay just a few months ago. Not sure how I missed it although having a newborn was probably one of the reasons :).

So go through your collections and see if you have a Tepco version of this mug and please post. Or any other Tepco pieces you might have. All their mugs seem to be crypto.

[ Edited by: tattoo 2016-09-21 17:10 ]

[ Edited by: tattoo 2016-09-22 12:39 ]

I did find a second Tepco version of this mug but it is unmarked. You can tell how the painting is not quite as detailed. Maybe it was a different artist or a volume issue and competition with Japan that made them cut corners and obviously spend less time on each mug.

Here is a picture with yet an earlier "Hula Girl" version of the Samoan fog cutter by Tepco.

Obviously way more time was spend on that hula mug. Worth noting is the lack of crazing and how they almost seem to look brand new (due to the Vitrified firing process). Yet the Hula girl mug is probably from the late 40s and the other two are probably early 50s.

[ Edited by: Tattoo 2016-09-22 12:43 ]

Don't know why I didn't put it together before!

It's the Sufferin' Bastard mug.

Does anyone know anything about this mug?

It's by National Pottery of Bedford Ohio which is Napco. As far as I can tell, it was made in the 60s (I think) and was made in Japan (for Napco). Don't know much about Napco. More of a retail producer I believe although their Tiki pieces do come up on some menus. But I have never seen this particular mug and can't find any menu with this mug in it.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[ Edited by: Tattoo 2016-12-13 22:44 ]

Yet another mug from from Doc's Town & Country in Toronto, Canada:

This one is NOT pictured in their menu although it does list the Cobra's Fang cocktail.

I stumbled on it while looking for the Spurlin's Islander Cobra's Fang Mug, but found this one instead.

It looks a lot like the Spurlin mug.