Trader Vics mug, Polynesian Pottery

Just picked this up at a used furniture store, was thrown in with another purchase for free. bottom of mug has PP and Hawaii. it was marked with pen $1.99 (cleaned off for photo) most likely a Goodwill find. Not seen one online with red eyes. Any more info would be helpful, Thanks.

[ Edited by: TIKIMA 2012-02-18 14:12 ]

These should be from the Trader Vic's Waikiki.

Tiki Liki
Trader Vic's menu for reference...mahalo Swanky!

On 2010-03-20 06:41, Swanky wrote:

Starting at the top:

Octopus

Fogcutter

Peeping Tom


Pina???

Tiki Liki

Tonga

Chi Chi


Hot Buttered Rum?

I mean no offense, and congrats on your score, but I have to admit... this thread contains the ugliest mugs I think I have ever seen! If they're part of history, then preserve them. But good god!

I have to admit... this thread contains the ugliest mugs I think I have ever seen!

I also have the mug at the top of this thread, and I agree...it ain't pretty! I bought it (cheap) only for the sake of collecting a little history.

I sort of appreciate the primitive, juvenile-esque (is that a word?) quality of the TV Hawaii mugs . . .

Aloha,

On 2012-02-20 14:57, GatorRob wrote:
I mean no offense, and congrats on your score, but I have to admit... this thread contains the ugliest mugs I think I have ever seen! If they're part of history, then preserve them. But good god!

none taken, but I think that they are the MOST beautiful mugs of ALL... In fact, these are the most prized mugs in my small collection of locally produced and used mugs and glassware. Those Polynesian Pottery mugs are so awesome and all hand done. Not MASS PRODUCED like an Orchids of Hawaii mug or others. You can see many rare examples in Waikiki Tiki: Art, History and Photographs.

See here's the thing, because the Trader Vic's here was not part of the TV franchise (except for 4 months at the beginning of the Ward Avenue shop) the mugs used on the mainland were not available. Vic would not allow his suppliers to sell mugs to Hawaii. So when the Spencecliff Corporation got the franchise in 1966-7ish, they knew that they needed mugs as part of the tiki bar experience. It's again, what the visitor expected.. They also wanted them to be different and in their own way cruder than the mainland. Plus it was WAY cheaper to produce them in Hawaii than import them. Thus we get these incredible local art pieces produced in very limited amounts. Consider your self lucky!

These turned up in Tiki Finds a few weeks ago... Wicked... I got two of the plain white ones, but this green glaze is incredible...

Female figure

Male figure

Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
Available now from Bess Press Hawaii.

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2012-02-21 09:44 ]

ugly or not, I'm diggin' the tall coconut mug.

Phil...if ya hadn't stopped by with your excellent explanation, as a total novice, I would have been thinking...EEEEEEGADS!!! OK...I am still thinking it, but honestly the ashtray I made in 7th grade was better looking...but it isn't a collectible...LOL. CRAZY

I was really interested to read this about the Waikiki TV mugs and l have to admit agreeing with every comment here at different stages in my mug collecting life...starting with gee they're ugly 12 years ago to totally agreeing with Phil now...they really are a thing of simplistic primitive beauty. Also l had no idea about the franchise history of the Trader Vic in Waikiki. Thanks again Phil, where would we be without your comprehensive knowledge of Waikiki Tiki...

Unfortunately I too thought these mugs were pretty dang crude and ugly and left a couple Tiki Liki mugs (and possibly two other styles) on a junk shop shelf about 10 years ago. I saw that they were from TV Hawaii but when it comes to mugs I'm a collector not an acquirer or completist and back then vintage Tiki mugs were everywhere so I always figured I'd find something I liked better. Such as the two TV Hawaii aqua seahorses right next to the "ugly" mugs. ($2 each, as I'm sure were the other mugs.)

Almost positive I saw the Peeping Tom mug in a junk shop a few years back. I figured it was home made and was supposed to be Kilroy. I can't recall seeing a TV Hawaii mark on it, if I had I would have bought it because by then Dogbytes and Tikisgrl had chastised me many times about not buying all vintage Tiki I came across whether I liked it or not. (For trade or sale was their argument but I think they're just maniacs.)

Thanks to Dogbytes and Tikisgrl when I came across what I thought was an ugly Hawaiian vase***** I picked it up to look for marks. I didn't know it at the time but it turned out to be a TV Hawaii Tortuga mug...

This photo is slightly out of focus. I only mention that because that sorta thing bugs me when I see it. I now know to shoot from further away, adjust the image with zoom later.

I now have an appreciation for the TV Hawaii mugs but I can't say I really like them. (I'm exactly the same way about Witco.) To me they seem an example of confusing primitive with crude, something that was fairly common in the Golden Age of Tiki.

But the very fact that "civilized" people often failed to grasp the primitive speaks volumes about how the primitive was regarded by average mid 20th century Western civilization Joes and Janes. It wasn't merely exotic, it was another world which they could not fully comprehend. Because of this I have an appreciation of crude attempts to emulate the primitive. But I still don't want to hang it over my couch.

***** In the vase section of a Goodwill. Always check the vase section of junk shops. I've made many good mug finds there.

Funny, up until that last post, I didn't know that you actually knew anything about tikis or that you bought/collected them.

That mug kinda sucks and is real ugly too.(Not to say that I wouldn't buy it for resale or trade)

Buzzy Out!

"I didn't know that you actually knew anything about tikis or that you bought/collected them."

As long as it's purple, neon blue or hot pink or purple with neon blue and hot pink on it I'll buy it.