Daga Warrior Mug help requested

I bought a daga warrior mug online that was advertised and pictured as a mug from the Maui Lu Resort:

What arrived today was a very different mug - darker colour, less detail and Kauai Resort Hotel printed on the back:

I am unhappy about this but I'd like to know HOW unhappy I should be. The mug I received appears newer than the one I thought I was buying but I'm struggling to find any information on this particular hotel at all (Google, Tiki Central, Critiki).

Could anyone please shed some light on this for me before I send off my email of complaint. Any advice?

Well that is definitely not the mug advertized

The one you received does look like a new Chinese made knockoff (not vintage)
I am not sure, though, does anyone here have one in there collection?

Both mugs are apparently made by Daga (production years 1972 - 2007 according to Ooga-Mooga).
The darker one looks less detailed (cheaper?) and its logo has a very 80s feel to me. I was hoping to date them by the hotels but I'm not finding very much information on them.

I did forget to add that is two different hotels on two separate islands.

On 2014-05-08 12:47, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
I am not sure, though, does anyone here have one in there collection?

There are few of the Kauai Resort ones listed on Ooga-Mooga, but that website is next to useless as historical veracity goes. Anyone can put their mug under anything, and suddenly it's canon. I agree with the previous assessments, that loss of detail is a pretty sure sign it was copied from an original. The original Daga's look to have used white ceramic and had an indented bottom as well—not to say that Daga didn't make it, but it was definitely not one of their original early versions of the Warrior.

Aloha,

Well, both mugs date to the 70's. The Maui mug is about '73 and the Kauai mug about '79.

Drop Dan a line over at Daga Hawaii. They keep decent records and he is a really good guy. They helped me a great deal when I was researching Waikiki Tiki: Art, History, and Photographs.

Here's his email. Tell him I said 'hi.'
[email protected]

Thank you all for your help.
I'm going to email Dan @ Daga right now. Will report back.

I received a very helpful reply from Dan:

This "Tonga" mug - one of our original designs - Kauai Resort - thinking about 1983. Larger than the Maui Lu. - they wanted it to be smaller and with the raised name - Maui Lu was a custom piece. The hour glass shape was very popular - first done in 1971. It was a stock design for us which we decorated for different hotels. We had it in a few different colors. The original was Yellow/Gold - similar to our Bamboo mug glaze. we would change colors for different customers if the quantities were large enough for production runs. Most of the Tonga mugs were done in Yellow/Gold (some say Orange), Tan or Brown. We tried to make them different colors to keep the uniqueness for different accounts.

This looks like it was at the end of the mold life and the features are worn down. Molds only last through so many cycles and are replaced. You can see the detail on the Maui Lu - newer mold. The glaze on this is also too heavy. Happens sometimes in the production run when it is a new glaze color with different properties. We actually did some different colors for Kauai Resort after this run of mugs. This color is a very limited edition.

Kauai Resort used these for there Luau - each guest would receive a free Mai Tai in this mug with the purchase of the Luau dinner. Was very popular in the day. Kauai Resort has changed hands a few times since the 80's.

Later we changed the shape to straight sides - made production easier - the curved shape was very nice, but actually harder to produce and decorate. However it still my favorite piece.

So, the mug I received was from the 80s - later than the mug advertised, although it is a rarer colour.

I have contacted the seller who is 'looking into what happened'.

New question: Since it's actually called a Tonga mug, is there anyway of getting the Ooga-Mooga listings changed to reflect this?

Also, I'd still like any more information about both these hotels 'back in the day'. Anyone know anything?