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Tiki Central / Collecting Tiki

Aloha - new to the Tiki culture

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Hello Everyone,

I am new to the Tiki culture and have the bug pretty good now. I started collecting about 3 months ago and have learned a little bit here and there. Im up to 30 mugs/bowls etc now and was wondering if anyone could point me towards a good book that talks about collecting Tiki.

I am aware of Sven A. Kirsten's Book of Tiki already and know all about eBay. But a true price guide/information book seems to elude me.

Thank you one and all!
Cool Manchu

Another question for you Tiki Gods.

Does anyone know who Bill Coleman is/was?

The reason I ask is that I was fortunate enough to pick up a 1st printing hardback of Trader Vic's Book of Food and Drink (1946) for two bucks. When I brought it home, it was signed not only by Trader Vic himself in 1964, but by someone named Bill Coleman.

Could Mr. Coleman just be a person who gave the book to another and signed it? Could he have been the manager of one of the many Trader Vic restaurants?

Can anyone help me out?

Thanks!
Cool Manchu

Maybe he went camping with Trader Vic...
and welcome to Tiki Central.

Aloha Cool Manchu, there's no more informative guide to tiki mugs out presently than BOT. As to price guides, thus far tiki mug collectors have been spared an "authoritative" tiki mug price guide. IIRC there may be some pricing info in Hula Girls and Tiki Gods, but from what I understand the author reluctantly added both the pricing generally and the tiki section particulary to the book to appease the publisher. Additionally, that book was published in 2000, thus preceeding the more recent pricing cycles.

Okay that said, I think pricing guides are never really accurate. At best they're an optimistic snapshot of a period in time, at worst they're unscrupulous propoganda written by and for dealers to dupe buyers.

If you want to know how much other people are currently paying for a particular mug I'd suggest tracking the mug sales on ebay. I'll also tell you what you already know, collectors of anything, whether it be tiki mugs, baseball cards, LPs, or NASDAQ stocks should be relucant to rely to much on what others are paying to determine how much an item is worth to them.

Anyway that's the really long and rambling way of saying that I don't think there's a price guide out there for tiki mugs. Welcome to the board.

UB

Hey Manchu,
Aloha from your backyard, Monterey.

M

Aloha and welcome-

There is a comprehensive book about Tiki Mugs in the works. It may or may not have pricing. Regardless, suggest that you get your hands on as many as possible now before it comes out. Prices have fallen in the last six months, but I expect the book will cause a spike.

T

Welcome aboard!

:tiki:

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for your warm welcome. I look forward to learning a lot from everyone.

Thanks,
Cool Manchu

Welcome aboard CM.

By the way, is your name a Supersuckers reference?

Trader Woody

You know, I have used this name for years on various message boards and you are the first person to catch that the name is in fact the title of a Supersuckers song!

I use Bornwitdatail as my eBay user name.

I'm a huge fan.

Nice meeting you BTW.

Cool Manchu

DZ

For what it's worth, I've got a Supersuckers cd up on eBay right now. Closes in a few hours, however...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2548596086&category=43602&rd=1

So does anyone know who Bill Coleman was?

Also, is that signed Trader Vic cookbook worth anything? Or is his signature relatively common?

Pages: 1 11 replies