Favorite mug/best mug

On 2003-12-17 08:39, Basement Kahuna wrote:
Dude, I rarely go to Greenville, Spartanburg, Columbia, etc. (I usually leave off in Easley) but every time I have I have bought mugs. Right in your backyard. There's plenty of vintage stuff out there. Plennnnty. You do have to go out and look for it occasionally, though.

Greenville, Spartanburg! I've got relatives in that area: Belton, Williamston, Anderson, and some property in Greenwood. I'm going to have them start looking!

I also make my purchases like Traitor Vic - for me. I just can't bear to part with anything. It's like my family (except it respects me!).

There are three malls in Anderson. Up the road in Easley there is a mall that is primarily advertising but I have found a lot of small stuff there. Greenville is good because most of the dealers are more on the fru-fru "fine antique" side and scoff and shuck collectibles, so when you do find it it's overlooked and cheap. There is one vintage shop downtown and they are aware of tiki but those girls are new, appeared somewhat apathetic and hardly a threat to a seasoned picker so I doubt they're scouring the town like they should. Walhalla is also good. Spartanburg is my ancestral home but mostly highwayside (there is a good SA downtown). Columbia-full, and I mean full of malls. Huge ones. I used to find heaps of stuff at Old Mill there. The Carolina countryside and small towns? Completely hit or miss. Mostly potpourri palaces with country cute garbage. The low country around Charleston/Goose Creek/Hilton Head-lots of malls as well. I have found stuff in all of them.

I saw a set of Trader Dick's Moai mugs at a flea market last weekend. Can anyone give me a ballpark figure on what they are worth. The guy was asking $12 each (he had a set of 4) They looked to be in perfect condition. They had the writing on the bottom that said something like "the largest in Nevada" or something like that. is the $12 a fair asking price?
Thanks

I want a Crane Warrior mug! I know it looks like an evil clown, but I want one anyhoo.

Hey Sabu, did I ever tell you about the time I scored 3 Aloha Hut mugs for $1.50?!

I think one lives at Bong's Hut now.

Dag Nabbit! I've, pretty much, just been pokin' around in the Goodwill-type Thrift Shops in G'ville. We shoot up to Asheville and hit the Antique Malls pretty regularly but almost never hit the ones in SC. Hmmmmmmmm... I guess I need to get out more.

Crane Luau bowl. Period. That's the shit.

One day, I will take out a bank loan and get one, mark my word!

:)
em.

Of the ones that I own, my fave has to be the Mark Thomas Outrigger Moai as it's such a classic design.

The one I'd like to own doesn't appear to have been discovered yet. I'm desperate to find a mug used in the London Mayfair Beachcomber. No doubt someday I'll get lucky.

Trader Woody

On 2003-12-17 23:34, emspace wrote:
Crane Luau bowl. Period. That's the shit.

One day, I will take out a bank loan and get one, mark my word!

:)
em.

Em,

When I die/get killed/kill myself/ I'll leave mine to you (my attorney will notify you upon my demise).

On 2003-12-18 09:14, Tiki_Bong wrote:

On 2003-12-17 23:34, emspace wrote:
Crane Luau bowl. Period. That's the shit.

One day, I will take out a bank loan and get one, mark my word!

:)
em.

Em,

When I die/get killed/kill myself/ I'll leave mine to you (my attorney will notify you upon my demise).

Can I have something to?

On 2003-12-18 09:14, Tiki_Bong wrote:

On 2003-12-17 23:34, emspace wrote:
Crane Luau bowl. Period. That's the shit.

One day, I will take out a bank loan and get one, mark my word!

:)
em.

Em,

When I die/get killed/kill myself/ I'll leave mine to you (my attorney will notify you upon my demise).

Your kind offer has warmed my heart in this cold damp city, and I am filled with the spirit of Christmas. But whatever you do Bong, don't kill yourself! The world needs Bong, and more people like Bong!

aloha and mahalo,
em

I think some guys at the Grateful Dead tailgate had t-shirts that said "the world needs bong..."

This thread needs reviving. There are a lot of great vintage mugs out there. Bob, I've got (what a great mug). What I'd really like to own next is Stephen Crane Associates Ku/Warrior mug. You know the one—it's predominately red and yellow. It's the only handled mug I'd care to own. I've liked it since the first time I saw it. stentiki, you know what I mean.

Trader Woody, I'm with ya. The Mark Thomas Outrigger is a great design. One of the classics. The glazes are so inconsistant, it's worth having a few.

[ Edited by: foamy 2006-11-21 19:33 ]

Besides the severed head mug (my persaonl grail, though I'm sure I don't stand alone on that), I have always had a fondness for the Steve Crane mug made by Daga for the ports of Kon Tiki (page 43 of TQ). I don't know why, maybe because he is differnt to the fact that he looks like a B-movie monster or something. I still haven't found him in the wild yet, and I have come close to buying him on eBay a few times. My favorite 2 I have in my current collection is the first mug I found ever, a green R-5 and the Mr. Bali Hai with lid I found on my honeymoon.

*On 2003-12-18 09:14, Tiki_Bong wrote:
Em,

When I die/get killed/kill myself/ I'll leave mine to you (my attorney will notify you upon my demise).

Whoa, I never saw this. Pretty eery, considering what happened and all. Rest in peace brother Bong, rest in peace. Billy Joel got it right, only the good die young.

Hakuna Matata,
midnite

I have one of these. My personal fave. Jard Products made for Hawaii Kai Hula Girl & tiki mugs. AKA: Beauty and the Beast

Mahalo

McTiki

On 2006-11-22 05:34, McTiki wrote:
I have one of these. My personal fave. Jard Products made for Hawaii Kai Hula Girl & tiki mugs. AKA: Beauty and the Beast

Mahalo

McTiki

Those are beautiful.

is the Bong poster that is lined out, dead?

I'm pretty new to mug collecting, (I think I have 20-30), but I've handled & drank out of everyone. My kids use them for lemonade & fight over who gets what-current favorite is Tiki Farm Crazy Al's Monkey w/ Fez. I think my own personal favorites are the Munktiki Maneki Neko & Brew Monkey, & Rum Demon's Primo, but I love them all & use them...

My favorite mug right now would have to be my Porcelanas Pavon Feather Face mug....

http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/my/mug.cgi?mode=view&mug_id=982&ind_mug_id=9533

It took me a long time to track this fellow down.

I would love to have a Munktiki Poison mug. I think it's the coolest mug I've ever seen. Even though I've never seen one in person, just on the Munktiki website and on e-Bay, I still think it's sweet. Too much for my budget right now. And I realize I'll probably never have one. But that's okay. My favorite mugs of the ones I have are 2 knock-offs of the Orchids R-72 pattern. They're marked on the bottom with just 'japan'. Nothing special about them except for the fact that my wife bought them for me. Something she probably now regrets. About ten years ago I was into collecting bar glassware from the 40s and 50s. One day while I was at work my wife was at a garage sale and she got me these 2 mugs. Started the whole Tiki obsession. Now there's an entire Tiki room in the house and the wife complains about tripping over the e-Bay packages when she gets home from work. A couple of months ago she invited her girlfriends back to our house after a girls night out so I could serve Mai Tais and we'd all sit outside around my Tiki fire bowl. One of the girls hadn't been to our house before but she works as a dispatcher for UPS and she said she just asked the drivers where our house is - apparently they all know. But I'm drifting off the topic. Seems to be some discussion as to vintage versus new. I love both. I have both. But, I only buy what I like and I have no interest in ever selling. So, the fact that I could have bought a Poison mug for $50.00 and now I've seen them go on e-Bay for much more doesn't do anything for me. If I had gotten one I wouldn't have sold it anyways.

Quick pic of the Tiki fire bowl.

Here is a pretty cool subject I wanted to resurrect. After reading thru it, I thought it a shame that so few people responded to it and that it went off on so many tangents. I guess only a few people responded because it is a difficult question? Well as for myself, I do have to agree with a few of the previous posters, my favorite mug is....

The Mark Thomas Outrigger Moai Mug.

For me, it is pure tiki, yet transcends tiki at the same time. When I think tiki, I think of this mug. When I look at it, I can picture it in any number of settings, besides a tiki atmosphere. For me, it is a work of art. It is tribal, yet modern. It is exquisitely designed with simple lines. It's glaze is mat, allowing the color variations to show it's depth as opposed to the shiny gloss of most mugs.

Perhaps it is because of my admiration of the modern aesthetic. My preference for it is beyond it's function (adult beverage vessel). Actually, when I see it, I don't even want to pic it up. In fact, I don't even find it that comfortable in my hand (my drinking preference would be a Trader Vic's Coconut Mug). Yet... its beauty and exquisite design should be admired by all.

When I see it, I am satisfied in knowing that I am lucky enough to own..

THE GREATEST TIKI MUG IN THE WORLD!

... now who's next?

For sure it´s a hard question to answer.
The Mark Thomas Outrigger Moai Mug has been an all time favorite for me too. Finally got a couple of them a few weeks ago.

But I live in Spain. As you sure know, we got some tiki history of your own here. So my heart is divided between American tiki and tiki español.
As the amazing” Automagic Ooga-Mooga Mug Collection Image” says, my favorite (Spanish) tiki mug...for today, anyway is…

Not a Polynesian inspired one, but something in common between the two designs, I would say.

Hats off to Bowana! The mug I really want, but can't get . . .

As most people have been saying, there's nothing better than stumbling on vintage mugs, especially when they vary from the standard orchids or peanut/bucket mugs. BUT...one of my all time favorites is the 50th anniversary Oceanic Arts TF mug. Amazing details, awesome glazing and the sheer size is almost intimidating. I LOVE the Mr. Bali Hai also, but I'm not exactly sure why.

In 2003 The Jab wrote:

Someday I hope to find the bowl with 3 topless girls on it from the Lanai.

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/albums/marked/ada.jpg

And a few years back I found this out in the wild for $15.

Sorry not a great close-up of it, but it looks exactly like Jabs wish. And to thing the paint is coming off just like his photo.

I'm still loving this one as my best find.

My latest fav is this TF mug for a local store here in Capitola Village, "Tiki Shack". It's cool to me because it has not only a tiki theme but a surf/beach thang goin' on as well and at ten bucks ya can't go wrong. Bitchin shorts huh? Also it isn't something you can get from the TF website. During a conversation with Holden he mentioned he really liked it as well...

Today's favorite...