I'm in the market for a United Airlines Tiki

Aloha peopo,

I know these have been talked about here more than a few times. The set comes in 3, one tiki and the two menehunes.

If any of you great treasure hunters here know of one in a local antique shop or from a friend and that's not to high in price please let me know.

I will pay you for your troubles, shipping etc. I have seen some here on da islands but were around $400. Thats to high for me.

Mahaloz for your time.

Hey Gecko,
I've seen 3 different styles of the United Airlines tiki. They're different sizes too. There's a guy on eBay (can't remember the name) who sells them all the time. Just check there periodically for "United Airlines Tiki." He has the original mold for the tall one.

Next time he posts one for sale, I'll shoot you an email. BTW -- I'm still looking for the hula girl. I want it for my daughters bedroom.

There are at least three different styles of the United Tikis and they were made in different sizes. In the larger (about 30" tall) size, there is the high density foam version and the vinyl plastic version. The foam Tiki is often slightly damaged since the foam is kinda' brittle and if dropped, chunks can snap off. The vinyl version which looks like the Jim Beam / United / Hawaiian Open decanter, often appears damaged, but is not really, and can be fixed easily. There is a piece of wood that holds two poles inside the Tiki which was often stapled in such a way that it appears to pitch forward (like I said, an easy fix). The staples and the forward torque of the poles often cause the vinyl to split near the base (not really that big of a deal). If you find one with what appears to be damage or flaws you can get a better price. In excellent condition, they seem to bring between $150 and $175 when they appear on ebay. I think that's a pretty fair price for a nice vintage piece that size. When we were in Hawaii, Bailey's was asking $500 for the one they had. When I see them at antique shows and stores, they are usually priced pretty high since folks will pay a lot for "advertising collectables".

We have a couple of each style and love them. We also have smaller versions of the same United Tikis (16 inches and 5 inches) in addition to the United maps of the islands with the cool frame that has Menehunes and Tikis in relief (that came in at least 3 different styles and sizes). There is also the huge 5 foot foam United Lono Tiki many will have seen at Hala Kahiki (they have 3). He has the open headdress. There is the small keychain or charm version of that Tiki. There is also, of course, the male Menehune and the Girl (don't know if she is supposed to be a female Menehune or just a young hula girl).

I think that United used to give these items to the Travel agencies as promotional materials for displays to encourage travel to Hawaii. I have even seen the male Menehune dressed in a snowsuit, advertising travel to ski destinations like Aspen! I guess they had left over statues they wanted to use? There are other cool pieces I have seen including a 3-D light-box with a topographical map of Hawaii including the portions underwater. the surrounding water is an amazingly vivid blue when lit up. I'm sure there are a few pieces that I have still not seen. Since United was based in Chicago, there seems to be more of it here to find. If I come across another piece in the wild I'll let you know Gecko. There are still some old travel agencies in our part of town that use the United pieces, though when I have asked if they'd consider selling them, I'm met with blank stares and "No. We use that for our windows".

I'd suggest holding out for a real vintage example unless you want to use it outside. The guy from Indiana who sells them on ebay simply made a mold from a vintage United Tiki and has them cast in fiberglass which he then paints. I have a friend who bought one and it looks OK, but a far cry from the original. Like I said, if I wanted to put it out in the yard, I might buy one of the fiberglass. But if you want one for your collection, I'd stick with the vintage especially since you can get the vintage for not much more money.

When Amy has time to help me, I'll post some pictures of the different styles and sizes– I'm a helpless idiot on the computer. If someone wants to help me post images, I'll email the photos (I can at least do that). If you have a copy of Tiki Quest, you can see the two different 30 inch United Tikis at the bottom of the very last page.

-Duke

The one I've seen isn't like the ones in Tiki Quest. More like the last one, and maybe my memory is foggy. He had more color I think, and was about 2 feet tall. It's still at the travel agency in Chattanooga. They put it in the window in summer.

My Mom had the biggest fella for the longest time. She was a travel agent in the late 70's and 80's. She knew he was a keeper. It disappeared when she moved to Europe. I'm sure it got thrown out, trying only to take what was necessary for the move. Bummer. :cry:

Hey Tanks fo' lookin' out braddah PP, But I would rather get da kine, original. No repos of anything for me. I like da real ones! Eh, I seen da United wahine menehune that your looking for but they have a "NFS" sticker on it.

Eh Swanky I know your wunna da good TREASURE hunters here on TC. If they want to sell da wun they put in da window for summer and you don't want'em, let me know please! Mahaloz!

Dawntiki, da story gives me chess pains! no mo, i cannot take those stories!

I know you guys have talked about these in da past but if you want to share your pic again of your Tiki, sweet.

Duke, Eh what is da tiki on da last page at da top right? I seen wun at TikiFarm last year. Dats not a United ya?

I'm looking for the style thats on the right of the last page.If you find one PLEASE let me know.

I would love to see da 5ft Lono if you have a pic of one or anyone else has a pic of it. Da 3-d wun with da lights sounds sweet.

Duke, I love your coco joes collection! here are 4 original coco joes rubber molds that were purchase by my neighbor up the street from the out of buisness sell. He let me have these four.

here you can see the Coco Joes Hawaii logo

it reads: good model 1968

[ Edited by: gecko on 2004-01-10 17:09 ]

In this old thread about the United Airlines Tikis, I mentioned one of the menehunes that was sitting in a Seattle antique mall. I'm pretty sure it was still there right before I left Seattle.

On 2004-01-10 17:07, GECKO wrote:
Duke, Eh what is da tiki on da last page at da top right? I seen wun at TikiFarm last year. Dats not a United ya?

I'm looking for the style thats on the right of the last page. If you find one PLEASE let me know.

Gecko,

The Tiki on the top right of the last page is another faux wood (foam) tiki that was made by Universal Statuary here in Chicago in 1970. As far as I can tell it's pretty rare. About five years ago, Amy went to a flea market in Wisconsin (I had to work all day) and she came home with that guy– I flipped out! He's one of my favorites, the ornate headdress with the little figure on top! If you ever decide to do a carving in that style with that kind of detail, put him in the mail and send me the bill! Or better yet, Amy and I will come to Hawaii to pick it up in person. Anyway, I've only seen a couple other of the United Statuary Tikis, one is behind the bar at the Hala Kahiki. The other was in a Chinese gift shop, but it was not for sale.

If I see another of the United Airlines Tikis, I'll be sure to let you know. If it's priced right, I'll just grab it and send you an email. In the meantime, keep an eye on ebay. I'm often surprised to see vintage examples sell for less than the fiberglass copies.

Duke, I love your coco joes collection! here are 4 original coco joes rubber molds that were purchase by my neighbor up the street from the out of business sell. He let me have these four.

Those molds are super cool! I can only imagine the loot they had at that sale. What other goodies did your neighbor get? Old Coco Joes are so cool, I'm surprised you can still find them so cheap. Of course, if you go to a big antique mall your always likely to see one that's priced too high because the seller thinks that it was "hand carved from lava"! Someone should dedicate a web page to old Coco Joes– I recently got an old catalogue I'll scan and post some of the pages soon.

-Duke

Dave said,
"the ornate headdress with the little figure on top! If you ever decide to do a carving in that style with that kind of detail, put him in the mail and send me the bill! Or better yet, Amy and I will come to Hawaii to pick it up in person"

Becarful what you say ya, I might carve two of them at different times. Dat will make you have to fly to paradise twice.

My buddy got all kinds of coco joe plaques that are so rare and other great rare items but sold most of them to some big time collector from da mainland a few years ago....that sucked! he regrets it now.

Well I hope you find another United Tiki one day soon. Tanks fo lookin' out ya!

Humuhumu eh sista, do you think you'll be moving back to seatle anytime soon? I dought(sp?) it, you must love Calli! move to San Diego, it's as close to Hawaii that da mainland has(my opinion).
If I would have known about that thread wehn you lived there, I would have mailed ya da money to get that for me. No worries.

Live Aloha!

Gecko,
Here a couple of images of that 5ft United Airlines Tiki:

The little charm version of that Tiki

And the 30 inch statues from Tiki Quest:

The 16 inch version:

One of the maps with the cool frame:

And the small version of the Menehune:

Like I said, there are other cool United advertising pieces with Tikis, like the coasters, swizzle sticks, other travel agency promotional items... it would be cool to have images of all of these somewhere.

-Duke

[ Edited by: boutiki on 2004-01-11 11:23 ]

On 2004-01-11 01:41, GECKO wrote:
Humuhumu eh sista, do you think you'll be moving back to seatle anytime soon? I dought(sp?) it, you must love Calli! move to San Diego, it's as close to Hawaii that da mainland has(my opinion).
If I would have known about that thread wehn you lived there, I would have mailed ya da money to get that for me. No worries.

Did I used to live in Seattle? I forget. Seriously, I'm loving it here, I'm not even ready to go back for a visit yet (though I miss my buddies a lot). Gecko, have you been to the Florida Keys? They feel more like Hawaii to me than San Diego.

If you try calling that store (the Fremont Antique Mall), who knows, they may be willing to ship it for you. Or perhaps some kind Seattlite will see if it's still there for you.

We know the seller who had the Menehune statue at the antique mall ( he moved out of that mall ). We just ran into him this afternoon at another mall, and I asked him about it. He sold it on ebay awhile ago for pretty close to what the price was at the antique mall.

This is such a bitter topic for me - back in 97 / 98, I could have picked up the 30 inch version for $60. This store in Williamsburg, VA, was going out of business and was selling off all of their old window display items, including our tiki friend. The thing was unimaginably cool, but I had just graduated from college, was unemployed, and couldn't justify buying it. Now, whenever I visit the 'burg, I kick myself for being so damn responsible.

Sweeeet dem pics are cherry Duke! I have never seen the first one you have up. I like that one choke! Is that one yours to? or did you just take the pic. Remind me to stop by your hale' next time i'm on da mainland.

I like that framed item to! nice!

Puamana, eh dat was nice! tanks fo askin' da seller. No worries, I'll run into one one day.

Ho, dat last story reminds me of my old witco stool story. Had a chance to get'em both but passed them up for something else that I don't even have anymore. arrrgh! DAM YOU WITCO STOOLS ARE DRIVING ME F****** CRAZY! can a braddah jus get wun stool!

Gecko Man!

to my friend Unga Bunga, OKOLE MALUNA BRAH!!!

Same to you Bruddah!

Not sure if anyone is interested, but there are several UAL Tikis on ebay now is a 30 inch guy

SWEEET tanks braddah Ben,

I'm on my way to ebay now. Hopefully dey dont go to high. I just spent $200 on a dam Sufering bastard decanter. OUCH!

Eh Benzart, you have anyting layin around that you carved braddah that you might sell? I like to get carvings from friends and otha carvers. I have a Crazy Al, a bosko on da way, wun of braddah BK's weapons and Mr Leroy Schmaltz. I need to hit up all da carvers here and some of da old timerz like Bumatay, Guanko and you would be nice. I get a lot of visitors that come from all ova da world and plenty TC members ya, and they all don't have the money to fly all over da mainland to see these guys work so I'm trying to get something from everyone so when they come here to paradise they can see all of dem other carvers work to...like a small museum ya. Anyways, mahaloz for da heads up on da UAL Tiki.

shaka!

I don't have anything right now to sell. The only carvings of mine I have are a 3' tiki mask, 3' pelican and thats it. Shoulda kept some.
But, I think I'm about to try some stuff.

On 2004-01-14 22:06, GECKO wrote:
I'm on my way to ebay now. Hopefully dey dont go to high.

Hey Gecko, just so you know. The tiki shown above is the copy that Boutiki mentioned on the first page - not an original. I know you were looking for an original.

Gecko,

I just spotted these two when I was searching for info on the concrete tiki discussed in a different thread. One is a dammaged 31"er and the other is a decanter. Just thought I'd give you a heads up!

http://www.aloha-cruz.com/tiki.htm

sorry about that, the decanter isn't United Airlines, it's a trophy from the Hawaiian Open!

Tanks plenty for looking out PP and Tikiwahine. ya dats a repro PP, you know I'm a die hard vintage guy!

Da wun at Cruz'z shop is cool but it's broke and re-glued. I'm getting ready to hit La Mariana with da wahine to meet this guy who says he has wun? if not no worries atleast i'll be at da bar. I'll keep looking.

Tikiwahine, Da Cruz shop is expensive but lotza nice stuff! becarefull wat you buy there, you might see it on ebay for mo'cheap.

Pau Hana!

Gecko,
Good luck with the hunt!
I'm not sure which is the best part..the hunt or the find..when I finally spot something I get so excited!
I agree that Cruz shop has very high prices, nice to look at though!(Just waiting on my copy of Tiki Quest)

I just listed one of the rare Universal Statuary Tikis on ebay - also a Witco tiki/totem