Orchids Volcano Bowl Question

I recently found an Orchids of Hawaii volcano bowl that is marked "R-94 Japan"
I seem to have misplaced my copy of TikiQuest for the moment, so I'll ask here for info. The bowl seems quite new- a few scratches & cracks, but still very good condition. When I saw the bowl from a distance, I just assumed it was a Dynasty repro, but then I saw the mark on the bottom. I'm also getting my memory confused about the whole Japan/Taiwan/China who came first for manufacture chronology. Can anyone help me date this thing?

-Z

I don't think I've seen one with Taiwan on the bottom, but I tend towards the older stuff anyway. Japan would be the older bowl, but there were a couple of slight differences in the bowl like a scalloped top edge, but those don't have the R-94 on them. (see the Orchids section of the tiki gallery)

Other than that I don't know how to date it except for comparing the detail to a bowl that might be older. The detail should be much sharper in an older bowl than a newer one. Hope this helps.

I have an age question on these myself. I just purchased an R-94 from the manager of a bar and it has "Japan" on the bottom. He said it was "old stock" but I suspect it was Dynasty. The detail on mine is not quite as crisp as that in the gallery pic:
http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/orchids/aab and I had to look through the several available to find one in which the paint (or glaze) matched the contour on which it belonged (i.e eyes painted over appropriate places on face of hula girl). The accuracy of color application on most of the ones I saw really sucked. The mold mine was produced from looks to be a bit different than that used for the one in the gallery pic as the indentations do not corrolate the same way with the hula dancer.
Its quite possible that Dynasty does not bother to alter the molds to eliminate the JAPAN or TAIWAN. In my previous experience collecting toys I saw cases of old 1950's and 60's figures being cranked out anew with no mold alteration; there was usually some deterioration or some other dead giveaway though. Production of some figurines (i.e. metal SRG dinosaurs) had a slow steady deterioration so you could not really tell when the original company stopped making them from molds which had already worn somewhat and when the new owners started using those molds. Perhaps it is the same way with OoH and Dynasty.

[ Edited by: tikijackalope on 2004-01-13 21:43 ]

[ Edited by: tikijackalope on 2004-01-13 21:47 ]

On 2004-01-13 21:37, tikijackalope wrote:
He said it was "old stock" but I suspect it was Dynasty. .....Its quite possible that Dynasty does not bother to alter the molds to eliminate the JAPAN or TAIWAN.
[ Edited by: tikijackalope on 2004-01-13 21:43 ]

[ Edited by: tikijackalope on 2004-01-13 21:47 ]

That is exactly what I am suspecting with mine... it just seems too... "new"
Has anyone bought a bowl from Dynasty? That could solve alot.

-Z

I tried to nail down the seller today on the age and source of my volcano bowl. He says its from a lot ordered from Dynasty...30 years ago. I think these two statements are incongruent unless Dynasty distributed OoH that long ago and just took over using the old molds themselves more recently than that. If its any clue, the volcano on mine is very much off-center in the bowl compared to pics I've seen of these on ebay. I'm happy with it, but the anal-retentive in me wants to know much more about when and where all these things came from.

I have a partial answer about our volcano bowls. The ones shipping from Dynasty now are not marked Orchids of Hawaii or JAPAN; they simply have a "Made in China" sticker on an otherwise plain base. Thats not to say that Dynasty didn't take some time to change the mold or that it didn't have some old OoH stock to exhaust; but its one piece of the chronological puzzle.