tiki mugs, Hawaiian style, including tiki farm and Studio Ceramics

All the mugs (and the bottle) in the photo below are accepted as "tiki mugs" with a loose definition of something like novelty souvenir mugs, but generally souvenir mugs related to polynesian-themed bars.

They were often made in Japan, sometimes in America, but NZ mugs and bottles have also found their way onto the tiki mug site www.ooga-mooga.com

With the exception of the "Drink or Bust" mug on the left which I bought on eBay UK last week (because the one on TM was badly crazed) to match "Bottoms Up" (behind it) all are sourced locally from opshops, antique shops or TM. For no good reason I missed two TM auctions and I bid up to $47 on one (before letting it go) purely because I believe it to be Hemara's model for the CL Maori souvenir mug, and the later Parker ones. (There's always one available on eBay or etsy!)

ooga-mooga member Paipo, who has two tiki mugs from Parker Pottery, has also posted more Tangaroa bottles, Ti Toki bottles, and a Titian Hei Tiki mug:
http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/collection.cgi?mode=gallery&user_id=271

I guess such items as the Air NZ beakers and some Te Rona pieces would also be acceptable as tiki mugs. My avatar on ooga mooga is a Titian P100 with Maori figures. I am looking forward to posting my Wharetana mug (yet to pick up) as it will add something to the debate on one of the big tiki mug questions: which was first?

Tiki mugs are still being made today, both for bars and as collectors' items but I prefer to focus on earlier pieces up to the 1980s. The newest of mine could be the Tangaroa liqueur bottle, the Bonaventure Hotel (in LA, which I visited in 1981 when it was quite new), or the golf bag.

ooga mooga allows a gallery of 10 postings for free, but after that you pay a monthly fee. I only took an interest when the CL Maori souvenir mug appeared and I am maxed already:
http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/collection.cgi?mode=gallery&user_id=10143

I noticed that you had won the Wharetana mug Jeremy..... Congratulations and that was a good price too !!

I'll tell you it was a very scary price for me so thank you for that Ev!

It's one early CL mug shape I didn't fancy my chances of getting so I took the bull by the horns. Seeing the one at the museum clinched it for me.

I told the seller I would prefer to pick up as it cost so much and he told me of two CL items he'd paid thousands for which he happily had couriered. Could be an interesting pickup. I have Cleverley to pick up next weekend (18th) anyway so two birds etc.

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8/11/14
I've copied the pic of my new Ku mug from the 1110 link:
https://www.newzealandpottery.net/t5515-not-wharetana-not-ngakura-souvenir-maori-mug-1110-and-an-intro-to-parker-tiki-mugs


Large Ku mug from Efcco San Francisco, made in Japan, ca 1960.

More tiki mugs including two Maori designs

Inspired by my NZ tiki mugs I have continued to acquire "Hawaiian" tiki mugs but have been very selective in the process.

four vintage Japanese mugs, Westpac and Westwood

My preference is for vintage mugs, and even then only when I think they are cheap. The pair of handpainted bisques by Westpac (left) was $10 on tm (about $20 EACH on eBay), and the two Westwood mugs (right) were a gift from my brother Martin when Nicole, Tomas and I visited him and his family in Sweden in July. They are all made in Japan and each series of mugs has four designs. They are not associated with any particular tiki bar but were sold, I understand, as gift sets. They are nevertheless still sought out by tiki mug collectors.


"Vicious"

"Vicious" designed by Benzart and made in California by Tiki Farm is dated 2006. He is my first contemporary/modern tiki mug. The tiki culture has inspired a modern breed of artists to design new mugs, some for bars and some just for collectors. He was produced in two colours, light brown and, as a special edition, in "bungalow brown": not sure what mine is. I paid $17 (and a delightful tm seller delivered him to my doorstep in Grey Lynn). The price is cheaper than many tiki mugs sold on tm and about a quarter of the going price in the US, for either edition. I bought Vicious because I believe Benzart was attempting to produce a Maori design. According to ooga mooga Vicious "is based on Ben's #20 Maori pendant." Vicious is usually paired with another tattooed-face mug, Malicious. Malicious at ooga mooga:
http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/search.cgi?terms=Malicious&des_id=any&man_id=any&img_id=any&shp_id=any&clr_id=any&details=yes&mode=search_process&x=-430&y=-370


unmarked mug

This is my latest, which has just arrived. $1 buy now on trademe (+post). As with Vicious, I bought this because the image represents a NZ Maori tiki. It has a glazed base with unglazed footring but no maker's mark. I don't know where it was made: does anyone recognise it? Could it be local work?

[Eds 26/6/16 further down the topic signal red identified the mug above as Studio Ceramics.]

Modern tiki mugs turn up on trademe and in the markets but if you are interested do make sure of what you are buying. I spent $15 on a set of five tiki mugs at Avondale Market but did not check the bases: they were made in China. That's not necessarily a bad thing but not what I was wanting. The seller did not begrudge giving me a refund: he had not packed them. Surprisingly, even Benihana mugs are now made in China. Benihana started out as a single Japanese restaurant in Florida but has now become a chain. Their Japanese-themed mugs, happily still considered tiki mugs by the collectors, include such shapes as Ninja, Buddha, Geisha, Samurai, and the now ubiquitous beckoning lucky cat "Maneki Neko", which I have been told is also described as a f*** you cat.


"Head Hunter" mug from Trader Vic's

I have one other tiki mug which I do not recall posting before. The black-glazed figure looks like an African woman to me, but I may have got that idea from the tm listing (sometime last year I think). It was made for "Trader Vic's" and is marked as such with a 1963 copyright. This one is old but I see Trader Vic's still sell a shiny-glaze version of this mug as "Authentic Trader Vic's Head Hunter Mug" for USD16 at http://tradervics.com/product-category/glassware-ceramics/

I could have bought new mugs in Norway for about $NZ20 at the Kon-Tiki museum or the Aku-Aku tiki bar (where Nicole and I stopped in for a drink), in Oslo but elected not to. Unfortunately we missed out on going to the Tonga Bar in Bergen as it was closed Sunday. Photos of Nicole and I at Aku-Aku are on Nicole's phone so I can't post them atm.

Because tiki mugs are really for cocktails they tend to be bigger than coffee mugs. Even the tallest of mine at just over six inches tall is well short of some well known mugs of about eight or so.

.

Jeremy I bought this the other day as I liked the Polynesian aspect of the mug. Are these used to drink out of or are they just decorative souvenir ware. Cheers

Hi Jeremy,

The unmarked Tiki mug is from Studio Ceramics there were five designs two maori fish hooks, small tiki and twist you might find them on their web site.

Thanks signal red for the heads up on the blue mug.

Tiki mugs were intended for use within tiki bars, with the option of buying as a souvenir.

At the height of the tiki bay scene you would have an individual design for each drink.

I was rushed to reply earlier as I was waiting in the car for Nicole and she arrived so I had to move on.

I see now that this one is made by tiki farm.

They are one of the modern breed of tiki mug makers, and indeed they do make limited editions for collectors, often with some kink to them.

My Vicious above is also tiki farm.

I think I wrote above that my preference is for vintage mugs but I will also buy Maori-themed modern ones if they are cheap enough.

BTW, signal red, I had had an opportunity now to google studio ceramics tiki and had no luck. I'm so pleased that you have identified my $1 purchase as NZ pottery.

Later ...
Still not found any goooglepics and can't see it on Studioceramics.nz, however i checked our gallery and saw that it is my Studio Ceramics green stripe mug shape with surface modelling:
https://www.newzealandpottery.net/t6716-studio-ceramics-striped-mugs#26588
.

signal red, see the Appleton Estate mug on ooga mooga:
http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/mug.cgi?mode=view&mug_id=4210

2009 limited edition of 250. Average of sale prices spotted in 2014 is equivalent to NZD85 !!!

Hi! nice to see a link to my collection posted on here. I've actually just packed nearly all my tiki pottery away but have a fairly decent collection I accumulated over the years, a lot of which isn't shown on my ooga mooga account. 8-10 years ago I was doing a lot of trading and purchasing direct, as well as being gifted many pieces,  with people in the US, so I have many limited designs that are impossible to find in NZ. I also had one of my own designs produced by a prominent Hawaiian mugmaker. Back then international postage was affordable and I was selling my artwork (which was in a similar style) to many US collectors who also were into ceramics. In particular I have a large amount of Cook Island Tangaroa decanters (maybe 20+ by now?). I only buy these days if I come across them in op-shops, flea markets etc as the postage killed it for me and I have enough that I don't really feel the need to add to the collection!  I've actually lurked and read various threads on here for years, and came across this one a while ago but forgot to reply then. I decided to join today to post a mystery NZ ceramic I've had for years and had no luck identifying (it is also a maori/tiki themed piece).
Rhys AKA Paipo

Oh Wow welcome to the site Paipo
I have lurked over at Ooga Mooga for many years or at least as long as this site has existed.
Please can you tell us who made the Tangaroa bottles?

Now regarding your Tiki piece, it's an Ashtray and the Portage Museum have the casing for it and it came from Crown Lynn.  Check it out here ...

http://www.nzmuseums.co.nz/account/3384/object/488927

Is your one glazed?  It doesn't appear to have the base part .....

wow that was quick! Thanks Ev! My gut feeling was that it was CL and possibly Wharetana because the style is so similar to many of their other pieces, but the lack of any marking or numbers put it into the mystery category. I've had it for over 10 years and have been meaning to post it forever, but just have so much stuff, then these things just disappear between moves! I bought it from trademe back when I was obsessively collecting kiwiana and tiki items and it was very cheap, probably due to the lack of markings. Around the same time I scored a pair of Wharetana hei tiki S+P shakers for under $10 I've done many searches over the years for tiki, Crown Lynn, Titian ashtrays to try and find this design with no luck. has anyone here ever seen the produced item before now or only the mold? Is there a better category or topic to post it in? It's a muted lemon yellow glaze, slightly dirty looking and not glossy at all. It's a tough and weighty ceramic that has survived with no chips or nibbles, another reason I thought it was probably Crown Lynn. I had wondered on first receiving it that it may have been a test piece, hence the lack of identifying marks.
Regarding the Tangaroa decanters....i have no idea of manufacturing origin, I can't remember if the bases are marked and unfortunately I've just put them into storage. There are 4 distinctive designs in the ones that were sold in Rarotonga and filled with liqueur, as well as the vintage American version that was filled with rum and has been subsequently 'repopped' by Tiki Farm (I have both versions of that too:) )
I am off to Chch for a year but when I return in 2018 and re-establish my tiki bar here in Westport I'll be happy to share any pics and info about my pieces when I unpack them.

You paid $10 for a Wharetana Salt and Pepper OMG *faints*

I have a strong feeling that I have seen one of these Crown Lynn Tiki Ashtrays, but can't recall when and where.  Maybe someone else has and will let you know.

I found one of these ashtrays already on the site paipo and I will try to move your post to merge with that topic when I get time.

https://www.newzealandpottery.net/t5859-a-tiki-on-ooga-mooga-com-caught-my-eye?highlight=tiki#22571

Paipo,

It's good to have you joining our conversation.

Do you have any of your own design tiki mugs to show us?

Jeremy.

Hi Jeremy
Sorry, along with all my other ceramics, they are all packed and in storage for the next 12 months until I'm back in my own home. They can be viewed (I think?) on my Ooga-mooga account. The design is "Moai Tangata Manu" and was sculpted (using my original carved pendant as reference) and produced by Gecko's South Sea Arts in Hawaii. I have one in a very convincing German style fat lava glaze Mike is particulalrly good at these and has devoted many years to unlocking the techniques and recipes to produce these successfully. The other is a one-off in gloss red with hand incised details added to the greenware and a red feather cape. Gecko has done some incredibly lavish and detailed Maori style pieces over the years and is probably at the top of the tree when it comes to high end tiki ceramics.

Paipo I have a Maori Waka that was made by Gecko.  With thanks to others on here I tracked him down as the maker and we had quite an extraordinary pottery discussion for a while back in 2008.

... I saw a vase with a hula girl on and thought, "no, it's a tiki mug". Turned out to be a Trader Vic's Samoan Fog Cutter which belonged to a long time tenant, also long since departed. "That was Stan's," m-i-l said, "do you want it?"


Picking up from this point in the story that accompanied my post on the Milton whisky jug ...

The first Trader Vic's fog cutter dates from 1944 and is one of the oldest tiki mugs known, but the shape (if not exactly the same design) has been made continuously until the present day, with versions made in USA, Japan, and most recently a repro from Tiki Farm is made in China.

There is one example of the early incarnation on ooga mooga and 25 others similar to this which seem to be quite recent.

The mark on the base of this one is identical to that on one sold on eBay in May as the work of the historic Red Wing Pottery of Minnesota. Whether that is correct or not, at least it is a genuine US mug. Another eBay listing claims the same mark, with its inclusion of "USA", indicates it was made for use in Canada, noting that the mug shown came from the Vancouver restaurant in the early to mid-1960s. eBay prices for this design start from NZD26 but the asking price for the "Canadian" version tops all others at NZD75 for a repaired mug! When eBay items from America ship to New Zealand the cost of shipping often vastly exceeds the auction price,

I have tiki mugs but have not bothered buying the typically tall fog cutter type handleless mugs that appear intermittently on trademe because, well, they don't have handles, and being tall require a higher shelf spacing, but I guess one won't hurt: I can find a place for it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-Wing-Pottery-034-Trader-Vic-034-Mug-/222518444573?nma=true&si=7hLpbnViUuHRDwZ5dA5hwcdiiYk%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Trade-Vics-Mug-Canadian-Variat-From-Trader-Vics-Vancouver-Canada-/112493451480?hash=item1a3121d8d8:g:4tQAAOSw0UNZdXB5

http://www.Redwing.net

http://www.redwingcollectors.org/category/ask_the_experts/dinnerware

Not all tiki mugs have tikis.
Not miniature toilets are toilets.
And not all boots are vases.

Believe it or not these are both tiki mugs. Go ask ooga-mooga!
http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/search.cgi?terms=bobby&des_id=any&man_id=any&img_id=any&shp_id=any&clr_id=any&details=yes&mode=search_process&x=0&y=0



Cowboy boot and toilet mugs from the "Bobby McGee's Conglomeration" restaurant chain in USA.

Other shapes include different boots, bathtubs, a mermaid, a cactus and a prickly pear. I think the toilets are the most popular as I have seen quite a few and have two. I think it was only because I picked up my second one earlier this week that the writing on the boot spoke to me today.

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11/10/17
Benihana
Two new additions to tiki mugs today. I have been wanting a Benihana mug for a while now but trademe asking prices have been a bit high for my taste. $5 each at an opshop is still a bit steep but I succumbed.

Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki, opened America's first tepannyaki restaurant at West 56th Street in 1964. It was to be the first in a chain of restaurants. Like many tiki bars Benihana serve their beverages in a selection of purpose-designed mugs. The Benihana mugs take the form of iconic Japanese characters, including among others the Maneki Neko, waving cat.


These two mugs depict Daruma, founder of Zen Buddhism, also known as Bodhidharma, and either Fukurokuju or Jurojin, one or other of the Seven Gods of Fortune. (There are two different mugs which may be interpreted as either Fukurokuju or Jurojin: http://benihanatikimugs.tumblr.com suggest this is the former.)
The Daruma mug has had at least two different incarnations as can be seen on ooga-mooga: http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/mug.cgi?mode=view&mug_id=1254



Both mugs have decals on the back with the words "Benihana of Tokyo" and raised marks beneath showing that they were made in Japan. More recent Benihana mugs have been made in China.

25 different Benihana mugs, along with a vase and a teapot are shown on Oogs mooga, but the Benihana tikimug site has 31 shapes, not including Daruma. I have not found any indication of the total different number of mug shapes on Benihana's own site.

http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/search.cgi?terms=benihana;des_id=any;man_id=any;img_id=any;shp_id=any;clr_id=any;mode=s
http://benihanatikimugs.tumblr.com
https://www.benihana.com/about/history/earch_process;x=0;y=0&page=2&details=yes&show=10

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10/11/17

Latst additions courtesy of Val Monk.
A mini Westwood mug marked "Japan" and my youngest mug, from 2014, made by Tiki Farm in Hawaii.