Wow, I had a complete double-take moment seeing these at my local flea market. Of all the different “genres” of kitsch I guess tiki/Hawaiian is my favorite. Back in the day there were all sorts of tiki-themed items made in Japan and sold as souvenirs, when at the time there were throngs of tourists vacationing in Hawaii. These mugs have a faux woodgrain look to them, they are ceramic and have green rhinestone eyes (!). They measure 4 1/2″ by 3 1/2″ and are made in Japan by a company called “Quon-Quon”. I wish I could find more tiki stuff in my flea market trips but these will just have to tide my tiki kitsch hunger for now. They’re just the perfect receptacles for a Hawaiian drink and little paper umbrella!
1960s Woodgrain Tiki Mugs
Submitted by Ryaan2000
September 23rd, 2010
Facebook
Twitter
Press
Contact
Allee Willis
Excellent Tiki mugs. More detail then most of them that you see, especially on the handles. The wood grain is perfect for them.
It’s really rare to see them with rhinestone eyes. I put rhinestones on a lot of my Tiki’s eyes – the cupboard and drawer handles in my kitchen are all 3″ bronze tikis with pink rhinestone eyes – but it’s really unusual to find them placed there by the manufacturer.
Really excellent that you found a set. Do you have a lot of other Tiki things?
Ryaan2000
The only other tiki item I have is a small Cocojoe’s lighter, made from that black lava stone material, I hope to show off that one soon. I really do wish I had more tiki stuff, although I have a small ukulele collection with something in it you’d love… That will be posted here very soon.
Allee Willis
Looking forward to it!
Celiene
I’ve sold several of these on Ebay! Also a creamer and tall glasses. (Mugs?) They used to be used at a Tiki bar here in CA – the Lanai in San Mateo.