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Is This The Elusive Cobra's Fang Mug? |
hiltiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 10, 2004
Posts: 2775
From: Reseda, calif.
|  Posted: 2010-02-22 7:40 pm Permalink
Pa'akiki. can you please take another picture showing the other side of this mug. Very nice find.
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kahalakruzer
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 29, 2008
Posts: 309
From: Dana Point! California
| Posted: 2010-02-22 9:27 pm Permalink
Great find! Even if it were a fake, it's a pretty damn good replica (and I'll take one, BTW!)
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Cuss, fuss, and boogie all night long!
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Formikahini
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 1491
From: Houston, Texotica
| Posted: 2010-02-23 4:12 pm Permalink
I think it's interesting that the only one that's actually a *cobra* is the Tiki Ti one!
(Yeah, I know I'm a snake nerd. Sue me.)
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"Zazz captivates felt."
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Formikahini
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 1491
From: Houston, Texotica
| Posted: 2010-02-23 4:14 pm Permalink
BTW, I'd grab any one of the non-cobras pictured in a heartbeat!
That newly posted, menu-perfect one is amazing!!
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"Zazz captivates felt."
[ This Message was edited by: Formikahini 2010-02-23 16:15 ]
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pa'akiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Mar 26, 2005
Posts: 70 | Posted: 2010-02-23 5:26 pm Permalink
hiltiki, here is the other side and the bottom of the mug.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10561
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2010-02-23 6:45 pm Permalink
And now a photo of the inside. Also test for traces of fruit juices and liquor, and carbon-date the material, please.
Last, a CT scan would be appreciated 
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hiltiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 10, 2004
Posts: 2775
From: Reseda, calif.
| Posted: 2010-02-23 7:52 pm Permalink
Pa'akiki, thank you. Sven, are you all right?
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10561
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2010-02-23 8:00 pm Permalink
Well, I guess I will be satisfied with the fact that the bottom looks kinda vintage... 
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hiltiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 10, 2004
Posts: 2775
From: Reseda, calif.
| Posted: 2010-02-23 8:13 pm Permalink
Yes the bottom is always very important. 
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Bay Park Buzzy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 07, 2006
Posts: 2714
From: West Bay Park, San Diego, CA
| Posted: 2010-02-25 6:19 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-02-23 18:45, bigbrotiki wrote:
And now a photo of the inside. |
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Yeah. Could we get a shot of that? I thought the same thing as you did bigbro, when I first saw it, that it was some fun loving mug maker's tribute. I'd like to see if it's molded production mug or a one off. It looks like a one off to me. There's one line on the front that looks like it may be a mold line, but the pictures aren't quite clear enough to tell. The bottom photo also looks(once again it's hard to truly tell with the photo quality) like it has evidence of being hand built, as opposed to cast.
Seeing the inside might tell us how it was produced. Looking at the finished piece here, I think if it was a production mug, the head of the snake would have to been cast as separate piece and then placed on the cast mug part. The tail of the snake also looks like it wouldn't have been able to molded as it is. Both parts would have to have had some sort of post casting work done to it, above and beyond the typical cleanup necessary in the process. And that adds time, and expense, and it seems the tail could have been easily done differently to facilitate the molding process.
I think if it's the real thing, then it would be a cast or molded mug, not a hand built one. So let's see how it was made so Sabu can offcially cross this off the Crypto mug list.
And if pa akiki wants to wait until after it's sold to post those pictures, I totally understand. Caveat emptor! I guess there could be a lot of money riding on what it really is. This could be the biggest mystery since the shroud of Turin!
Buzzy Out!
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[ This Message was edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2010-02-25 18:21 ]
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Mike the Headhunter
Grand Member (5 years) 
Joined: May 24, 2004
Posts: 189
From: Wastelands of western NC
| Posted: 2010-03-01 08:12 am Permalink
Wow, that is a pretty mug the i thought it was a babalu make, but the color looks really vintage(not that it's impossible to replicate). The head certainly looks like an add on from the one shot. I love it at any rate.
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I have never met a drink I didn't like, unless it was that time I met beer...
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Babalu
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Nov 19, 2006
Posts: 2498
From: Lemon Grove
| Posted: 2010-03-01 12:03 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-03-01 08:12, Mike the Headhunter wrote:
Wow, that is a pretty mug the i thought it was a babalu make, but the color looks really vintage(not that it's impossible to replicate). The head certainly looks like an add on from the one shot. I love it at any rate.
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oh no,no,no..it certainly isn't mine It is very, very cool that this Cobra Fang mug has been found!! WOW, and WOW! again.
I have been playing with the Cobra Fang mug image off of the Islander menu for quite some time now though. I have also had some wonderful help from other TCers who have researched the work that came from Spurlin Ceramics for the Islander...personally, I'm not that fond of the Spurlin sculpting, or their glaze work on any of their mugs or bowls, however, I'm very intrigued with them as a Studio and their role in PolyPop.
One interesting thing that I "kind of" denote from the newly posted pictures of the real Cobra mug is that it looks somewhat forced to the Cobra image on the menu...this leads me to believe that the menu images came first (egg before the chicken kind of thing) and that Spurlin was contracted to build to those images, not the other way around. The green glaze color is really the part that seems a little forced to me. Spurlin used (from what I know) only one basic brown, yeller color on all of their mugs for the Islander. It would only be natural for them to try out other mug(s)in their line up with the same color that might be left over from this Cobra...hence the other green mug in the display case over at Oceanic Arts. Personally, I feel that the green color they choose is a little too opaque for the design; something a little more transparent in a light green might have been a better choice...again, that is just my opinion.
Anyway, yes, I have had a master sculpt built for some time now which is soooo close to being done. It has also been forced from the menu image. It seems like I have been putting off taking this master sculpt to plaster molds forever...I still have a bit of clean up to do on it yet: I should jump on that and push the project forward. Not everyone will be able to afford the original (and I would bet more show up now), but it shouldn't be to hard to land one of mine More "soon".
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10561
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2010-03-01 1:24 pm Permalink
That is so weird! The Tiki revival (Babalu) catching up to the Tiki period, but then being overtaken by the real thing after all....or has it not?
I am still not 100 % convinced of the authenticity of the mug, no additional info about its acquisition has been put forward. Provenance is an important factor in assessing primitive artifacts.
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Babalu
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Nov 19, 2006
Posts: 2498
From: Lemon Grove
| Posted: 2010-03-01 1:54 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-03-01 13:24, bigbrotiki wrote:
That is so weird! The Tiki revival (Babalu) catching up to the Tiki period, but then being overtaken by the real thing after all....or has it not?
I am still not 100 % convinced of the authenticity of the mug, no additional info about its acquisition has been put forward. Provenance is an important factor in assessing primitive artifacts.
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Yes, - I felt like I was getting hit with heavenly bolts of irony when I first saw that mug.
Ya know, having kind of dived into Spurlin some, my "guess" is that it is the real deal...and that green glaze on that other Spurlin mug in the display over at OA is a dead ringer.
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pa'akiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Mar 26, 2005
Posts: 70 | Posted: 2010-03-04 3:23 pm Permalink
Here are some pictures of the inside. we bought the mug from a lady in everett washington who got it from an estate sale, but she can't remember whos estate it was.
Here is a group photo of the mug with some of his friends.
NONE OF THESE MUGS ARE FOR SALE OR TRADE.
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