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Tiki Mug Misfortunes |
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10913
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
|  Posted: 2012-07-02 10:02 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-07-02 16:24, underdog wrote:
I think my husband posted this in another thread, but this seemed to be a more appropriate place. Sorry for the duplication, but we're really upset and I'm not sure our disappointment can be truly captured in a single post.
We live in North Central Florida, not by any means a mecca of tiki culture. We rarely make finds 'in the wild' because there's just not that much around. Therefore, we often have to rely on ebay to scratch our tiki itch. We're also on a budget, so we can't spring for many of the mugs on our wish list at the going rate.
So imagine our glee when we found a Hoffman Kahiki Moai mug in an auction missing most of the common search terms, starting at 5.99. And no one bid against us. We've had mugs shipped to us before, and aside from one tiny chip we've been pretty lucky. But this mug, which we will probably not find in our price range again, which is such a great piece of tiki history, which we were so excited to find, arrived like this:
A few big pieces and some dust. No chance of gluing back together. Our first big tiki misfortune.
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What a crime! My condolences...
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underdog
Member
Joined: Jul 02, 2012
Posts: 4 | Posted: 2012-07-03 06:28 am Permalink
Thanks for the condolences bigbro. We're still trying to figure out an appropriate way to honor the remains.
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danlovestikis
Grand Member (6 years) 
Joined: Jun 17, 2002
Posts: 4217 | Posted: 2012-07-07 12:51 pm Permalink
Well I'm posting again. I made this purple Tiki Bob bowl for my husband Dan. It never even made it from the garage to his collection.
Why because I set it on the car hood which was slopped. Since I glazed the bottom of the bowl it was slick enough to slide off and crash on the floor.
I'm so sad, Wendy
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littlegiles
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 08, 2003
Posts: 479
From: Lancaster, SC
| Posted: 2012-09-11 7:46 pm Permalink
Gosh, over a month since the last accident. I hate to be the one to bring this topic back up to the front of the line, but today in the mail I received some recent wins off eBay. Should have been 2 coconut mugs, a Harvey's Sneaky Tiki and a Harvey's bucket...three of them made the trip across country safely...
RIP poor little coconut mug. I'm sorry I never got to know you.  The seller was quick to refund the cost of the mug so at least that worked out. Funny thing is that this mug was the only one wrapped in bubble wrap. The other three were packed into a box wrapped in newspaper.
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Hale Tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 19, 2004
Posts: 1797
From: Pittsburgh
| Posted: 2012-09-12 03:59 am Permalink
Wendy,
At least two of the Bob's look like they could be salvaged! I hope you didn't toss them. I love that glaze, too.
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tikilongbeach
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Aug 05, 2011
Posts: 996
From: Long Beach, CA via Dallas, TX
| Posted: 2013-04-12 08:18 am Permalink
This is the only broken mug/bowl/carving I've been sent and it was quickly replaced. The prow had broken off on the Armada Geddon so I glued it back on, but I think it would still display well on a wall shelf.
If anyone local (LA/OC) wants it you can have it for free along with the tiki treasure map that came with it. I don't have the heart to throw it in the trash. It's just sitting in my closet.
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-Lori
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GROG
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Posts: 6570
From: Tujunga
| Posted: 2013-04-12 1:04 pm Permalink
The GROG Moai Mug---GROG' personal mug. Hand-made by GROG at Babalu's awesome clay jam with Squid, Bai, Bowana, Buzzy, etc.
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=24647&forum=18&start=330&hilite=babalu%20clay%20jam
 
 
Here's some of the pieces. Hiphipahula is using the rest of the mug for a picture for her website for a drink she made called THE MUG CRACKER.
Thankfully it broke into a few large pieces, so when GROG get the rest of the mug back from Kelly, then GROG try and fix it and bring it back from the dead.
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Hale Tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 19, 2004
Posts: 1797
From: Pittsburgh
| Posted: 2013-04-13 2:14 pm Permalink
WHAT!? NO! WAS GROG DRINKING AND USING THE WHIL?
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tobunga
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 12, 2008
Posts: 966 | Posted: 2013-04-18 10:45 pm Permalink
I was going through photos and came across this set that I realized kinda fits this thread...
This was a batch of greenware from a few months ago that should have come out of the kiln as bisque. A freak accident, where two fail-safes failed simultaneously, resulted in runaway temperatures that reduced everything inside the kiln to piles of goo.
This was a tiki menorah and a PNG drum bowl. The menorah exploded then melted, and the bowl melted into a puddle resembling thrown pizza crust dough that the thrower failed to catch.
This shelf of the kiln holds the sad remains of a Shrunken Santa Head mug with Santa Hat lid. (the lid is the pointy puddle), two Tiki Bob's bucket mugs and two different styles of Stockton Islander mug. The Islander mugs managed to retain their shape, but they were covered in horrific, painful-looking blisters and cracks. And they were fused to the kiln shelf, like everything else.
The annoying thing (or, one of the annoying things) about this mishap was that a couple of the pieces I had completed and had sitting around for months... the menorah was sculpted and sitting around for almost a year... curses!
Oh well... every time something goes into the kiln, it's like a crap shoot anyway!
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http://ericoctober.com
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TikiTacky
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Nov 23, 2010
Posts: 626 | Posted: 2013-06-01 12:25 pm Permalink
I purchased a set of 6 vintage Honi Honi mugs on ebay, but despite the use of bubble wrap and crumpled newspaper, two of them didn't survive the trip.
I understand that sometimes accidents happen and things break in shipping, but it seems like such a tragedy when they're vintage items.
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Atomic Tiki Punk
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 19, 2009
Posts: 4925
From: Costa Misery
| Posted: 2013-06-01 1:17 pm Permalink
Another bad packing job, I hope you complained to the seller
you should always request shipping peanuts when you buy any vintage items.
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TikiTacky
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Nov 23, 2010
Posts: 626 | Posted: 2013-06-01 2:38 pm Permalink
The seller is actually being difficult about it. I'm politely reminding him that he doesn't have a leg to stand on with ebay or PayPal. What a hassle.
Edit: After insisting that I pay to return ALL of the items to him, I ended up having to open a dispute through eBay. That's the first time that's happened to me in 14 years of selling on eBay.
[ This Message was edited by: TikiTacky 2013-06-01 19:23 ]
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johnnyvelvet
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jun 12, 2013
Posts: 17
From: Louisiana
| Posted: 2013-06-13 08:16 am Permalink
A few years ago, I put additional bamboo around the edges of my home bar. Thinking ahead, I took every single mug [about 35] into the garage before the construction started. The work was done and I brought the mugs back. The very last one was an early Kahiki-marked mug in shiny gold. It slipped from my hand, and I felt that icy spike of dread in my stomach. I heard it hit the concrete garage floor from about three feet [luckily I'm not tall.] I looked down. The mug was completely intact! Not one crack, chip or mark of any kind. I was amazed.
Jump cut to this past March. Bar now gone, far fewer mugs, new place [long story.] The 1970s apartment-kitchen shelf-support let go. The Chinese-made blue warrior survived, as did a Ku and a Suffering Bastard. But a Munktiki Moai split into a few pieces. I really like that mug, and have kept the front piece, pictured here.
[ This Message was edited by: johnnyvelvet 2013-06-14 06:20 ]
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Burr
Member
Joined: Mar 08, 2013
Posts: 1 | Posted: 2013-08-16 10:52 pm Permalink
I've recently learned about kintsukuroi, and I'm dying to try it out on a tiki mug some day. I'll practice with some broken pottery at the ceramics workshop as soon as I get the supplies. Perhaps I'm speaking prematurely, but if anyone's up for me to have a go at your tiki mug sherds, or don't mind me buying them off your hands, please let me know. I'll just leave this here, for your inspiration.
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Ragbag Comics
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 24, 2009
Posts: 111
From: Chicago
| Posted: 2013-09-04 10:23 pm Permalink
What's wrong with this picture... let's see...
1 Trader Vic's Hawaii Tonga mug...
2 Trader Vic's Hawaii Tonga mugs...
3...D'OH!
We've been ordering Tiki mugs from all over tarnation for years without a problem 'til now, so I feel pretty fortunate. I was able to glue this guy back together, so that's something, but it sucks seeing a somewhat-rare vintage mug make it 50-60 years in tact only to get busted up due to a stupid packing job in 2013.
Seller on eBay had tons of positive feedback, and I will say he shipped FAST, but I don't think tiki mugs were his forte (these were listed strangely, which was why I was able to nab 'em for pretty cheap.)
When I picked up the box and heard the "clunk, clunk" of mugs rolling around, my heart sank... sure enough... 3 mugs wrapped in a single sheet of paper with the scourge of tiki mugs everywhere... air pillows...UGH.
At least it was glue-able, and at least the damage is on the back side, and
(most importantly) at least his buddies made it! Coulda been much worse.
--Pete
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