Spurlin Vicious Virgin mug and bowl
The "Vicious Virgin" is a nude female figure that Spurlin Ceramics used on a mug and a three-figure drink bowl for the Islander restaurant in Los Angeles. A prototype of the bowl, designed by Stella Bodey, was the centerpiece of Oceanic Arts' "Holy Grail" display cabinet.
Sourcing: mixed 3 reference · 1 commercial · 4 social
The Vicious Virgin is a nude female figure that Spurlin Ceramics used on a mug and on a communal drink bowl made for The Islander restaurant in Los Angeles. Both are credited to the designer Stella Bodey.[1][2][3] The catalog of Oceanic Arts' 2022 auction called a prototype of the bowl the centerpiece of the firm's "Holy Grail" mug cabinet.[3] Spurlin's other pieces for the Islander are described in Spurlin Island Chief tiki mug and Spurlin Cobra's Fang mugs.
The bowl
The bowl is ringed by three kneeling nude women. The collector database mytiki.life describes a pink example, 9.5 inches wide and 5.5 inches high, with blue-green glaze running down the sides, the women's hands behind their backs, and a wood-grain pattern on the underside.[2] It says the Islander's menu shows the bowl serving a drink also called the Vicious Virgin. The drink appears to have been a version of the daiquiri, made with Virgin Islands rum, limes and rock candy syrup. The menu is reproduced on page 163 of Sven Kirsten's The Book of Tiki.[2]
Oceanic Arts kept a prototype of the bowl behind glass in its Whittier showroom for many years. The April 2022 auction catalog, which calls it a scorpion drink bowl, says Bodey created the bowl at Spurlin, first supplied it to the Islander, and made it in several poses and colors. The sample, 11.5 inches across, has the figures' arms raised, a pastel pink glaze with a green salt-drip overglaze, and the wood-grain underside also used on Spurlin's pieces for Sam's Seafood. The catalog estimated it at $1,000 to $2,000.[3] In 2017 a Tiki Central collector offered a pink drip-glaze Islander bowl at auction on eBay.[4] Beauce Pottery of Quebec later made a Vicious Virgin bowl, which another collector described as a copy of the Spurlin design.[5]
The mug
The Spurlin Vicious Virgin mug is a simple standing nude with shoulder-length hair and hands meeting at the stomach. mytiki.life describes a mottled brown example, 2 inches wide by 6.5 inches high, unmarked and with an unglazed bottom.[1] Otagiri Mercantile Company (OMC) made a slightly larger, speckled version, 7.25 inches high, for the Islander. mytiki.life says it was based on the earlier Spurlin mug.[6] The Oceanic Arts auction included a 7-inch Islander Vicious Virgin sample credited to Spurlin.[3]
Collectors have debated which versions were used at the Islander. In 2006 a Tiki Central member posted an unmarked mug found in Arizona and identified it as a Spurlin Vicious Virgin by its glaze.[7] In 2010 another member argued that the mugs marked "Islander" were OMC products and that other, less finely made versions were presumably Spurlin's. He doubted that the Spurlin mugs had been used at the Islander itself.[8]
See also
- Spurlin Ceramics (tiki mugs) · Companies mixed
Spurlin Ceramics was a small Lynwood, California pottery run by designer Stella Bodey (née Spurlin) from about the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. Working with Oceanic Arts, it made some of the earliest tiki mugs, drink bowls and lamp figures for Polynesian restaurants, and its pieces are now prized collectibles. - Stella Bodey (née Spurlin) · People mixed
Stella Bodey (1905–1971), born Stella Spurlin, was a California ceramicist who ran Spurlin Ceramics of Lynwood and, working with Oceanic Arts, made some of the earliest tiki mugs, drink bowls and lamp figures for Polynesian restaurants. - Spurlin Island Chief ("Husband Killer") tiki mug · Products & Brands mixed
The Island Chief, or "Husband Killer", is a standing pointed-head tiki mug that Stella Bodey of Spurlin Ceramics made for the Islander restaurant in Los Angeles by 1960. It is one of the earliest tiki mugs and one of the most collected Spurlin-named objects. - Spurlin Cobra's Fang mugs · Products & Brands weak
Two snake-wrapped tiki mugs made by Spurlin Ceramics and credited to Stella Bodey: the Cobra's Fang mug of the Islander restaurant in Los Angeles, long known only from its menu, and the smaller OA Cobra Fang sold by Oceanic Arts. - Spurlin collectibles and memorabilia · Products & Brands weak
A guide to collectible objects and products that bear the Spurlin name: Spurlin Dairy milk bottles, Spurlin Sales farm-equipment advertising, Spurlin Ceramics tiki mugs, 1950s Spurlin records, signed art and craft pieces, and modern novelty goods. - Spurlin businesses and brands · Companies mixed
An overview of companies, products, patents and trademarks bearing the Spurlin name, from a 19th-century Alabama jewelry store and a mid-century Oklahoma farm-equipment dealer to today's builders and funeral homes, concentrated in the US South, especially Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia and North Carolina.
References
- ↑ ↑ Tiki Mug: Vicious Virgin – by Spurlin — mytiki.life — Collector database Reference
- ↑ ↑ ↑ Tiki Mug: Vicious Virgin Bowl Arm Lowered — mytiki.life — Collector database Reference
- ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Oceanic Arts: The Godfathers of Tiki, auction catalog, April 23–24, 2022 — Peekaboo Gallery (Internet Archive copy) — Auction-house catalog; lots 982 and 1016 Commercial
- ↑ Islander Pink Drip Glaze Vicious Virgin Bowl by Spurlin Ceramics — Tiki Central — Forum thread, July–August 2017, announcing an eBay sale Social
- ↑ Post by Tattoo, 5 March 2017, in "Crypto-Mugs" — Tiki Central — Describes the Beauce Vicious Virgin bowl as a copy of a Spurlin bowl Social
- ↑ Tiki Mug: Islander Vicious Virgin – by Otagiri — mytiki.life — Collector database Reference
- ↑ Spurlin Ceramics? — Tiki Central — Forum thread, May 2006 Social
- ↑ Post by midnite, 2 February 2010, in "Is this a Stockton Islander Mug" — Tiki Central — On OMC and Spurlin versions of the mug Social
Last reviewed 2026-09-24.