 What many would consider to be the earliest US "tiki mugs" were ceramics in the shape of a skull or an ordinary ceramic vessel with a hula girl-related motif.Mugs meant to emulate a tiki carving, what some would consider to be a "true" tiki mug, did not come to the USA until the late 1950s.A little-known antecedent (and the possible inspiration) of these earliest US tiki mugs and other later US tiki-motif tableware, is a range of mid-century modern ceramic ware from New Zealand, made by Crown Lynn.