After it was proven that surf-pop-culture artist Rick Griffin’s MURPHY was of Hawaiian ancestry, Surf Museum Hawaii (SMH) has worked tirelessly to curate the world’s most diverse collection of vintage items of the iconic character. While we were proud of ourselves for discovering never-before-seen vintage Murphy board shorts in the late summer of 2025, Santa Claus topped it a few months later. Ol’ St. Nick made it a VERY mele kalikimaka when he gifted SMH chief curator @marcus_ocean with two very rare plaques.
The plaques are chalkware. For the uninitiated, chalkware is made from molded plaster of Paris (derived from gypsum) which was popular in America from the 19th century through the mid-20th century. The “poor man’s porcelain” imitated more costly ceramic methods for crafting kitschy household decor, carnival prizes, and the like. Common subjects included animals, religious symbols, cartoon characters, and an assortment of whimsical scenes. Because chalkware is fragile, finding complete and un-cracked pieces, much less those in mint condition from more than five or six decades ago is a major challenge. So when these two were unboxed in front of our eyes we were blown away.
The first (top left) is of a blond-locked Murphy in his typical wave-riding stance atop of what we estimate to be a 1950s balsa surfboard with a 1.5″ redwood stringer. The other (top right) is a reddish-brown mop-haired version of Murphy with his pup perched on the nose of the board, the two of them in a rather precarious situation.
The first plaque was featured in Jim Winniman’s The Ultimate Guide to Vintage Surfboards & Collectibles on Pg. 427. At the date of publication (2013) the single plaque was valued between $100-150, but is now appraised higher due to the scarcity of the plaques as a pair. SMH is stoked to add this incredible set to our preeminent Murphy collection.
SMH Appraisal Value: $500 USD (pair)
