Post #593474 by trutiki on Mon, Jun 13, 2011 12:36 PM

Weren't for the most part vintage mugs mass produced drinkware for bars and restaurants whose manufacture was outsourced to large industrial restaurant supply providers who created alongside the tiki mugs all kinds of other everyday unimportant things? I know there were exceptions and I've read about them in detail, but 98% of what I see held up as special for its historical context really doesn't deliver anything greater than any other collected flotsam from another time, say napkins or matchbooks. The latter continue to be produced and may or may not reflect vintage elements, so what's the difference? Design aesthetics are not "owned." They are not fixed in time.

I can see that it is a much more intellectually gratifying pursuit when you are a strict adherent to pre-determined collecting parameters as you are not the author of your story. Your collection reveals itself as the circuitous path of your own excursion through time unfolds. You mentally access your historical database prior to each acquisition. Every time you do that the past is resurrected for you. When a person collects what delights their senses the satisfaction is in possession and living with the collected things. The parameters flex but the experience no less gratifying.

Two different styles of collecting, one no less valuable than the other. You can elevate tiki mugs to iconography status but at the core they are consumer artifacts plain and simple. New or old, both have a place depending on your position as a collector.