Post #737484 by Tiki Nate on Mon, Feb 16, 2015 11:06 AM

Ok, here's my sad tale. When I purchased my very first home, I was sprucing up the basement, making it the delectable tiki hide-a-way that it is today. One of my aspirations was to finally have enough wall space to display my huge collection of mugs on a series of shelves lining the walls (shelves placed just below the ceiling).

After having the shelving all mounted and the mugs on display, I walked downstairs one evening and almost tripped over an entire 10 feet of shelving that had worked itself loose from the wall, creating a nifty sliding board that dumped almost the entire contents into a broken pile at the end of it. I can only imagine the horrible sounds that must have accompanied this accident - I was thankful I wasn't home when it happened!!!

Turns out, my carefully mounted shelving, attached to what I thought was sturdy wooden molding, was lacking any type of "bite" beyond the thin molding and the cheap particle board is was attached to, the weight of the mugs actually split the molding - and I'm very handy with repairs/tools, etc. but NOT this time.

I would've loved to have seen my face at the "moment of recognition" I yelled "Oh no!" and fell to my knees, running my hands through the wreckage to assess the damage. My favorite Mark Thomas Outrigger Moai with a beautiful glaze variant smashed, blue orchids surfer guy smashed....I began the sad task of throwing out mugs, and making piles of mugs I felt I could glue back together.

Some mugs split right in two, some horizontally, some vertically, others became intricate puzzles made of several shards both big and small. Some cracked but remained whole, some chipped (some of the newer Tiki Farm ones, obviously made a little more sturdy).

I rescued most, although they are now valueless, replaced my Mark Thomas with an inferior one whose glaze isn't quite as nice and it has the infamous "hairline crack," and I have yet to replace the blue surfer guy mug (arm down) from Orchids of Hawaii which was an early run and had exquisite detailing. I still have that pile, and the Outrigger pile, just can't part with them........

I shook my head and marveled at just how delicate these mugs are, they obviously were made with the cheapest of materials to keep costs down, and it's remarkable that as many as there are have survived without chips, cracks, etc. WHY am I collecting such touchy stuff!?!?! I asked myself.

BTW, I've mastered the repair aspect, using glue, caulking the chips, cracks, etc. and paint matching the mug colors to paint over the caulked areas. A lot of my mugs, from their perch shelf-side you'd never even notice as "Wounded in Battle!"

-Nate