Prices on mugs dropping, what gives? - General Tiki

RC Ragbag Comics Member The shores of Lake Michigan Joined: Feb 24, 2009 Posts: 212	RC Ragbag Comics Posted posted on Wed, Feb 3, 2016 10:42 AM I've noticed the same thing... super rare stuff popping up on eBay and elsewhere I didn't even think twice about keeping an eye on because I assumed it would go for an arm and a leg ending with no bids on it (or going for peanuts) At the same time, I've noticed prices on older Tiki Farm and Munktiki pieces have jumped way up in a lot of cases... an example there, my wife and I had our wedding "reception" at Frankie's and have been trying to find the first two anniversary mugs... but those really can't be had for less than $150-$200 on eBay (which is too rich for my blood...) My theory on this (and on the lack of energy on TC as Skip mentions) has been three-fold... The thing we all never thought would happen HAS happened... Tiki is "back" (even though we all know it never really went away if you know where to look...) There are new bars popping up left and right, some great, some hopping on the trendy bandwagon. My wife and I started really getting heavily into this stuff about 10 or 11 years ago, and it was unknown and mysterious and you had to look for it. Once you found it, it was like this magical secret thing, a relic from the past to be treasured and it was your own special, weird thing that YOU found. You'd meet other people along the way and come to find this whole community who discovered it, too... but the common thread was you had to FIND it. It was not a mainstream thing... Now, there's a WHOLE lot of people just getting into it, who haven't probably ever been to a classic old place, but will go to the hot new craft Tiki bar in town because it's all the rage at the moment... they may even go off the beaten path and find a classic era place because they read an article online or saw something on TV about Tiki bars. (And that's a good thing... more people means more business means less places closing their doors... but it's not "secret" anymore...) I dunno about you guys, but 10 years ago (and certainly further back than that) that would have been seismic to see a report on the Travel Channel or the nightly news about Tiki. Now it's bordering on a common occurence. I think for some folks, this has removed a bit of the mystique and some of the cache it once had, which, when coupled with the sometimes in-fighting and cliqueishness and territoriality we've all experienced in different ways in the Tiki scene, has just burned out some of the old timers. There's too many "new people" into the once-secret society. Personally, I think so many new bars opening is, ostensibly, a good thing... it shifts the public perception of "Tiki" from the Party City, Margaritaville hell-pit it was in 10 or 15 years ago into a much more proper context... but an influx of new people into the "right" kind of Tiki also means more people who may inflate prices on things at the peak of trendiness, but lose interest shortly thereafter (not that I think a lot of newly initiated folks are necessarily spending hundreds of dollars on vintage mugs, which brings me to my second point...) To newcomers, freshly exposed to the wonder that is Tiki, a Tiki mug is a Tiki mug... so a Dynasty mug might be as interesting as anything else, because it's all new to you. And an older Tiki Farm piece might be as rare or exciting in the new collectors mind as something vintage, just because there's so much out there. I guess I don't think history is that important to a lot of newer collectors as it was to people who have been doing it for a long time... there aren't as many classic era bars LEFT to pique interest, for one thing, and for another, there are tons of NEW bars, so in the mind of a new collector, they might associate Tiki with "NEW" which was something that didn't exist years ago... If you started collecting mugs 10 or 20 years ago, there WEREN'T that many (or ANY)new mugs... so you found vintage stuff. Now, Tiki Farm has been making great, interesting new mugs for 15 years, Munktiki not too much less time than that, not to mention all of the individual artists and smaller companies out there making cool mug art (many of the Tiki Facebook groups have tons and tons of stuff...) Even just two or three years ago, there was NO WHERE near as many people trying their hand at making Tiki... I guess that's all a long way of saying, there's more competition for the Tiki-buying dollar these days. Years ago, it was possible to buy EVERY new mug you saw and not be totally broke at the end of the day and still have some money left for vintage stuff... now there's so many artists making $100, $200+ new mugs, you'd need a second mortgage to have everything you see, nor could you even possibly know about all of it. Tying those rambling thoughts together, I guess I would equate the modernization and current tiki "trend" to being into punk rock (or any kind of underground anything) BEFORE Hot Topic and the Internet... you really had to dedicate time to find things. Now it's become cool to be counter-culture, and you have major corporations selling you Ramones T-Shirts at Target. Once there's money in a secret thing, it's not secret anymore and it takes some of the fun out of it... you're not the weird loner kid anymore. With the newest, trendiest Tiki places, you have to wait in LINE.... ! Think about that...years ago during the classic Tiki-era "die-off," you were more worried that the place would have closed since you last visited due to lack of business. I think there's just a limited amount of people who will spend big bucks on Tiki Mugs, period... there's no way of knowing how many of certain vintage mugs were ever made in the first place, so there's REALLY no telling how many are left in the world. To me, that's half the fun and excitement, but realistically, at some point all the people who want a particular piece might have it... Often (or, used to be often) you'd see people post on TC about an auction they got outbid on, where there were two people bidding like crazy driving up the price, and the winner would appear as a fellow TC-er. At some point, if the two people who REALLY want it get it, the price starts to come down for the rest of us who assumed we'd just never be able to afford it. I guess with all that, I'm just glad we got to experience "secret" Tiki, before it exploded again... I will always have nostalgic feelings about the first time I walked into the Palmer House Trader Vic's or Hala Kahiki (or the Mai Kai) It just bowled you over that these places had been hiding out for 50-60 years. It's less nostalgic now, but if the new places are doing it right and the people filling them are enjoying the strange exoticism and escapism we all crave, then by God, have at it. As far as TC goes, Skip - I hear ya. I've never been one to post a lot of comments, but I get email updates and typically find SOMETHING I want to read on here every day. But the frequency of interesting finds and discoveries on here, and the frequency of posts in general, has certainly tapered off a bit. TC really is indispensible, though... we moved in October (into an actual HOUSE for the first time, not a condo or an apartment) and I am very very excited about finally building our dream bar in the basement... the "Home Bars" section of TC is a treasure trove; accumulated years of experience, right there for the taking. And... I WILL start a thread about the progress... --Pete

I've noticed the same thing... super rare stuff popping up on eBay and elsewhere
I didn't even think twice about keeping an eye on because I assumed it would go for
an arm and a leg ending with no bids on it (or going for peanuts)

At the same time, I've noticed prices on older Tiki Farm and Munktiki pieces have
jumped way up in a lot of cases... an example there, my wife and I had our wedding
"reception" at Frankie's and have been trying to find the first two anniversary mugs...
but those really can't be had for less than $150-$200 on eBay (which is too rich for my
blood...)

My theory on this (and on the lack of energy on TC as Skip mentions) has been three-fold...

The thing we all never thought would happen HAS happened... Tiki is "back" (even
though we all know it never really went away if you know where to look...) There
are new bars popping up left and right, some great, some hopping on the trendy bandwagon.
My wife and I started really getting heavily into this stuff about 10 or 11 years ago,
and it was unknown and mysterious and you had to look for it. Once you found it, it was
like this magical secret thing, a relic from the past to be treasured and it was your own
special, weird thing that YOU found. You'd meet other people along the way and come to find
this whole community who discovered it, too... but the common thread was you had to FIND it.
It was not a mainstream thing...

Now, there's a WHOLE lot of people just getting into it, who haven't probably ever been
to a classic old place, but will go to the hot new craft Tiki bar in town because it's
all the rage at the moment... they may even go off the beaten path and find a classic era
place because they read an article online or saw something on TV about Tiki bars. (And that's
a good thing... more people means more business means less places closing their doors...
but it's not "secret" anymore...)

I dunno about you guys, but 10 years ago (and certainly further back than that) that would have
been seismic to see a report on the Travel Channel or the nightly news about Tiki. Now it's
bordering on a common occurence.

I think for some folks, this has removed a bit of the mystique and some of the cache it once had, which,
when coupled with the sometimes in-fighting and cliqueishness and territoriality we've all experienced
in different ways in the Tiki scene, has just burned out some of the old timers. There's too many
"new people" into the once-secret society.

Personally, I think so many new bars opening is, ostensibly, a good thing... it shifts the public
perception of "Tiki" from the Party City, Margaritaville hell-pit it was in 10 or 15 years ago into
a much more proper context... but an influx of new people into the "right" kind of Tiki also means
more people who may inflate prices on things at the peak of trendiness, but lose interest shortly thereafter (not that I think a lot of newly initiated folks are necessarily spending hundreds of dollars on vintage mugs, which brings me to my second point...)

To newcomers, freshly exposed to the wonder that is Tiki, a Tiki mug is a Tiki mug... so a Dynasty mug might be as interesting as anything else, because it's all new to you. And an older Tiki Farm piece might be as rare or exciting in the new collectors mind as something vintage, just because there's so much out there. I guess I don't think history is that important to a lot of newer collectors as it was to people who have been doing it for a long time... there aren't as many classic era bars LEFT to pique interest, for one thing, and for another, there are tons of NEW bars, so in the mind of a new collector, they might associate Tiki with "NEW" which was something that didn't exist years ago...

If you started collecting mugs 10 or 20 years ago, there WEREN'T that many (or ANY)new mugs... so you found vintage stuff. Now, Tiki Farm has been making great, interesting new mugs for 15 years, Munktiki not too much less time than that, not to mention all of the individual artists and smaller companies out there making cool mug art (many of the Tiki Facebook groups have tons and tons of stuff...) Even just two or three years ago, there was NO WHERE near as many people trying their hand at making Tiki... I guess that's all a long way of saying, there's more competition for the Tiki-buying dollar these days. Years ago, it was possible to buy EVERY new mug you saw and not be totally broke at the end of the day and still have some money left for vintage stuff... now there's so many artists making $100, $200+ new mugs, you'd need a second mortgage to have everything you see, nor could you even possibly know about all of it.

Tying those rambling thoughts together, I guess I would equate the modernization and current tiki "trend" to being into punk rock (or any kind of underground anything) BEFORE Hot Topic and the Internet... you really had to dedicate time to find things. Now it's become cool to be counter-culture, and you have major corporations selling you Ramones T-Shirts at Target. Once there's money in a secret thing, it's not secret anymore and it takes some of the fun out of it... you're not the weird loner kid anymore. With the newest, trendiest Tiki places, you have to wait in LINE.... ! Think about that...years ago during the classic Tiki-era "die-off," you were more worried that the place would have closed since you last visited due to lack of business.

I think there's just a limited amount of people who will spend big bucks on Tiki Mugs, period... there's no way of knowing how many of certain vintage mugs were ever made in the first place, so there's REALLY no telling how many are left in the world. To me, that's half the fun and excitement,
but realistically, at some point all the people who want a particular piece might have it... Often
(or, used to be often) you'd see people post on TC about an auction they got outbid on, where there were two people bidding like crazy driving up the price, and the winner would appear as a fellow TC-er. At some point, if the two people who REALLY want it get it, the price starts to come down for the rest of us who assumed we'd just never be able to afford it.

I guess with all that, I'm just glad we got to experience "secret" Tiki, before it exploded again... I will always have nostalgic feelings about the first time I walked into the Palmer House Trader Vic's or Hala Kahiki (or the Mai Kai) It just bowled you over that these places had been hiding out for 50-60 years. It's less nostalgic now, but if the new places are doing it right and the people filling them are enjoying the strange exoticism and escapism we all crave, then by God, have at it.

As far as TC goes, Skip - I hear ya. I've never been one to post a lot of comments, but I get email updates and typically find SOMETHING I want to read on here every day. But the frequency of
interesting finds and discoveries on here, and the frequency of posts in general, has certainly tapered off a bit. TC really is indispensible, though... we moved in October (into an actual HOUSE for the first time, not a condo or an apartment) and I am very very excited about finally building our dream bar in the basement... the "Home Bars" section of TC is a treasure trove; accumulated years of experience, right there for the taking.

And... I WILL start a thread about the progress...

--Pete

Post #758309 by Ragbag Comics on Wed, Feb 3, 2016 10:42 AM