Questions for the mug experts... How much should I pay for these?

Aloha!

I came across the motherloade yesterday. The first one I saw was the pair of Orchids and I said "Oh my god" out loud. After a year and a half of searching for old mugs I found a ton. I bought a very nice tiki and this OMC mug because that's all the money I had on hand... this one's in great shape and still has the sticker on the bottom... mine doesn't say "Islander" on it though...

Anyway... I want to know if the prices on these other mugs are reasonable so I was hoping the mug experts could tell me how much they would pay for these...

There's two of these...

Tiki Leilani mugs (there's 4 of them)

There's two of these...

And one of these that's unmarked with a restaurant...

Mahalo!

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer on 2004-08-27 07:01 ]

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer on 2004-08-27 07:02 ]

Detroit prices:

I have 3 styles of FuManchu. I think I paid $3 or 4 for the one you posted at a city-wide garage sale... mostly flea market vendors.

The Leilani's I've seen from $0.99 to $4.

The black OMC mug I bought from a chinese restaurant (their only mug in the whole place) for $5

The skull I have yet to find.

hope this helps.

-Z

Helps a lot... they were all priced around $20. I got the OMC three faced one for $7... I have to rethink how bad I want these now... or make the effort to bargain with unseen sellers...

Mahalo!

Lake if you pick up the two black OMC's I will trade you for one of my doubles.

I don't like to have more than one of each.

If your interested let me know and I will take a pic of extras.

I am no expert, but I value anything with a name on it much more, like the Hawaii Kai. Look at Ebay prices and figure that's absolute high end for anything. For the most part, if you find it in an antique store or flea market, you should not expect to pay over $15-20 for anything, and then it better be a bigger bowl or something. Mugs ought to be in the $10 and under range. Only us freak collectors are gonna pay more and then it would have to be worth it and what are the odds someone who knows the value is gonna come in that shop? They don't know the value for sure.

Not knowing the worth or cost of the older mugs, I was quite excited to find them here, after no luck over the last year or so of looking for any kind of mug new or old. Seeing the Orchards mugs first got me going because I've seen them in other collections, so I was thinking I have to have these, they're tiki collector's items. I mean, its one thing to collect new mugs like I mostly have but I would like the classics if I come across them. Then I came across the others, by that time I'm adding up $20 a crack in my head for half a dozen mugs and I'm remembering that I'm poor. I want these in the collection but decided that I needed to research the actual price that most others here would pay. I would have kicked myself if I blew $20 a mug when I find out that they can be obtained for $5. But I see your side too Swanky, how bad do I want them in the collection now... or will I come across them in the future. Time will tell I guess, I need to buy supplies for my carvings this weekend...

Flounder, they want $40 for both of those mugs... a bit steep I realise now... unless you think different?

On 2004-08-27 22:50, Lake Surfer wrote:
Time will tell I guess, I need to buy supplies for my carvings this weekend.

sny chance the store would trade mugs for a carving? never hurts to ask...

Yeah, definitely steep! I personally don't like to pay more than $5 unless it's something I know is worth more. I think the most I ever payed was $15 for a Steve Crane.

However there are more and more people collecting and less and less vintage mugs to be found.

Did you try bartering?

I would pay $20 for the Hawaii Kai.

[ Edited by: FLOUNDERart on 2004-08-28 08:06 ]

On 2004-08-27 07:00, Lake Surfer wrote:
I bought a very nice tiki and this OMC mug because that's all the money I had on hand... this one's in great shape and still has the sticker on the bottom... mine doesn't say "Islander" on it though...

LakeSurfer-- Nice score on the 3-face! I would have definitely picked that one up, and for only $7 you got a great deal. Name or 'no-name', glazed OMC 3-face mugs are MUCH harder to come by (trust me), and if you're looking to get rid of it at any point, keep me in mind! :wink:

On 2004-08-28 08:04, FLOUNDERart wrote:
I would pay $20 for the Hawaii Kai.

I think he's saying that the skull mug is unmarked. And that's an example photo he pulled off the net somewhere.

$20 each is too expensive. All of those can be had on ebay for well under $20 including shipping. The Fu Manchus and Leilanis I'd say seven or eight bucks max. The black OMC maybe ten. The skull mug I'd go fifteen. I got one unmarked like that on ebay and it was fourteen including shipping. Now if it says Trader Vics on the bottom then grab it for twenty.

Here's where to get an idea what mugs are worth:
http://search.ebay.com/tiki-mug_W0QQsosortpropertyZ1

On 2004-08-28 13:43, Kono wrote:
Here's where to get an idea what mugs are worth:
http://search.ebay.com/tiki-mug_W0QQsosortpropertyZ1

Oh the pain!

I've told this story before, but a few years ago I was at a huge city wide garage sale and just inside the door I found a set of 4 of these:

for only $10 total for all 4. I had $10 but I thought, "gee, I found this within 5 minutes, I wonder if there's something else even better here". I only had the $10, no more. So I thought I'd come back if I didn't see anything else but by then they were gone. AAAaaack! And now I see 1 selling for $21+...

Let this be a lesson to all of you youngins'... Buy it when you see it (if it's not a ripoff that is)

-Z