Most expensive mug I've seen on ebay....

Wow, I bet the seller was happy!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7311386144&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

Now how many of you out there would pay an amount such as this for your holy grail? If you would, which mug would it be for?

I watched that auction unfold last night. It was crazy. I wonder what a T3 mug from Frankoma would go for if it had a coveted glaze instead of a plain one like this mug had...

I won it!!!!!!

Just kidding

I figure the only way I would pay that much for a mug is if you could just pour water into it and it would turn into a yummy mai tai with all the garnish.

That Frankoma mug is always a biggy. It is sought after by both Tiki collectors and Frankoma collectors. So it's a war. Always $600+.

I've seen higher bids for mugs. It's not a record.

The Swank Pad Broadcast - If it's Swank...

[ Edited by: Swanky on 2005-04-11 09:34 ]

Cool Man,

Which glaze are you referring to?

And wouldn't it suck if a day later you found one at a thrift store or garage sale for $.50!

That's why I just can't spend $60 - $100 US on a tiki bob. I have this feeling that some day one will come to me some other way. Or maybe he'll just haunt my dreams forever :)

Love that frankoma, but he's wayyy outa my league.

Don't be surprised if it goes back up. There has been a rash or idiots with zero to negative feedback lately. Half of them seem to gravitate to my auctions.

But then again someone saw the mug they liked and signed on. But it seemed fishy to me. Could have been the auctioneer's friend. Who knows.

tikiwahine, go ahead and buy that Tiki Bob, and if one comes to you for $1, sell the lower quality one on Ebay again and get your money back, maybe more.

I have gotten 3 Tiki Bobs for a couple of dollars each. One I traded for a Voodoo Grog in mint condition and the other two I have kept. I meant to only have one. Then the other came along and it's an inch taller and I am torn. They are not the same, even though they are both from the Bali Hai N.O.

I want to not just find great mugs, but find them in pairs or sets of 4. Then I can sell the duplicates. My best find was a set of 9 Trader Vic's mugs. 4 Voodoo Grogs and 5 Port and Starboard lights, 3 of one and 2 of the other. $9 each.

I was watching that auction with intense interest too, since I have that exact same T3 War God - same size, same inscription, same glaze.

Is this the top of the market? Should I sell now or hold onto it another few years? I have a hard time believing that these prices will sustain forever.

Did I help drive up the price on this mug by posting that journal article on the Club Tradewinds and the rarity of these mugs two years ago?

Just rambling. Egads, that's a lot of money for a mug.

Sabu

Cool Man,

Which glaze are you referring to?

Like the red Flame glaze or Prarie Green, the red Flame seems the most popular for Frankoma mugs, while Prarie Green is the most popular for Frankoma in general.

And yes, Sabu, its all your fault. :wink:

If it's like other high Ebay auctions, what happens next is a flood of the same mug as people try to cash in. At the same time, the high bidders who did not win that mug are likely receiving direct offers to buy the mug at their high bid price by other people. That means, all the posted mugs will sell for less. Far less.

There are a hand full of big bidders. Once they own the mug, the selling price drops a lot. It eventually reaches a plateau.

If the mugs is truly rare, none of the above is true. But that mug has been on Ebay before. It's not the one timer like a few have been.

But... every month there seems to be more people paying high dollars for mugs. The market is on a steady climb. Averages are going up and highest bids are going up. But there are still "bargains" to be found.

In short Sabu, your best chance to get that money for that mug is to email the second highest bidder...

On 2005-04-11 12:20, Swanky wrote:
But there are still "bargains" to be found.

I recently scored an Outrigger mug for $20 on Ebay. Not bad considering they're going for triple that lately... And this one is in really good condition too.

-Z

Wait. Reading the auction again, I notice the seller says she has another of these mugs. It's likely she gave a second chance offer to the second highest bidder already!

Hay Tikiwahine, good luck, I'm searching the Vancouver area all the time for a Tiki Bob (amoung other things)... no luck yet though.

Went to Funhouser last weekend... AGAIN. I think I'm going to have to go to rehab.

:o My god! Someone else mentioned that you have the Frankoma junkies bidding up these things regardless of its tiki mana! But, by the sounds of the high bidder's handle he may be someone who thinks along the same lines as we do! That's good to see because these evil Frankoma collectors have got to be stopped!!! :wink:

Sabu does yours have glaze chips on the edges of the eye? I bid on that and lost out but the cat was cool enough to send a correction on the description and a good photo of where the chips were, not really worth more then 230 to me so I was happy to be out bid or else I would have bid the sky also. I am waiting for one with a crack so I can get a deal. I asked about the other t3 and the red t3s he said there was a museum on the verge of being opened in ok and he was going to donate those for display. Time will tell, though if I could get near a grand for a mug I probably would, the internet is as cheap a museum as you can get.

If you look at the auction again, you will see that the high bidder is now "Not a registered user." That account was active for less than 5 days before it got shut down. That user also bid on a Frankoma T-4 mug from the same seller, ending the same day and about 15 minutes earlier. They placed multiple bids on the T-4 and lost. The T-3 was a one shot snipe.

Was it all BS, who knows.

-T.J.

[i]
I've seen higher bids for mugs. It's not a record.

---

okay, i'll bite. what tiki mug has gone higher than this one? how much? when?

I must be the only person who is not really interested in the Frankoma T3. Well, not completely uninterested; I'd pay $20. Maybe $25.

Anyone else have a "Grail" mug that they just don't see what the hype is about?

Anyone rather spend their $5 at Taco Bell than on a thrift store Ren Clark?

-Z

On 2005-04-12 08:48, tikicleen wrote:

[i]
I've seen higher bids for mugs. It's not a record.

---

I don't have a picture here, but it was a bowl with tiki heads as feet. I'll see if I can find it. I think it went over a grand. What was it? $1400 or something?

okay, i'll bite. what tiki mug has gone higher than this one? how much? when?

So what's the deal with Frankoma? What else do they make that non-Tiki collectors are into? I know they also made coconut mugs, but how many Tiki mugs did they make?

And do all the rest beat my $30 mug-max?

Trader Woody

On 2005-04-11 10:57, Tikiwahine wrote:
And wouldn't it suck if a day later you found one at a thrift store or garage sale for $.50!

That's why I just can't spend $60 - $100 US on a tiki bob. I have this feeling that some day one will come to me some other way. Or maybe he'll just haunt my dreams forever :)

For me, the thrill is in the hunt. It is FAR more satisfying finding something in the "wild", so to speak, than spending a fortune to buy it on Ebay... and not just because you're getting a good deal finding at a flea market or thift store. Don't get me wrong, getting a good deal is great too. But the difference between finding it at a thrift store and buying on Ebay is is like the difference between catching a big fish yourself and having it mounted ... as opposed to buying a fish that is already been stuffed and mounted (which I have seen people do). What would be the fun of that?

With one exception ...

Finding a Hidden rare mug on Ebay for a few bucks is as much fun for me as finding one in the wild.

Sabu

Zombified, I'm with you on that... the Frankoma mug is cool because of its history but I wouldn't think of bidding on one. Don't get me wrong... if I found one at the Goodwill I'd snatch it up in a heartbeat but I also buy all the Orchids Leilanis I find. To each his own I guess...

On 2005-04-12 11:47, joefla70 wrote:

On 2005-04-11 10:57, Tikiwahine wrote:
And wouldn't it suck if a day later you found one at a thrift store or garage sale for $.50!

That's why I just can't spend $60 - $100 US on a tiki bob. I have this feeling that some day one will come to me some other way. Or maybe he'll just haunt my dreams forever :)

For me, the thrill is in the hunt. It is FAR more satisfying finding something in the "wild", so to speak, than spending a fortune to buy it on Ebay... and not just because you're getting a good deal finding at a flea market or thift store. Don't get me wrong, getting a good deal is great too. But the difference between finding it at a thrift store and buying on Ebay is is like the difference between catching a big fish yourself and having it mounted ... as opposed to buying a fish that is already been stuffed and mounted (which I have seen people do). What would be the fun of that?

This is true. But I like both. I am an avid hunter. I get out looking all the time. And I have people looking for me. It's a great thrill to find a mug, but most of the time, I find nothing.

But I also am very interested in certain items. I buy various items and watch others looking for a good deal or at least a reasonable one. Then, there are items I pay whatever it takes. If my Mai Kai collection was made up of what I found myself, it would be a few postcards.

Anyone with much of a collection at all knows that it is easy to get way more stuff than you can display at all. You have to be selective. And if you hunt stuff on Ebay, you get an idea of what it goes for and $50 can be a bargain. $100 can be a bargain.

If I do manage to find some of the stuff I paid big money for on Ebay at an antique store for $10, I will return one of them to Ebay and get my money back.

But let's put it this way. It's one thing to pass over a Leilani on the shelf for $10. It's easy to pass a TIki Bob on the shelf for $80 if you have one already. So, if you have a Suffering Bastard and you see one for $50 what do you do? What's your max? Does it matter if you know you can get $100 or more for it on Ebay? Would you pass it up? No, you'd invest $50 in it.

The day is coming when you will see tiki mugs on the antique store shelf for what they go for on Ebay. I've seen it already in Florida. The days of steals at $1-10 are going away.

On 2005-04-12 13:30, Swanky wrote:

$100 can be a bargain.
......... The days of steals at $1-10 are going away.

And somewhere along the line, the fun of collecting older Tiki mugs went away too. I remember when half the point of collecting these things was that they were the half-forgotton relics of a byegone age, of little value to anyone except a few with a strange combination of romance, humour and curiosity.

Trader Woody

[ Edited by: Trader Woody on 2005-04-13 01:35 ]

joefla70 wrote:
But the difference between finding it at a thrift store and buying on Ebay is is like the difference between catching a big fish yourself and having it mounted ... as opposed to buying a fish that is already been stuffed and mounted (which I have seen people do). What would be the fun of that?

Au contraire, Pierre! I've got to agree with Sabu that finding a hidden rare mug on ebay is as good, no...I'll say that it's even better, than finding one "in the wild." Let's face it, finding something rare in the wild is usually just due to luck. Getting a rarity for cheap on ebay takes skill, cunning and patience. It's quite a rush to wait days and days and then score the big find that no one else bid on.

Swanky wrote:
The day is coming when you will see tiki mugs on the antique store shelf for what they go for on Ebay. I've seen it already in Florida. The days of steals at $1-10 are going away.

Yeah, you're right, it's still a bit mixed up for now though. I was at an antique flea market yesterday and found a red parrot mug for $2 and about a half hour later I found a yellow parrot mug and the lady wanted $25!

When possible, I always try to let the high priced dealers know they're whacked. A favorite technique is to look completely shocked when you see or hear the price. Tell them, in a very friendly manner, how I have a couple hundred tiki mugs at home. Tell them all I know about their over priced mug, who made it, where it was used etc. Pick it up again and look it over thoroughly, set it down and tell them it was great to talk to them and "good luck!" I love doing that.

On 2005-04-12 15:40, Trader Woody wrote:
Now, it's becoming like a set of old grandmothers who've won the lottery all trying to outbid each other on silver spoons......

No kidding. That crap means nothing to me. Who can out spend who. If I know that I spent more money on a particular tiki mug than has ever been spent before, I would feel like a chump.

Ebay is funny. I've been getting pretty disgusted lately by the high prices that even more common tiki items have been going for and I begin to feel like giving up on ebay all together, and then I'll score a couple of sweet pieces for cheap. Sometimes they're even listed correctly but for some reason the stars align and you just get a great deal! Often there's no explaining it, an item you've been wanting just falls into your lap for well under what you were willing to pay for it.