Just bumping up this relatively old post. Not so old in years, but perhaps a simpler (and certainly cheaper) time when a full set of Shag mugs was a real wallet-hammerer at $150.

Since then, I've stuck to my $30 limit apart from the first Gecko mug, which cost $35 (I think).

Trader Woody

Where I live, tiki doesn't exist in the wild, so I don't have access to $0.59 tiki mugs at Goodwill and thrift stores...with the exception of a Trader Vics coconut mug I found once for $1.00. 99% of the mugs I buy are from Ebay or Tiki Farm.

Funny though, the most I ever paid for a mug was also $30.00! A couple of years ago I was dying for a vintage Mr. Bali Hai and paid $30 for it.

My limit is $10.00, but I too went over my limit once for a Mr. Bali Hai ($20.00)

99cents the cheapest and $179.00 the most expensive....

For vintage, I would say $30 is my max. But now all these limited edition Shag mugs that have come out... break out my extra kidney!

tj

The most i ever payed for a mug was my soul (slightly used...).

I ususally stay in the $15-$30 range, buying new mugs. I have paid $60-$80 for some things I really wanted off of ebay.

And then there were the 40th anniversary Enchanted Tiki Room mugs. But hey, they were Disney. And Shag. Ended up ebay'ing them for $120 for the totem and $130 for the goblet.

Anybody have a pic of this "tree tiki" mentioned in this thread?

Ahu

So is this Auction on eBay a carry on from this thread?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=29460&item=3973587450&rd=1

The $30 tiki... Or is it a girlfriend trying to thin out the heard?

I know I have paid $1, maybe less for mugs. My max was around $200 or was it $300? I don't recall. I just know two "musts" came along together. One was a perfect Mai Kai decanter with the cork, label, rum inside and the hang tag. And then came along the drum mug. In those two, I spent too much!

My average keeps creeping up, but I would say it's under $20 at this point. Regular $2-$10 mugs, but also regular $20-$50 mugs.

I'm with Philot. I've been buying the higher and higher price mugs as I get more and more into the tiki world and actually better mugs are being made all the time. The mug makers seem to be toppong their last mug.
A lot of peple here like vintage but I'm wasn't around when some of these mugs were even created. I bet some of the vintage mugs were free with a drink, back in the day so actually paying any amount for them is paying too much. (don't get mad at me, I do understand all about the appeal) but the new mugs that are sold for 20.00 are worth the price if you like them cause that is the price that they are. They were never cheaper and you know that you aren't paying 8.00 for a 1.00 mug cause that is an 800% increase. This is a good piont for the mug selling companys.
On the other hand, is a mug really worth 30.00? I mean , if you like it, yes but stores like can sell a non-tiki mug of the same qualtiy and finish for 3.00 dollars. And 3.00 dollar may be the highest price someone is willing to pay. Just a thought. So I just that I am head-over-crazy for the tiki too.

On 2005-05-09 11:59, teaKEY wrote:
I'm with Philot. I've been buying the higher and higher price mugs as I get more and more into the tiki world and actually better mugs are being made all the time. The mug makers seem to be toppong their last mug.
A lot of peple here like vintage but I'm wasn't around when some of these mugs were even created. I bet some of the vintage mugs were free with a drink, back in the day so actually paying any amount for them is paying too much. (don't get mad at me, I do understand all about the appeal) but the new mugs that are sold for 20.00 are worth the price if you like them cause that is the price that they are. They were never cheaper and you know that you aren't paying 8.00 for a 1.00 mug cause that is an 800% increase. This is a good piont for the mug selling companys.
On the other hand, is a mug really worth 30.00? I mean , if you like it, yes but stores like can sell a non-tiki mug of the same qualtiy and finish for 3.00 dollars. And 3.00 dollar may be the highest price someone is willing to pay. Just a thought. So I just that I am head-over-crazy for the tiki too.

I am a vintage collector. The new mugs have no interest for me for a few reasons. Number one, they have no history. They are made by an artist as a collectible. The vintage mugs were made by an artist to be drunk out of at a tiki bar. The new mugs may never have a drink served in them. The vintage mugs may have had hundreds of drinks served in them. Modern mugs have no place. Vintage mugs often can be traced to a restaurant that used them. New mugs are bought in retail stores and vintage mugs must be found in antique or thrift stores or on Ebay. They are out "in the wild" adrift at sea waiting to wash up on some shore where us collectors will find them. "How did this Bali H'ai get to Tennessee?" A story. A history. A depth.

As for value, I find more value in a vintage mug than a new mug too. The new mug has an artificial value due to the popularity of it's artist maker. The cost of making it makes it cost a certain amount, but it's long term value depends on who is out there looking for a Munktiki. A vintage mug has a value more based on scarity. A leilani can be had for 50 cents. That's pretty close to the free mug you talk about coming with your drink. And you can get those dollar mugs. But the high price mugs are only going to get more valuable. There are only a certian number out there and no one knows how many or when another one will appear.

When I know I can buy a mug at the store any time I want, I have little interest in ever buying it. Even if it's a limited edition. I have to really want it. When I see a vintage mug at the antique store, I know this is likely the only time I will ever see that mug (unless it's those darned common ones...) and I have to buy it before it slips away...

I can make a drink in my vinatge mug and connect with the past.

A lot of collectibles were things given away. Part of the value lies in that it was disposable and survives. That's also why, for many years, antiques dealers just threw them away, and may still do so...

Swanky thanks for going into the (Vintage-I do understand all about the appeal).

New mugs are the vintage of the future. :drink:

$155.00

Swanky I agree with you 100% and Johntiki thanks for spending more than $40.00. I was begining to wonder if I was the only one on TC spending more than $40.00. I dont need to own every vintage tiki mug ever created but I like to own a few particular ones when they come along.QAnd it is great having them....

$155 was my max bid on a Steve Crane handled Ku - I actually was hoping I was gonna get outbid but I ended up getting it and since it was a mug that I really wanted I figured it was probably money well spent... I've yet to see one at a thrift store for $.50 and it would probably be best not to hold my breath waiting for one! :)

So far, only $15 but I haven't been actively collecting that long. There are some mugs that I would definitely pay up to $50 for though.

A new hand painted Gecko Tangaroa, which is one serious piece of artwork IMO, has been the most I've ever spent on a mug. I really love the mugs produced by TC artists. I wish I could afford to buy each and every one produced! Both for my love of the art, and to show my support.

I love both the old and the new, but the new ones tend to be easier to acquire on a whim up here. And I have a lot of whims.

I love the old with a passion, and hunt almost every day for them.

I've only spent up to about $10 on vintage so far(only because I keep loosing e-bay auctions, or I just plain can't afford them!)

I ran into this old topic and was wondering if everyone thinks the 30.00 mark still holds. Most of my collection have been yard sales second hand stores and swap meets 10.00 or less, but I just jumped the shark and paid 85.00 for a Tiki Mag mug on ebay. Must be the meds mixed with a couple of cold ones. I do not feel to bad I just saw a otto's shrunken head mug ( just went on sale at their web site for 20.00) sell for about 70 bucks on ebay.

I checked my statistics on Ooga Mooga, and the most I've ever paid for a mug was $90 for the TC Ohana Hut.

I used to have a $10 limit. I remember imposing this limit on myself because when I first started reading Tiki News, Otto had written a piece on how we could all keep the prices on mugs low by refusing to pay more than $10. It seemed like sound logic at the time. Granted that was back in the days when you could often win an ebay auction with a bid of $9.99. Those were the days...

It seems like the price of mugs just keep going up. It seems like the event mugs of a couple years ago are less expensive then the event mugs of today by the same companies. Maybe its the gas prices fault.

$30??? I wish! It is hard to get a new mug for that now a days much less a vintage mug. I've spent way too much, lets just leave it at that!

[ Edited by: atomicchick 2007-02-13 10:29 ]

I used to have a limit for myself but with the rising cost of tiki mugs I've kinda let that slide. I try to hunt them down in vintage/antique stores but the pickings are pretty slim anymore. I think my 1st big purchase that sent me on this slippery slope was the Voodoo mug by Gecko at Hukilau 2005. From there I think the most I've paid is around $150 and I try not to do that very often. It's an awesome feeling when you find one for a couple of bucks though.

The most I ever paid for one mug was about $120. Currently, I wish I had more money to spend on Gecko's custom Tiki bowls. They are worth every penny.........

At some point, at least for me, collecting turns from a hobby to an art form. Finding, displaying, and caring for these items can be fun, relaxing and educational. In turn I use some of the objects in my drawings and they become a valuable resource. Some day my son will inherit my collection of South Seas Art and that makes me smile.

As I tell my wife, there is always room for one more Tiki no matter what the cost........right?

Peace

I just don't get that adrenaline rush from opening up a priority mail box of an $80 mug that I get from seeing one peering at me at a yard sale or thrift store and having the seller (at a yard sale) tell me she saved that from her honeymoon 40 years ago. It's probably me but most of my hobbies have celebrated the bottom feeder and in the last decade tiki mugs have become valuable collectibles, I'm still in shock.

I forget what I paid for my Shecky, but I think it was in the $220 range,, with the Ohana Hut a distant second place. Beyond that I have a few 35-40 dollar Munktiki items, and a whole bunch of cheaper stuff (including about 250 mugs from Dynasty Wholesale).

I think my limit still holds: $26 (for a SHAG, 2nd series, bought new off the shelf at a store in Venice Beach).
That's still my arbitrary limit, vintage or modern. And if it's on eBay, it would have to include the shipping.

I just can't bring myself to pay major bucks for a drinking cup. Mind you, I have manymanymany drinking cups, so I've spent a boatload of money. But every one could be sold on eBay today for twice what I paid - up to 50X what I paid.

If all the beautiful Munktikis, Geckos, Tiki Farms, etc. were $20, I'd probably buy them all!

And if I were to find a Steve Crane bloody head, I'd be whipping out the checkbook for up to $500 - and selling it on eBay. But I'd hope it were cheaper so I could keep it myself :wink:

I'll buy other tiki things for more: lamps, furniture, artwork (not to say that many of these mugs, like the Ohana Hut, aren't art). But mugs - I'm a cheapskate. And a teacher. We don't make enough for expensive toys.

The norm: $20 for very special, maybe up to $12 for average. I've paid under a dollah only 3 times in my tiki-buying life (you Californians SUCK!), but I find rare ones for $8.00. So I ain't complainin'.

And you big spenders, enjoy your mugs! They're beautiful things with history. Fear me in the wild, but not on eBay :wink:
F

On 2006-10-26 14:32, Formikahini wrote:
And if I were to find a Steve Crane bloody head, I'd be whipping out the checkbook for up to $500 - and selling it on eBay. But I'd hope it were cheaper so I could keep it myself :wink:

It's wild reading this thread and how little people were paying for mugs in 2002 and now it seems the sky's the limit! :D

I actually saw a REAL SCA BLOODY HEAD sell on ebay and it was, to date, the MOST EXPENSIVE mug I have ever seen sell on ebay at OVER $1000!
Oddly enough the GECKO/Wendy tribute version called the BLOODY MAORI HEAD sold for nearly $800 for the First Edition One off Glaze.....Now you can buy one on GECKO's ebay page for $500! :o

I guess like all art, (see the thread about the SHAG print...I still don't understand why people pay such crazy money for that but hey, that's just me!), it's a matter of supply and demand and MOST IMPORTANTLY personal taste!

The other thing is the LEVEL of art that the mugs have become!
On the higher end most people never even drink from their MUGS!
I only have a handful left that I would even consider drinking from!

Oh yea, MY MOST EXPENSIVE? $400 for a GECKO piece....the ones that I am always willing to spend the most on! I have Nearly 30 GECKO's now!

What DO I drink out of.....mostly Tiki Farm....there are collectors but there are so many cool, inexpensive and most importantly USEABLE MUGS! :drink:

well, dont bite my head off. but a good friend of mine once told me...art is 10% talent and 90% bullshit. and it made sense to me. the most I paid was $40 for a hoffman kahiki headhunter. a friend had it and I wanted it so bad, I was willing to pay alot more. yes I started earlier on and got alot for $1. it's all about history for me. if someone did'nt drink from it in some kinda restaurant/lounge, I don't want it(now thats just me). I just started redoing my lounge, and they are causing me some stress, trying to find places for them.(no I wont sell them). I dont want my space to be dominated by tiki mugs.hmmmmmmmm. what to do? anyway, the most is $40. and that will stay the most.

Kinda new to TC but have been collecting for a few years. Out of a hundread or so mugs the most I paid was 35$. The best was a Mauna Loa bamboo with bird handle for eight bucks. Found it in the wild marked bamboo vase. Still good hunting in my area. For Now.

I've spent a little over $50 (for a mug)...$150 for a shag decanter. But I think my limit is usually about $30...unless its a LE of 25 or 100...then its a whole different ball game.

137.00 But it was the Beauty & the Beast hula girl in the Tiki's mouth mug. It was a must have. (Oh the shame) Spent 87.00 on the Voodoo Grog. Found alot in the wild for far less than what some folks are dropping on these now.

Mahalo

McTiki

At this point, most expensive, $45.00+, average is $10.-25., all are used (I mean that I USE them, not just display them), pricier than stuff from IKEA, but also more interesting...

[ Edited by: thistle 2006-11-27 17:08 ]