Question Concerning Giving Up Collecting Tiki Mugs

Let me ask everyone a question...

I go back and forth as to whether I should sell my tiki mug collection or not.

Im on a bunch of tiki mug groups, right?

This is what the tiki world has become.

A. Tiki mug artists have figured out that can make a killing off collectors if they make the same mug with six different glazes and sell them at $100 a piece. This gets highly annoying.

B. Tiki mug scalpers will buy the mugs and turn around to sell them at 200% to 300% markup.

C. A lot of the bars no longer sell mugs off their websites because its such a pain in the ass to ship them. This means people will go to the bars, buy the a $30 mug and then resell it for $60 to $90... Three Dots and a Dash mugs are a prime example of this.

D. Youre starting to see the idiots ruin the scene with their bullshit political crap and thats REALLY getting old.

An example of this is how the hipsters sat there and literally whined about White nationalists using stupid tiki torches after the Charlottesville deal for three straight weeks.

I get absolutely zero pleasure out of buying mugs anymore because the hipsters have ruined the tiki scene and the tiki scalpers have ruined the fun of collecting tiki mugs, its just not fun anymore.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

You know I can make runs to a lot of these bars to load up on mugs, bring them home and jack up the price by 200%-300% too but you know what? I really think that doing that type of crap is just a real lowlife thing to do.

I really wish the tiki scalpers would go back to scalping Katy Perry and Ariana Grande tickets outside of stadiums, but theyre here to stay it seems.

Should I really just consider selling my collection and just stick to enjoying my own private tiki room?

What do you think?

I always follow the collect what you like and buy what you can afford rule. I'm mainly a vintage mug guy. 99.9% of my collection has been found in the wild at thrift stores, garage sales and flea markets. If I find a mug I like and the price is right I'm a happy guy, too high I pass it by. Good finds have been hard to score lately but the thrill of a great find never gets old. When the thrill is gone for me it may be time to hang it up but I don't see that happening for a long time. Just my two cents worth.

Don’t let the bastards get you down

I noticed the same trend. I jumped into the game with a mug from my business. I refuse to charge high prices. I was going full speed ahead collecting mugs as well. I slowed that habit way down because I refuse to pay crazy prices. If the price is too high then just appreciate it and move on. Reduced or lack of sales is feedback. Some will pay for what ever reason because everyone is different.
I say keep your collection if you're still into tiki and appreciate the mugs in your collection. Some are relics from times gone by.
Just my two cents, mahalo.

At my previous place of employment, when we finally got mugs, I set up an online shop for the exact reasons listed! I wanted to avoid people buying them just to resell later; and it worked! I only saw them pop up online once the current people in charge took down the web store. I wanted anyone to have access at a fair price.

Some time ago I had to move, tear down my tiki bar, and pack stuff away. When it came to all the tiki mugs, I had to seriously question why I had so many and did I really want them. In the end, I decided to keep only mugs to bars/restaurants I'd been to and sell the rest. And I don't buy every single mug a bar/restaurant offers -- I'm selective. Now I'm happier, have less clutter, and I have mugs that actually mean something to me because I have an actual connection.

Don't sell your stuff, I get fed up sometimes with some of the craziness that shows up sometimes with tiki, but I always find that enjoyment again over time, and im glad that i did not sell off my own collection. Try to remember what made you get into tiki, and focus on that, and the nazi shit will pass, those guys just went into there local hardware store, and bought the first thing they saw, why because it doesn't take to much imagination to be a nazi.

I don’t follow. You don’t sound like you want to give up tiki completely. If you don’t get enjoyment from buying and collecting mugs anymore, why would it necessitate selling off what you’ve already collected? If it were me, I’d just stop buying mugs but continue to enjoy my current collection in my home tiki space for awhile. Or maybe this is a chance to look at what you’ve got and sell off some mugs you don’t really care for anymore, especially if specific pieces bring to your mind the negative stuff you’ve mentioned.

"I get absolutely zero pleasure out of buying mugs anymore because the hipsters have ruined the tiki scene and the tiki scalpers have ruined the fun of collecting tiki mugs, its just not fun anymore."

There is your answer, if you have no fun in it don't do it.
But, for me there are very few new tiki mugs that I want.
Mostly it's the old ones that I look for, like ones from restaurants.

But you never see those at a very good price so the thing that got me to quit collecting was the few EBay fat cats that could and did buy every cool mug that popped up.

"You know I can make runs to a lot of these bars to load up on mugs, bring them home and jack up the price by 200%-300% too but you know what? I really think that doing that type of crap is just a real lowlife thing to do."

I see it this way, I have been burnt on some tiki stuff, got some deals, and paid way too much for a thing I really liked.
And in the past I have sold tiki and done really well, so for me the times I sold and made good money on tiki offset the times I got burned or paid too much.

Heck I even give away lots o tiki each year.

I had a chance to buy EVERY table lamp at the last Kahiki auction for $40.00 bucks each!But I saw like ten other people who wanted that lamp so I did not buy them all so they too could buy one.

WELL years later I saw one or more of the people who I did not keep from buying that lamp sell the one they got for big bucks.
AND he's seen as a great guy and I'm a di$k for hording Kahiki stuff and being a profiteer.

So what a waste! I should have grabbed them all and cashed in myself.
PS I still have the two I got 17 years later.

Man do what's fun.

I too am thinking about selling my tiki stuff mostly because I get more fun from old Halloween stuff.

And I got too much.

Skip- any lamps you have that you don’t want can be sent to me in New Hampshire!

Yeah that is another problem the shipping is nutz!

I just sent a lamp shade to Oregon and that was over $60.00 bucks in ship costs.
Sorry USPS that's too much.

At least the Kahiki table lamps are smallish.

On 2017-09-30 18:12, tikiskip wrote:
I just sent a lamp shade to Oregon and that was over $60.00 bucks in ship costs.
Sorry USPS that's too much.

Where in Oregon? For whom? (Who? Whom? Hmm.) Was it for an Amy?

Sorry for getting off topic.

For me, up here in the Great White North, it's not even the scalper prices that get me down. It's the shipping! In most cases, that alone doubles the price of a mug. Then there's the poor exchange rate right now, then the scalping...

Therefore I generally don't buy Tiki mugs online. I've also gotten more selective about what I do buy when one surfaces around here. I'm well past the "buy everything" stage and have been trying to curate my collection better. Mainly, I'm sticking to ones I really like aesthetically, or souvenirs of places I actually go to, and nothing at an exorbitant price I can't possibly justify. It does mean missing out on ones I'd totally buy if I had the chance (Three Dots and a Dash's sea urchin mug springs to mind) or that are priced too high for me to afford (I topped out at $100CAN for an Armada Geddon), but it won't make or break my quality of life.

I can't speak to the bar scene, since there isn't a Tiki bar scene around these parts. I'm just happy when my travels happen to take me near one. My wife and I are looking to go to Japan in the next year or two for her first trip and my second... The first time I went, Tiki wasn't really on the radar. Now you better believe I'm making plans for the Trader Vic's, just because it's there in Tokyo. Then my online scene is literally this place and the clandestine group of Canadian Tikiphiles on Facebook. I guess if there was a scene and the personalities that go with it you might have more of a political situation on your hands, but I found that even with the Goth scene it was only as political as you let it get.

"Was it for an Amy?"

No not Amy.

"it's not even the scalper prices that get me down. It's the shipping!"
Shipping to Canada sucks!
It's like you worry about it ever getting there, Damn I have got stuff from CHINA that cost less in shipping than Canada.

Plus the only person to burn me on eBay was from Canada, I think it was Terrance or maybe Philip.

The Three Dots and a Dash's seahorse mug is way cool but that one used to be like $40.00 bucks but someone started selling it on eBay and Three Dots and a Dash saw this and it's way more now.

But hey get it how you can if you don't do it some other guy will.

I have never done the buy a new mug from any tiki joint and sell it thing, but hey if you want it buy it or don't.

You can also try what I did, and only get mugs from the tiki bars you visit. For me it makes them more special, because you have the memories of the good time connected to them.

Seems like you answered your own question...if you don't enjoy buying mugs anymore, don't. And if you don't enjoy your collection, sell it. Move on and find something that brightens your day. Or stash it all, and maybe you will one day rekindle your interest in it.

Personally, I'm still new to the mug thing, but I've already decided that I can't afford most of the ones I would like. So, I'll just look for deals and pick them up if they meet both my aesthetic and my budget.

Interesting topic. Thank you, fraterscire, for bringing it up.

It brings to mind something I heard King Kukulele say about his mug collection (and I paraphrase): "I only have a few [mugs] that have a special meaning for me."

When I view my collection through that filter, I can clearly see that I have some mugs that rightfully belong on someone else's shelf.

Cool.

I enjoy the relatively small number of mugs I have in my Tiki room. Frankly I don't have the room , motivation or money to acquire more. I enjoy seeing Tiki collectors who have all the variations of those mugs they like to collect, as well as people like myself. Whatever YOUR Tiki pleasure go for IT. (-:

it does get pretty overwhelming with all the new and collector focused designs and glazes that come out - i've pretty much given up on a lot of the new stuff - occasionally i will get with someone on here and trade a mug from our local tiki bar with one from theirs, or paypal someone in the area money to pick me up one from 3 dots for example, but i've gotten to where my collecting is the joy of the hunt at the vintage / flea markets (especially when it's a rarer mug) - i make sure that wherever i travel now, i map out the locations of those stores just so i can do a hunt, it's fun, cheap enjoyment that takes me out of the tourist-y areas of the cities i visit

New mugs don't do much for me. I'll pay $20-$30 if I like the design, but I mostly thrift. Pickings are slim, but if I find one good one a year, that's ok by me.

I'm with ZombieZach89. Lately, I only buy mugs from places I visit and since I haven't been outside NJ lately that means I've bought none in several years. Although I'd love to buy other tiki treasures I haven't bought much in general lately because I haven't hit the lottery!

So I'd say Keep what you like, sell anything you don't love anymore and try not to let the other shit bother you. Which I know, is WAY easier said than done.

I've seen a lot of people with shelves and shelves of mugs, but no tiki beyond that - especially on some of the Facebook groups. For me personally, shelves of mugs doesn't fit in with my budget or decorating style.

I only grab the few that I will drink out of, have special meaning (ie I went there myself), and I also have a small shelf devoted to old local tiki bars. This keeps me from having a wall of mugs, and from spending thousands upon thousands collecting.