For Sale: Tiki Bob's San Francisco Mug

Hello Tiki Freakies,

I've never been a tiki collector, just a garage sale junkie, and recently I came across this little gem. I would like to sell it to someone who might appreciate it, and I thought I would offer it here before I put it up on ebay.

I've been searching the Internet and lurking around here on tikicentral and ooga-mooga for a few days trying to educate myself on the value of this mug. I realize there are a lot of knock-offs out there but I believe this is the "real deal" original Tiki Bob's mug for a couple of reasons. #1. I bought it at a garage sale from an elderly lady who said she had gotten it on vacation. #2. The bottom of the mug says imported by tiki bob and had the "Japan" sticker still affixed. If you'd like to offer your expert opinion on the authenticity of this mug I would love to hear from you.

The condition of the mug is what I would rate as very good. The only flaw I can find is that the lettering appears to be slightly smuged/smeared into the glaze on the mug. Otherwise there are no chips, cracks dings, dips or doodles to be found. I thought it was especially nice that the "Japan" sticker was still on the bottom after all of these years.

I'm not exactly sure of how to proceed with the selling of this mug. The average price on ooga-mooga is $101 dollars but the prices listed go as high as $225. Seeing as how I'm in grad school and my wife and I are expecting a baby in May I'd like to get as much as I can without being too greedy. I guess for now I'll leave this post up for you examination and I will entertain reasonable offers.

I've always want a Tiki Bob, ever since I saw it for the first time a long time ago. The only flaw i see as well looks like the smeared lettering. That would probably bring the price down a few dollars. If it's over 100$ that's a little over my budget. Good luck finding a buyer!!

There are a few other things to remember--
The date on which some of the high prices occurred. The $200+ selling price on Ebay was over a year ago, and hasn't hit that high since. Also keep in mind that there are a few varieties of tiki bob mugs, so the one that sold for over $200 may not have been similar to the one you're selling. Or maybe it was just in really good condition. Anyway, here's the most recent set of prices, copied off Ooga-Mooga:
2007-04-06 $76.62 eBay
2007-02-20 $76.00 eBay
2007-02-14 $106.05 eBay
2007-02-11 $80.00 eBay
2007-02-07 $80.00 eBay
2007-02-03 $28.72 Other
2007-01-10 $102.50 eBay

These are all from this year. The really high prices mostly occurred more than one year ago. Chances are the times when it hits over $100 is when you've got a bidding war right at the end. I wouldn't accept less than $75 for one, but based on the current trend, I don't think you'd have much reason to expect over $100.
In my opinion, the demand for these has dropped. The people willing to pay over $100 for a tiki bob already have one, and those that aren't willing to pay the price have been without, and are probably content to be so, at least while the price remains high.

I would add that the "$28.72" is a conversion of the $40NZ I paid for one here in New Zealand (I actually got a pair each at that price) that was posted on Ooga-Mooga, and isn't really representative of the going rate.

thanks for the input everyone!

I understand the reasoning about the ebay auctions and I had originally noticed the same trend of the mugs that have sold this year being at an average price of around $80. I wonder though if any of those were the "white label" tiki bob's mug from the San Francisco restaurant or if they were the newer "lei label"? Perhaps the mug that sold for over $200 was the only "white label" that's come up for sale in the past couple of years, maybe the lower priced mugs were the knock offs or from one of the other cities? I don't really know, I'm just speculating. I would love to hear more thoughts from everyone as I feel like you are the experts in this type of thing. Maybe some of the people who bought mugs on ebay are on here and they can explain what they got and how much they paid.