Starter guide
Collect mugs that mean something, a few dollars at a time.
Open your kitchen cabinet: the mugs you reach for first are already the start of a collection. Mug collecting is picking a theme (places you have been, one glass or pottery maker, old diner china, tiki bars, a potter whose work you like) and hunting for mugs that fit it in thrift stores, flea markets, gift shops and craft fairs. It is about the cheapest thing you can collect, since most thrift-store mugs cost $1 to $5, and one of the few collections you can drink from every morning. A mug also carries its own label: the stamp on the base usually names the maker, and often the country and the decade.
A typical outing is an hour or two working through the housewares shelves of a few thrift stores or a flea market, turning mugs over to read the base. At home you wash the find, look it up, and decide whether it earns a spot. Collectors who stick with it pick a theme early, because mugs in general are endless and a shelf of unrelated ones looks like a cabinet with the door off. Twelve mugs that share a place or a maker read as a collection, and once the shelf is full each new one has to beat the weakest mug already on it.
Start here
Pull out every mug you own that came from a trip and line them up by place. Put a slip of paper with the place and year inside each one, then set your rule for adding more (one per trip, one per state).
Start here
Look up the mug for your own city in a collector catalog and note which series it belongs to. Then check your local store for the current series and thrift stores for the older ones.
Start here
Read up on the base marks and colors before you shop. Then check the glassware shelf at two thrift stores for white or pale green mugs with a raised mark on the base.
Start here
Search a mug catalog for a tiki bar near you, or one you have visited, and see what it has issued. Going to the bar is the usual way to buy its current mug at the original price.
Start here
Find the next craft fair or studio sale near you and go with a budget for one mug. Pick each one up to see how the handle fits your hand, and ask the potter whether the glaze is food safe and dishwasher safe.
Open a direction to see its first step. All five use the same kit.
Background reading before you shop for milk glass
Nine steps, the first one free
The rim
Run a fingertip all the way around, inside and out. Small chips (collectors call them flea bites) are the most common damage and are easier to feel than to see.
The handle
Look at both joins under good light for a hairline or a shiny seam of glue, then hold the mug by the handle and press gently. A repaired handle makes a mug display only.
Cracks
Hold the mug by the base and tap the rim with a fingernail. A sound mug rings and a cracked one gives a dull click. Hold glass mugs up to a light to see lines inside the wall.
The decoration
Compare the print with a photo of a clean example on your phone. Dishwashers fade colors and leave gold trim patchy, and that wear is permanent.
The inside
Brown stain and gray lines left by spoons scrub out. A web of fine cracks in the glaze with brown in the lines (crazing) does not.
The base
Read every word and number. A maker's name, a country and a pattern or date code are what let you look the mug up later.
Before you drink from an old mug
The quickest teachers are collector-run catalogs: sites where every known mug in a series is photographed, named and dated, so you can identify what you found and see what you are missing. For anything with a maker's mark, a general antiques marks dictionary will place the pottery and the date range. In person, flea market and antique mall dealers who sell kitchenware know which mugs sell and which sit. Ask while you are buying something and most will tell you.
The first line is the mug itself, which you find in person for a few dollars. The rack moves the collection out of the cabinet and onto a wall, where you can see all of it at once. The cleanser is the one supply you will use on nearly every thrift find. The swabs are a screening tool for mugs you want to drink from, and the risers can wait until a shelf is full enough to need a second row.
The first line is your first mug, which you find in person and do not buy online. For the rest, compare the options on each line, then set your tiers and check out from the rack. Clicking a card selects it there. The wall rack and the cleanser start in the kit. The lead test swabs and display risers are there for later.
A collection starts with one mug you have turned over and checked yourself. Handling it teaches weight, glaze and base marks faster than any photo.
Not sold on Amazon
Not sold on Amazon. Look in thrift stores, flea markets, estate sales and antique malls, or at a craft fair if you collect handmade mugs. Most thrift-store mugs run $1 to $5 and common vintage ones $5 to $25.
Mugs kept in a cabinet get stacked, chipped and forgotten. A wall rack shows every mug at once and gives each one its own hook.
Dahey Mug Rack Wall Mounted Metal Coffee Cup Holder with 12 Hooks, 3 Pack
4.8(519)
$11.99
Huxitocan Wall Mount Coffee Mug Holder - Rustic Wood and Iron, Holds Up to 24 Mugs (3Pack) for Kitchen, Home, Coffee Bar
4.7(620)
$29.99
Wall Mounted Coffee Mug Rack - Large Rustic Black Iron Steel Kitchen Rack with 6 Rows - Storage for 27 Cups - Jar & Plate Holder - Vertical Display Organizer - Farmhouse Home Décor - Claimed Corner
4.7(1.4K)
$69.99
Count hooks against the number of mugs you planned for. Screw the rack into a stud or use wall anchors: twelve full-size mugs weigh 10 pounds or more.
Nearly every secondhand mug comes with brown stains or gray spoon marks inside. A mild abrasive takes both off glazed ceramic in a minute, which dish soap will not.
BON AMI Powder Cleanser for Kitchens & Bathrooms - All Types of Surfaces, Cleans Grime & Dirt, Polishes Surfaces, Absorbs Odors (Single 1 Pack)
4.7(10K)
$6.99
Apply it with a soft sponge, never steel wool, and rinse well before the mug goes back into use.
Old glazes and decorations can contain lead. A swab rubbed on the inside and the lip changes color when a mug is shedding it, which tells you that mug belongs on the shelf.
AssuTest Lead Test swabs Kit - 30 PCS Lead Paint Test Kit for Home Use, Lead Tester for Dishes Ceramics Toys Metal Wood Jewelry House Furniture Instant Lead Detection in 30 Seconds
4.1(275)
$4.99
AAwipes Lead Test Swab Kit (60 Rapid Home Testing Swabs) 30-Second Results. Dip in Water. Home Use for - Painted, Jewelry, Ceramics, Wood (LS60)
4.2(862)
$9.38
NewPos Lead Test Kit: 30 Swabs Upgraded Formulated Lead Paint Test Kit
4.3(359)
$9.99
A screening tool, not a lab test. A color change means stop drinking from the mug, but a clean swab does not prove it is lead free: fired glazes can hold lead that a swab misses.
Once a shelf holds two rows, the back row disappears behind the front one. A riser lifts it so every mug shows.
Anglelife 8 Pcs 2 Set Acrylic Display Risers, Acrylic Stands for Display
4.5(2.6K)
$17.99
NIUBEE Acrylic Display Risers stands, Display shelf for Cupcakes ,12" 6 PCS
4.8(288)
$24.77
Check the depth before you buy: a mug needs a step about 4 inches deep to sit safely.
