British Tea and Coffe Cups 1745-1940

British Tea and Coffee Cups, 1745-1940
(Shire Library)

click image for info @Amazon.com

Product Description - Tea and coffee cups have been made in Britain since the middle of the eighteenth century and can be found in a vast array of decorative designs, reflecting the changing fashions of society as well as the advances made in the manufacturing process. This book charts the development of tea and coffee cups over 200 years, providing information on the methods of decoration, influential factories and designers. Steven Goss guides the reader on how to identify the dates of particular patterns, as well as listing a number of museums and auction houses where these ornamental cups can be discovered.

About the Author - Steven Goss has been involved in the antiques trade for more than twenty-five years, as a full-time professional dealer, specialist consultant to a leading provincial auction house, writer and collector. Educated at a special school for the physically disabled, his interest in antiques is diverse and includes early glass and silver, but eighteenth-century English blue and white porcelain is the main focus of his attention. He is an enthusiastic collector of tea wares.

Where to Find Collectible Mugs!

I am often asked where to find collectible mugs and cups.

Because mugs are such a popular collectible item they can be found everywhere. But one of the factors of where you should look for collectible mugs depends on what kind of mugs you are looking for.

For the benefit of this post I will refer to the following general types of mugs;

• 1. Brand New Collectible mugs - Brand new mugs can be bought directly from the manufactures, from retailers and online.
  
• 2. Vintage Mugs - Vintage mugs are a bit harder to find, garage sales, thrift stores, auctions, estate sales, online and other places where collectibles are sold.
  
• 3. Used collectible mugs - Used collectibles are also harder to find, and can be found at the same places that vintage mugs are found.

With brand new mugs, it is best to shop at your local retailers and other places that new mugs are sold. It is really just a matter of shopping. If you live in a city where a sports team or that is home base for one of the types of mugs that you collect, then you maybe able to buy them directly from the team or from a local manufacturer.

Depending on the region of the country that you live in you may have an easier time finding certain kinds of mugs and cups. And based on that you may want to start collecting a type of mug that is easy for you to find.

For example, I live in San Diego, California. San Diego is the home of the Navy's Pacific Fleet. And what is more it has been since world war II. So what this means is that I have a pretty good chance of finding collectible Navy mugs all over the city. Many naval personal and many ships and units of the Navy are stationed here, so I can actually go to a ship homeported here and buy a mug there.

There are also many Navy and retired Navy people that live in San Diego, so that means that I often can find vintage Navy mugs at thrift stores and other places listed above.

List of places to buy collectible mugs.

Yard and Garage Sales
Estate sales
Craig's List for your Area
eBay
Amazon.com
Direct from manufacturers
From Sports Teams
From Gift Shops
From Local Retail Stores (WalMart etc.)

Mike Mignola on Hellboy Coffe Cups.

"My focus is very narrow; it's primarily on the comics. I don't want to be a guy sitting at a desk spending whole days designing Hellboy coffee cups. Even though I did, but it didn't take that long." —Hellboy creator Mike Mignola