Printable View
New to wet shaving here the real way. I did a search and did not find much on antique mugs. Any collectors out there who can give me some advice? I have several antique channels that can help me but I don't know where to start. I see them all the time but outside of personal preference can someone help to tell me what to look for. I would love to bring some of these to the SRP community.
Lynn's DVD actually covers some of your questions. I am sure someone on this board collects them...
Any mug that will hold my brand of soap is a good mug!
Got a coffee mug? Works for me.................
Like nun2sharp said, any old mug that is large enough to hold a soap.
most people don't need to look further than their own kitchen.
Or ask old relatives.
The US may be different, but UK style antique china shaving mugs are not very practical. I have a few that look nice on the display shelf (lid of the lavatory cistern). My preference is an oversize coffee cup bought in a sale for 75 pence.
Yeah I have to laugh because after I posted this I did a lot more research and come to find out most of these things are for girly men.....lol. Very elaborate and detailed. It is a whole other world. This does not peak my interest. A cool mug will work for me.
Girly scuttles are quite nice, too:
Attachment 89563
just a big coffe mug will do, i was fourniate enough to have 2 great grandparents that had some friends that had some of the stuff i needed like mug and brush
For practicality, any mug that your soap fits in work.
collectable? I don't know. Something with penguins on it?
If you want to collect mugs that are also useful, look into occupational mugs. These were the mugs that people kept at the barbershop and were painted with just their name or a portrait of their occupation. Be prepared to spend a lot of money collecting these.
If you have some near you, check out "flea markets" you'd be surpised what shows up. Also, stop at gargae sales or estate sales.
Antique shops too. You'll find many times, someone has "beat you too it".
Personally, I use an ugly hand-made pottery mug that is perfect for building lather. Antique shops can be a great resource. Luckily, the AD to collect shaving mugs has not bitten me and I can not tell you how many mugs I have passed up at antique shops as I'm too busy looking for razors or stones.
Here are some sites that may help you get started.
Have fun.
The Shaving Mug Review: Occupational Shaving Mugs: Boxers
Barber Shop Memorabilia
Amazon.com: The Best of Shaving Mugs (A Schiffer Book for Collectors) (9780764312359): Keith Estep: Books
Attachment 89602
I'll take a better pic of the 2 I use but will give You a idea... I mainly use the small mug in the back ground for lather and the big one to hold warm water to keep the lather nice and warm. So times I'll use the Big one like I did Today, but the lather wasn't as warm as it would have been if I had the big as the heater and the small one for lather..
Save an 'AD' and get a scuttle. Ones enough. More money for razors that way!
I really like mugs from Seaforth (no longer in business). They were an Old Spice/drugstore type of product from the late 30's/early 40's, and they had the coolest stoneware (and later milk glass) mugs and jugs for other grooming lotions etc. The opening is a bit smallish, but i really like the heft of them. I even got a magazine ad to match the set I won (with unused soap in the mug) and put up in the shave den.
eBay: seaforth shave
I am using a rice bowl. It has a great shape, good size and it's cheap. ($5 or less) There is a really nice Asian market near where I live and they have an isle full. Many are made out of porcelain or bone china.
Almost anything will work, but an authentic antique barber shop mug certainly is a nice way to store your soap. When I started collecting pre-ebay, they were almost impossible to turn up, and even the basic mugs with just an owners name in gold were typically very expensive. Yes, occupational mugs are cool, but if you're only looking to spend, say, $25.00, you can pick up a nice floral with a name on ebay. Look at lots of the mugs and you'll learn to recognize the pattern and shape of the old mugs, which was basically the same, with the owner's name in large letters. The mugs that say "Policeman", "Lawyer" and such, are not authentic occupational mugs. A real occupational mug will have an image depicting a trade or trade related object, and the owners name. But again, occupational mugs are usually expensive, and a basic named mug can often be more attractive, and certainly just as useful.
THE SHAVING MUG | The Antique Barber
I have been collecting mugs for years and using them. I have found the best ones for using are not too tall, have a bottom the aprox size of the soap puck and are larger at the top than the bottom, so that it is easier to use the brush and not hit the sides. If they are too tall, then it is also hard to use the brush and get a good lather. The old spice mugs are some of the best IMHO.
I am not a collector of mugs but a user. For use, it is hard to do better than an Old Spice mug. Fits the puck and has a flat bottom. Sides not so tall so that you bang your fingers and brush handle when making lather. Sides high enough so that the lather does not over flow the mug. I prefer mugs to bowls as the loop handle provides for a secure grip. I keep my eyes open for any interesting mugs, or bowls, that have the correct shape. Hand made mugs from pottery shops or vintage mugs from flea markets and yard sales are a nice source for user mugs.
I've also seen members here that use sugar bowls or soup bowls to hold their soaps.
+1 On Old Spice Mugs. They are low and wide, where cofee mugs tend toward deep mugs. This makes them a little easier to lather.
Heavy glass with good weight. The finger hole is in just the right spot for your thumb when working up a good lather.
For Christmas I got this NOS Fuller Scuttle. It was never used. The shaving puck you see is the original Fuller shaving puck (lots of tallow and lathers great) and matching Fuller Brush. The razor you see was another Christmas gift (Mappin & Webb) I was in heaven on Christmas.
The scuttle is beautiful and a prize piece amongst my shaving equipment. However you see where the puck sits? it is so close to the rim that when I load my brush it gets over the rim. The thumb hole prevents any danger of dropping it, but I wish it had a deeper rim on that side.
Attachment 90273
Attachment 90274
I prefer a wide/low coffee mug, or what I've seen sold as a soup/chowder mug. I prefer mugs that are a bit wider, and lower than the traditional shave mugs you see around. Latte mugs work well too.
My preference is to go to the local thrift store, take my brush with me and try them while I'm there. I'll move the brush around as if I'm loading and see if I like it. It's easy enough to either mill or melt the soap into the mug later.
Charlie
I use either my williams rubber mug, a cappuccino mug i picked up at the craft store for a whopping $1.25 the majority of the time, and my gal just got me a col. conk mug I am getting used to.
I picked up a small mug as pictured in the background along with a puck of soap and wooden handled boar brush at WallyWorld for 8 bucks and change. Sold by Van Der Hagen :)Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticguido
I like the mug, I was using a coffee cup for a long time. I'd rather spend money on steel than china. ;)
I like the sugar bowl idea. Gonna keep an eye for something along those lines nest time I'm cruising the junkeries.
