The Featured Mugs page is for extremely rare or desirable of the Anchor Hocking Fire-King mugs for the advanced collector generally, and offers more details and insights that you might find helpful.  We’ll try to add a new mug every once in a while.

These two sailboat mugs were purchased three years apart.  It is very rare to find factory original pattern mugs that are more rare, and just as attractive as the Children’s ABC mugs, but here is one example of such a find.  These Sailboat theme mugs are the only two I’ve ever seen like this, and are fired-on, right-handed oriented, and have an identical bottom stamp, except for the mold numbers (51 and 60) of course, dating these to the mid 1970s.  Easy speculation that there are two more patterns out there for this set.  Anytime you have a mug that is more rare than the Jadeite Kimberly (5 of them), Crystal C Handle (8 of them), Yellow Philbe (2 of them) or even the ABC mugs,  lock it in your vault!

Here is an extremely rare Walt Disney cartoon mug featuring Bambi and Flower, the skunk, interesting to find this on a footed mug.  These are actually very heavy stiff vinyl stickers applied to one side of the mug and should be considered authentic original adornments for these Disney mugs.  Another example is the famous Jiminy Cricket mug shown elsewhere on this website, and also seen has been a Mickey Mouse, all vinyl decals, not fired-on paint.  These are not modern fakes or fantasy mugs at all.  The Disney character mugs of the early 1980s were fired-on but are actually on Anchor Hocking marked mugs, never Fire-King script marked mugs.  The Jiminy Cricket mug is authenticated in Gene Florence’s books.  Never attempt to investigate the decal or wash it in hot water.  Hand wash mildly only to reduce the risk of damage.

This mug was adorned by the late Dean A. Mogul of Camden, Arkansas dating to the 1960s.  Camden was famous for its Camark pottery of which many pieces were hand-embellished by Mr. Mogul’s Nor-So-Art Gallery.  You can find his mark (NOR-SO in gold leaf) on the bottom of many state and park commemorative mugs.

Here is an example of a rarity in two forms.  The dolphin theme is vintage and an applied decal from the 1950s era and is the only one of its kind I’ve ever seen.  The plate’s bottom is stamped exactly the same as the mug.  The color of the dolphin mug is compared here to an ivory mug and a white mug.  The Dolphin mug is neither white nor ivory, being somewhere in between, and to some collectors this is an extremely rare and desirable feature itself.

These 3 mugs are also shown on the “shapes” section but I did not want you to miss them.  These are really stunning mugs with bright colors inside and white fired-on outside.  These are probably the 3 mugs featured in Gene Florence’s Anchor Hocking’s Fire-King and More Identification and Value Guide - Second Edition book.  You may not see these anywhere else.

Here are two mugs with beautiful scenes of an early America.  This theme matches the Wildlife Mr. Savage mug shown on the Characters and Theme photo gallery page.  Problem is that these mugs span 3 decades and one even to after 1976.  The decals appear fired-on and genuine.  The train scene has hand painted embellishments around the original train and coal car decal.  I cannot say if these are original factory items or not but the colors are indeed applied to be permanent and they are very attractive.

The peach luster mugs with any kind of pattern are uncommon and this floral pattern in particular very rare.  It dates to the 1970s.  Notice the glossy, mirror finish on the inside.  This is the quality to look for.  Many luster mugs show wearing of the finish.  The bottoms are not coated.

The vitrock mug that is most hard to find is this stagecoach mug.  I have never seen one on Ebay.  I believe these date to the mid to late 1930s like the Bo Peep mugs.  No markings on bottom, and they have a unique handle.

This is one of at least 4 different color patterns for this Children’s ABC mug, dating to the 1970s.  A very rare mug hardly ever seen even on Ebay.  Other colors are blue/red, pink/green and red/black.  These mugs seem to have an extraordinary plethora of manufacturing defects.  Maybe because of production problems this pattern run had a short lifespan.  These can sell for more than $300 very easily.