Starbucks
9 series · 51 pieces catalogued · 0 documented · founded 1971
Starbucks has been printing places onto ceramic since the mid-nineties, and the rule has barely changed since: a piece is sold in the city or region it depicts, and nowhere else. Buy the Seville mug in Seville, or trade for it.
That single constraint is what turns a mug shelf into a collection. Distribution is geographic rather than commercial, print runs follow store openings, and a design retires quietly when the next series begins. A piece from a city with three stores is genuinely harder to find than one from a capital, and no catalogue number tells you that — only collectors do.
Series come in waves. Early City Mugs were text on white. Skyline and City Scenes brought illustration. Global standardised the shape worldwide. Been There, from 2017, is the one most people are stamping now: dense, hand-drawn, and still expanding city by city.
Series timeline
1994
City Mug Collector Series
The original: a city name in plain type on white ceramic.
Not catalogued yet
2002
Skyline
Illustrated city skylines wrapped around a tall mug.
Not catalogued yet
2004
City Scenes
Painted street-level scenes replacing the skyline silhouettes.
Not catalogued yet
2006
Architecture
Landmark buildings rendered as line drawings.
Not catalogued yet
2008
Global
The first series with one shape and one grid worldwide.
Not catalogued yet
2008
Icon
The long-running city skyline series
Not catalogued yet
2013
You Are Here
The city mugs that came before
Not catalogued yet
2017
Been ThereHand-drawn city and region designs, still expanding.
51 items · 0 documented
2024
Discovery
The series that followed Been There
Not catalogued yet
Albums you can stamp now
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