Fazer muumimuki

Fazer Moomin Mug is the World’s Most Expensive

Who could have imagined during Christmas 2004 that the special edition Fazer mug, with its Christmas theme and Moomin characters, would become a highly sought-after rarity among collectors? It is the most expensive Moomin mug ever to be available for public sale and production.

At the time of the mug’s release, Moomin mugs were not yet incredibly popular as collectible items. The Fazer Moomin mug was produced in a small numbered series of 400 pieces, with the bottom stamp, in addition to the traditional Arabia pottery symbol, also including the mug’s serial number, for example, 89/400. The color of the bottom stamp is brown instead of black. The illustration is identical on both sides of the mug.

The Creation of the Fazer Mug

The idea of a mug that stood out from the ordinary and was once considered ugly was born when a Christmas advertisement was randomly found in Fazer’s archives. In the ad, small Moomin characters climb a mountain of presents, and the text wishes the reader a Merry Christmas in Swedish: “God Jul önskar Fazer.” The mentioned ad is, as usual, drawn by Tove Jansson and dates back to 1951.

But how did the Moomin characters and Fazer end up in the same ad? After the war, Trade Advisor Kai Kivijärvi acted as Fazer’s sales manager. As an innovative and marketing-oriented man, he introduced products such as Pax pastilles (1947) and, in 1952, chocolate bars with decorative Olympic rings. In the 1950s, Tove Jansson was one of many artists who created advertisements for Fazer. She regularly contributed to the political satire magazine Garm, where Jansson’s ads for Fazer were also published. Among these ads was Columbus longing for Mignon eggs in the Easter ad, Fazer’s Christmas greeting that ended up on the Moomin mug, and a candy ad featuring dreams of the summer night’s light.

The Christmas advertisement drawn by Tove Jansson from the year 1951

It can be said that historical events and chance played a role in the creation of the Fazer mug.

What is the Current Value and Availability of the Mug?

The value of the Fazer Moomin mug has quickly risen to over 10,000 euros. Over the years, the mug has been seen at auctions, with resellers of discontinued Moomin mugs, and on popular online marketplaces such as Tori.

The mug was originally only available at Fazer Café in Helsinki for just over 30 euros. Fazer has mentioned that after Christmas, half of the mugs released for sale had still not been sold. At the time, the mug didn’t create the kind of hysteria that the first Moomin Day mug did in 2018, even though the production of the Fazer Moomin mug was limited to a run of 400 pieces.

A Brief History of the Mug’s Value Increase:
2004: Original price just over 30 euros
2015: Huuto.net, around 5,000 euros
2019: Huutokauppakeisari, 9050 euros
2022: Online auction Tradera (Sweden), around 16,000 euros

Looking at the lowest and highest known selling prices, we can observe an impressive 53,233% increase from the original price.

How can one acquire a Fazer mug?

As can be deduced from the sales conducted in recent years, with the impressive price of the mug, one must first be prepared to pay a lot for it – for a flawless copy, probably over 10,000 euros. The price of the mug can be influenced by typical factors that affect the value of collectible items:

Condition of the mug
There have never been stickers on the Fazer mug, but they were sold wrapped in cellophane. An unopened package can serve as proof that the mug is unused.

There may be small variations in the print and glaze from the production process. The overall condition will determine the number of interested buyers and thus affect the value.

Sales method and location
The mug regularly appears in various places online. Professional resellers typically price it near 15,000 euros, but at auction, a lower starting price may allow for a lower sale price. A real bargain can, however, be found in places like Tori if you happen to be there at the right time.

Timing of the purchase
For valuable collectibles, there is always a very limited group of buyers. Prices for such items often fluctuate depending on the general market situation and the economy.

What is the Fazer Moomin plate?

In 2014, ten years after the launch of the iconic Fazer mug, Arabia began releasing a collectible series of ten plates. Each plate set contains two different plates with illustrations that had previously appeared on Moomin mugs, meaning that there are a total of 20 different plates in ten different sets.

The first 1/10 set of collectible plates included the Fazer plate and the Moomintroll Daydreaming plate. These are not particularly rare, and the set’s value has not increased from the original sale price of approximately 50 euros.

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