Starbucks Alabama mug: Been There Series
Been There Series Alabama mug: Alabama in green script, THE COTTON STATE with a cotton plant, the State Capitol, the state flag, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, a rocket, a yellowhammer, a fighter plane, shrimp, peanuts and football.
- Series
- Been There Series
- Place
- Alabama, USA
- Type
- Mug
- Released
- Not confirmed
- Capacity
- 14 fl ozstandard mug size
- SKU
- Not confirmed
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The town that thanked the boll weevil, with no weevil
In 1916, after the boll weevil had cut the previous year's cotton yield in Coffee County, Alabama, to about 60% of normal, farmers planted for a bumper crop anyway [1]. They tried every method they could think of. Less than a third of the crop was harvested [1]. Then peanuts took over: according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, the county had the largest peanut harvest in the nation in 1917 [2]. In 1919 an Enterprise city councilman, R. O. Fleming, proposed a monument to the beetle [2]. Residents gave half of the $1,795 it cost without being asked, and Fleming paid the rest [1]. Its base thanks the boll weevil as the "Herald of Prosperity" [1]. For thirty years the statue had no weevil on it; one was added in 1949 [1]. The open cotton bolls on the Alabama mug (2) are the crop the weevil came for.
The mug does not label its drawings, so connecting this one to the story is our reading.
What's on the mug
- 1Alabama lettering
Alabama is written in dark green script with a dotted texture across the upper front, left of the handle. It is the only place name on the mug.
- 2THE COTTON STATE and cotton plant
The words THE COTTON STATE are lettered under a cotton plant with open white bolls, drawn in outline only. "The Cotton State" is one of Alabama's informal nicknames; the state has no official one. A second cotton plant is drawn on the back, next to the golf bag.[3]
- 3Waterfall under a cliff ledge
A waterfall pours off a cliff into a round pool, with a long yellow ledge of rock overhanging the drop and green woods on both banks. A straight line along the top with a small boxy shape on it may be a road or rail. We could not match it to one named Alabama waterfall, and the mug doesn't name it.
- 4Songbird
A plump yellow-green songbird with a short pointed beak stands to the right of the waterfall, above the yellow plane. It is drawn differently from the flying yellow-winged bird on the side and back, and its species cannot be told from the drawing.
- 5Yellow fighter plane, possibly a P-51 Mustang
A yellow and green single-engine propeller plane with a bubble canopy and a white star insignia on the fuselage flies among small clouds. It looks like a World War II P-51 Mustang, the fighter flown by the Tuskegee Airmen, who trained at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama; a replica in their red-tail paint is shown there. The mug's plane has no red tail, and the mug doesn't name it.[9]
- 6Sailboat
A sailboat with a green and yellow sail floats on wavy water near the bottom, with a small sun above it. It reads as a Gulf Coast sailing scene; no particular harbour is shown.
- 7Rocket, possibly a Saturn V Side view
A tall white rocket with banded stages, a needle-like tip and four green fins stands in the middle of the side view. It may stand for the rockets displayed upright at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, which include a full-scale Saturn V replica; the drawing is simplified, so we do not name the model. The mug doesn't name it.[8]
- 8Alabama State Capitol Side view
A white domed building with a lantern and flag on the dome, a tall columned portico with a flat top and no pediment, and a wing with rows of windows on each side. This matches the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, whose 1851 core has a portico without a pediment and whose side wings were added later. Its edge also shows at the right of the back photo. The mug doesn't name it.[5]
- 9Alabama state flag Side view
A rectangular flag with a diagonal cross corner to corner, the cross drawn in yellow on a white field with a thin dark-green outline. The design is Alabama's state flag, a cross of St. Andrew on a white field; the real cross is crimson, but the mug uses only its green and yellow palette. The same flag shows in both the side and back photos, which overlap there.[3]
- 10STARBUCKS wordmark Back view
STARBUCKS runs vertically up the back beside the handle, in dark letters. It is the only text on the back.
- 11Edmund Pettus Bridge Back view
A yellow bridge crosses a river with green banks: one tall central arch rises above the roadway with vertical hangers, and smaller open arches carry the roadway on each side. That combination matches the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, a steel through-arch over the Alabama River with concrete approach spans, where voting-rights marchers were attacked on March 7, 1965. The drawing shows two side arches where the real bridge has ten concrete spans, and the mug doesn't name it.[6][7]
- 12Golf bag and 18th-hole flag Back view
A green golf bag with clubs stands on a stand on the back, beside a cotton plant. On the side view a small pin flag marked 18 stands next to the rocket. No particular course is named.
- 13Flying bird, probably a yellowhammer Back view
A bird in flight with spread yellow wings and dark-lined flight feathers, seen from below, flies at the right of the back, and the same bird shows at the left of the side photo where the photos overlap. It is probably the yellowhammer (northern flicker), Alabama's state bird, known for its bright yellow underwing feathers. The drawing shows none of the bird's spots or bars, and the mug doesn't name it.[4]
- 14Shrimp Back view
A curled green shrimp with long antennae is drawn on the back under the football; more shrimp appear at the left edge of the front and beside the handle on the front. It may stand for the brown shrimp, Alabama's official state crustacean, but the species cannot be told from the drawing.[3]
- 15Football Back view
A large green American football with white laces sits at the top of the back beside the handle; a second, lighter one is drawn on the side view below the shoreline. The side view also has a goalpost with a ball flying through it, and the front has a football helmet at its left edge. No team is named.
- 16Peanuts Back view
A peanut in the shell, cross-hatched, lies under the shrimp on the back. More peanuts are drawn on the front (dark green, left of the small jet) and on the side (yellow, beside the 18 flag).
- 17Beach umbrella and beach ball Back view
A green striped beach umbrella planted in sand with a beach ball beside it, at the bottom of the back. A bigger striped beach ball is on the side view, and a bottle marked SPF stands at the bottom of the front.
- 18Shoreline Side view
A winding shoreline with yellow sand and green water, with a sun and clouds above it, fills the upper left of the side view. It reads as a stretch of beach; no particular beach is named.
- 19Coffee cup Side view
A white cup of coffee seen from above, with a dark circle of coffee and a handle, at the top of the side view.
- 20Small white jet
A small white jet seen from above, with straight wings, a star insignia on one wing and its nose pointing up, sits below the waterfall on the front. It is a different aircraft from the yellow propeller plane; its type cannot be told from the drawing.
- 21Football helmet
A green football helmet with a face mask sits at the lower left edge of the front, next to a small open box. The same helmet shows at the right edge of the side view.
- 22Yellow rounded shape by the handle Back view
A yellow rounded shape with a green curl inside sits at the lower left of the back, partly hidden by the handle. We could not tell what it represents.
The three photos overlap and show nearly the whole wrap, including the side opposite the handle. The narrow strip under the handle is seen only at a steep angle at the edges of the front and back photos, and the underside is out of view.
Collector notes
- Our checklist lists two Been There Alabama mugs, and the artwork differs: this one has THE COTTON STATE lettering, a yellow propeller plane and an arched bridge on the back, while the other has a black bear on the back, butterflies and camellia blossoms.
- The inside is green, which shows at the rim in every view. The STARBUCKS wordmark runs up the back beside the handle, so a photo from that side shows no place name at all.
- Several things appear around more than one photo edge: the state flag and the yellow-winged bird are single drawings that show in two photos, while the shrimp, peanuts and footballs really are drawn more than once around the wrap.
Before you buy
Our checklist lists two Been There Series Alabama mugs. This one has THE COTTON STATE lettering, a yellow propeller plane and an arched bridge on the back, while the other has a black bear and camellia blossoms. The inside is green, and the back photo shows only the STARBUCKS wordmark, not the place name.
Other Alabama mugs
Sources
- Boll Weevil Monument, National Register of Historic Places nomination form (National Park Service)
- Boll Weevil Monument (Encyclopedia of Alabama)
- Quick Facts: nickname (Encyclopedia of Alabama)
- Northern Flicker (Encyclopedia of Alabama)
- Alabama State Capitol (Wikipedia), on the portico
- Edmund Pettus Bridge (Wikipedia), on the arch
- Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail (National Park Service)
- Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle (Wikipedia)
- Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site (Encyclopedia of Alabama)
