Starbucks Colorado mug: Discovery Series
The front of the Colorado Discovery mug shows the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (state animal) and two Colorado blue columbines (state flower), with a snowboarder, a mountain bike, a dome tent and snowy peaks around COLORADO on a dark green disc.
- Series
- Discovery Series
- Place
- Colorado, USA
- Type
- Mug
- Released
- Not confirmed
- Capacity
- 14 fl ozstandard mug size
- SKU
- Not confirmed
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How a broken-down truck started a bighorn herd
By the 1880s, Colorado's bighorn sheep had been hunted close to extinction, and a hunting ban in 1885 protected the few hundred survivors [1]. In September 1944, wildlife workers made the first bighorn captures and releases in the nation, at a corral at Tarryall Reservoir, luring 27 sheep with alfalfa, salt blocks and apple pulp behind 16-foot fences [1]. In 1946 biologists captured 14 sheep from the Tarryall-Kenosha Mountain herd and trucked them toward Pikes Peak, but the truck broke down in Green Mountain Falls and the driver released them where they stood [2]. They wandered north and stopped on the railroad tracks just as a train approached. According to the wildlife manager who later wrote up the story, all but one ram escaped [2]. The survivors crossed US Highway 24 and settled in the Rampart Range, where the herd numbered around 135 in 2021 [3]. The bighorn on the Colorado mug (4) is the state animal, by an act of 1961 [4].
The mug does not label its drawings, so connecting this one to the story is our reading.
What's on the mug
- 1COLORADO lettering
COLORADO in orange-red capitals runs across a large dark green disc in the middle of the front.
- 2Mountain bike
A pink-red bicycle faces right above the lettering, saddle at the left and handlebar at the right, with a dotted trail under its front wheel. Its wheels are rings filled with coloured pie-slice segments. The sloping frame and upright stance read as a mountain bike. The mug doesn't name a trail or place.
- 3Dome tent
A teal dome tent stands at the upper right, beside the bike, its door open on something orange lying inside, perhaps a sleeping bag. It reads as camping in general; the mug doesn't name a campsite.
- 4Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (state animal)
A pale green ram with dark curled horns and orange and green markings stands at the right, near the handle. The curled horns match the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, which Colorado made its state animal by an act of 1961. The mug doesn't name it.[4]
- 5Colorado blue columbines (state flower)
Two flowers with pale rounded centres, each ringed by five pointed dark-blue sepals, rise on thin stems below the lettering, with three-lobed green leaves lower down. The pointed five-part blooms on tall stems are drawn like the Colorado blue columbine, the white and lavender flower Colorado made its state flower in 1899. The mug doesn't name it.[5][6]
- 6Snowboarder in mid-air
A figure with orange sleeves, a pale green body, blue patterned trousers and dark hair flying leaps above one long dark board that slants down to the right, one arm stretched up and the other grabbing the board. The single wide board looks like a snowboard rather than a pair of skis, so this is probably a snowboarder. The mug doesn't name a ski area.
- 7Snowy mountains and pines
A band of dark mountains with pale blue snow, a strip of blue water and green hills with small dark pines runs along the base. The peaks are not drawn closely enough to tie them to a named mountain.
- 8Clouds
Pale blue clouds drift at the lower left of the green disc, above the mountains.
- 9Round patterned plant
At the left edge, under the snowboarder, a round shape filled with small pink and grey dots sits in pale green leaves, with a scatter of dots beside it. It is cut off by the edge of the photo and we cannot identify it.
- 10Cut-off shapes at the far left
Grey and green shapes are just visible at the far left edge near the rim. They belong to the part of the wrap that is out of view.
The photo shows one side of the mug. The back and the area behind the handle are out of view.
Collector notes
- The inside of this mug is deep teal, which shows at the rim in the photo.
- Aspen and Vail also have Discovery Series mugs on our checklists; this one is lettered COLORADO.
Before you buy
Aspen and Vail have their own Discovery mugs, and Colorado also appears in the Been There, Icon and You Are Here series. Look for COLORADO in orange-red capitals, with a deep teal inside the rim.
Other Colorado mugs
About the Discovery Series
Sources
- Bighorn sheep rodeo (Colorado Outdoors)
- The Rampart bighorn herd (The Gazette)
- Bighorn sheep of the Rampart Range, by Corey Adler (The Gazette)
- Designating the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep as the State Animal (Colorado Session Laws, 1961)
- The land where the columbines grow (Colorado LegiSource, Office of Legislative Legal Services)
- Colorado columbine (Aquilegia caerulea), Plant of the Week (USDA Forest Service)
