Starbucks Michigan mug: Discovery Series

By The Starbucks Cups team · Last checked 2026-11-14 · How we make these pages

Starbucks Discovery Series Michigan mug with a ferry, a vintage car, a cherry picker and a fawn around the word MICHIGAN — Front view · numbered markers match the list below Show markers

The Michigan mug wraps the Mackinac Bridge, a map of the Great Lakes, an American robin and a painted turtle (state bird and reptile) around a cherry picker, a passenger ferry, a 1910s car, mail envelopes and a small boat, a Coney dog, and patterned stones.

Series: Discovery Series
Place: Michigan, USA
Type: Mug
Released: Not confirmed
Capacity: 14 fl ozStarbucks's Discovery Series launch story calls it the 14-ounce ceramic mug
SKU: Not confirmed

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The first car on Mackinac Island arrived by ferry

In 1898 the first horseless carriage reached Mackinac Island on a ferry boat ^[1]. According to Mackinac State Historic Parks, its first encounter with the island's horses was chaotic. Carriage businessmen filed a formal petition with the village council, and a resolution answering it was made the same day ^[1]. Village leaders enacted the ban on July 6, 1898 ^[2]. Two years later a summer resident named Earl C. Anthony decided to ignore the rule and brought a steam-powered Locomobile over ^[3]. It reportedly startled and even injured horses, and some carriages crashed ^[4]. In 1901 the state park commission banned automobiles in the park as well ^[1]. The island has been car free ever since ^[2]. The ferry on the Michigan mug (2) may be the kind of boat that brought that first car across.

The mug does not label its drawings, so connecting this one to the story is our reading.

What's on the mug

1
MICHIGAN lettering
MICHIGAN in light blue capitals over a dark green rounded shape on the front.
2
Passenger ferry
A boat with an open upper deck under a scalloped, arched canopy, with passengers at the white rail, rides over small waves above the lettering. The same boat shows at the top right of the side view. The drawing has no name or markings, so we can't say which ferry it is.
3
Vintage car (looks like a 1910s Ford)
A dark green car with pale yellow-green fenders, an upright radiator, a boxy cabin and red-spoked wheels sits at the lower left of the front; the side view shows the same car whole, with a turtle on its roof. Its shape resembles a 1910s Ford Model T sedan, but several cars of that era look alike. The mug doesn't name it.
4
Cherry picker
A woman in a red-and-white striped dress and a wide hat reaches up into a branch hung with red cherries, to the right of the lettering. Loose cherries fall around her feet. The cherries may stand for Michigan's tart cherry crop, a crop a Michigan State University geography page put at 225 million pounds in 1997. The mug doesn't say so.^[10]
5
Fawn (looks like a white-tailed deer)
A blue fawn with pale spots on its back stands beside the cherry picker. A spotted fawn in Michigan is most likely a white-tailed deer, the state game animal, but the colours are stylised. The mug doesn't name the animal.^[5]
6
Basket of cherries
A pale blue woven basket full of red cherries hangs from the picker's lowered hand.
7
Envelopes (may refer to Detroit's mail boat) Side view
Three stamped envelopes in teal, red and cream, with a dark green strip beside them, fly across the top of the side view, next to the small dark boat that also appears on the back (12). Together they may refer to the J. W. Westcott II, the Detroit River boat that delivers mail to passing ships. That is our reading; the mug doesn't name it.^[9]
8
Mackinac Bridge Side view
A suspension bridge with two tall pale blue towers, red main cables and a blue railed deck crosses between two pale green land shapes at the lower left of the side view; its deck continues onto the back, where the robin perches on it. A two-tower suspension bridge joining two pieces of land on a Michigan mug matches the Mackinac Bridge, which connects the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The mug doesn't name it.^[5]^[6]
9
Painted turtle Side view
A turtle with a green, net-patterned shell edged in red sits on the roof of the vintage car (3); its head is also visible at the left edge of the front. Red markings on the shell's edge are the field mark of the painted turtle, Michigan's state reptile. The mug doesn't name it.^[5]^[7]
11
Great Lakes map Back view
Teal shapes with dark wave marks spread across the middle of the back. Their outline is the Great Lakes, with Lake Superior along the top and Lake Michigan and Lake Huron reaching down on either side of the Lower Peninsula. Michigan's nickname is the Great Lakes State.^[5]
12
Small workboat Back view
A small boat with a dark blue hull, a red stripe, round fenders on its side and a pale blue cabin crosses the water above the lakes map; its bow also shows at the upper left of the side view, next to the envelopes. It may be the J. W. Westcott II mail boat (see 7), but we could not check its colours. The mug doesn't name it.^[9]
13
American robin Back view
A bird with a blackish head, white eye ring, red breast and blue-grey back and wings perches on the Mackinac Bridge deck at the right of the back. The same robin shows at the left edge of the side view. The dark head and reddish breast match the American robin, Michigan's state bird. The mug doesn't name it.^[5]^[8]
14
Food on a cake stand (may be a Bumpy Cake or a pasty) Back view
A red cake stand holds a dark, lumpy-topped oval on a pale wavy layer, with a smaller dark piece beside it. It may be a Sanders Bumpy Cake, the Detroit chocolate cake whose ganache covers ridges of buttercream, or a pasty, the crimped meat pie of Michigan's Upper Peninsula; the drawing is too small and dark to be sure. The mug doesn't name it.^[11]^[13]
15
Patterned stones (resemble Petoskey stones)
Four rounded stones, two blue and two red-and-yellow, sit below the lettering, each covered in a pattern of polygon-shaped cells. The cell pattern resembles the Petoskey stone, the fossil coral that is Michigan's state stone, although real ones are grey and the colours here are stylised. The mug doesn't name them.^[5]
16
Coney dog Back view
A hot dog in a pale yellow-green speckled bun, heaped with dark chili and white chopped onion, its red sausage showing at the end of the bun, curves down at the left of the back. It matches the Coney dog, a hot dog topped with a meat sauce and diced or chopped onions that is most popular in Michigan, where Detroit and Flint are known for it. The mug doesn't name it.^[12]
17
Dark green animal (may be a wolverine) Back view
A low, long-bodied animal in dark green with pale flecks and a pale masked face sniffs toward the cake stand at the lower left of the back. It may be a wolverine, for Michigan's nickname the Wolverine State, but the drawing is not clear enough to be sure. The mug doesn't name it.^[5]
18
Flowering plant Back view
A tall green stem with small blue flowers and a round, spiky red flower head stands at the far left of the back, next to the handle.
19
Evergreen trees Side view
Dark green and blue conifers stand on a pale yellow-green land shape behind the bridge on the side view. The drawing does not show enough detail to name the species.

The three photos together cover most of the outside of the mug. The area behind the handle is out of view.

Collector notes

The inside of this mug is blue-green, which shows at the rim in the side and back photos.
The cherry picker and the fawn are on the front, the suspension bridge and the turtle on the side, and the lake outline and the boat on the back.

Before you buy

The three photos leave out the area behind the handle. The inside is blue-green. Michigan also appears in the Been There Series and the You Are Here Series, so check the series name before you buy.