Starbucks Texas mug: Discovery Series
The Texas mug from Starbucks' Discovery Series puts TEXAS over longhorn horns, a cowboy boot, an armadillo and a guitar, with a rider and lasso, a rattlesnake, a prickly pear cactus, a lone star and the Texas State Capitol; the inside is blue.
- Series
- Discovery Series
- Place
- Texas, USA
- Type
- Mug
- Released
- Not confirmed
- Capacity
- 14 fl ozstandard mug size
- SKU
- Not confirmed
Sponsored links: we earn a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The fire that cost Texas three million acres of Panhandle
On 9 November 1881 fire destroyed the old Texas Capitol in Austin [1]. The state needed a new one and had one thing to pay with: three million acres of Panhandle land, set aside under the Constitution of 1876 [2]. It advertised for a contractor who would build the Capitol in exchange for the land [2]. The state received only two bids. Mathias Schnell of Illinois won, then passed three-fourths of the job to a Chicago firm [2]. The finished building cost $3,744,630.60, and the state paid about $500,000 of it [2]. The Chicago firm organised a syndicate; that syndicate had no use for a vast empty plain, so it founded the XIT Ranch to run cattle until the acres could be sold [1]. A hundred years later, that land had a tax valuation of almost $7 billion [2]. The blue domed building under the gold star on the Texas mug (13) may be that Capitol.
The mug does not label its drawings, so connecting this one to the story is our reading.
What's on the mug
- 1TEXAS lettering
TEXAS in red capitals across the top of a green circle in the middle of the front.
- 2Texas Longhorn horns
A wide pair of yellow horns with upturned tips spreads across the green circle under the lettering, joined by a dark bar with red and green bands at each end. Only the horns are drawn, no head. The long, wide spread fits the Texas Longhorn, which Texas lists as its official large mammal. The mug doesn't name it.[3]
- 3Cowboy boot
A tall blue cowboy boot with red stars, yellow stitching and a yellow pull strap stands at the left of the front, with the rider's yellow lasso looping around it. The cowboy boot is the official state footwear of Texas.[3]
- 4Cowboy hat
A red cowboy hat with a white band and a small yellow star sits at the upper right of the front, over the right end of the horns.
- 5Rose, possibly the Yellow Rose of Texas
An orange and yellow rose with dark blue leaves sits at the top of the green circle. It may be a nod to the song "The Yellow Rose of Texas", whose popularity tied it to yellow flowers, but the rose is drawn mostly orange and the mug doesn't say.[5]
- 6Barbecue smoker
A blue barrel smoker on legs, with a chimney pipe at the right and blue smoke curling out, sits at the base of the green circle. Its grill holds red sausages, red cuts of meat and three yellow corn cobs.
- 7Armadillo
A blue armadillo with a banded shell, an orange head and feet and a long tail stands on the neck of the guitar at the right of the front. The armadillo is the official small mammal of Texas.[3]
- 8Electric guitar
A red and black electric guitar lies at a slant at the lower right of the front, its neck running up under the armadillo. The guitar is the official state musical instrument of Texas.[3]
- 9Gate arch with four stars Side view
A dark metal arch with four blue stars along its top bar stands over a blue rail fence, with small orange, yellow, red and blue trees behind it. It reads as a ranch or arena gate; no name is shown. Its left end also shows at the edge of the back photo.
- 10Rider with a lasso, possibly a rodeo roper Side view
A rider in a red shirt and dark blue hat gallops a dark horse with a red tail, swinging a yellow lasso that loops forward around the cowboy boot. The figure could be a rodeo roper (rodeo is the official state sport of Texas) or simply a ranch hand; the drawing does not show an arena.[3]
- 11Rack of ribs on a plate Side view
A red-brown rack of ribs, with white bone ends along both long sides and yellow streaks of sauce, lies on a blue oval plate. It is drawn just left of the rattlesnake and also shows at the far left of the front photo.
- 12Red horseshoe Side view
A red horseshoe hangs open end up at the far left of this view, above a blue hill. It also shows in the back photo, next to the gate arch.
- 13Texas State Capitol, Austin Back view
A blue domed building stands between orange and red autumn trees under the gold star: a tall dome on a ring of columns, a lantern with a small figure on top, a pediment and a big arched entrance. Those features match the Texas Capitol, whose dome carries Corinthian columns and the Goddess of Liberty statue; the real building is red granite, not blue. The mug doesn't name it.[2][4]
- 14Lone star Back view
A large five-pointed star, faceted in yellow and white, floats beside the Capitol dome. A single star stands for Texas, the Lone Star State, its official nickname.[3]
- 15Prickly pear cactus Back view
A blue cactus with flat, rounded pads, orange spots and orange-tipped tops rises over the hills. Flat pads like these are the prickly pear, the official state plant of Texas.[3]
- 16Rattlesnake Side view
A red snake with white dashes coils in an S shape with its forked blue tongue out; a yellow segmented rattle at the end of its tail shows it is a rattlesnake. It sits between the ribs and the boot, and part of it shows at the far left of the front photo.
- 17Small Starbucks cup
A tiny white cup with a green dot sits between the legs of the barbecue smoker, a small Starbucks cup tucked into the drawing.
- 18STARBUCKS wordmark Back view
STARBUCKS in black capitals runs vertically beside the handle.
- 19Hills and a winding yellow band Back view
Layered blue hills topped with a red and orange ridge fill the middle of the back, with a yellow band winding between them and dark pine trees at their foot. The mug doesn't say which part of Texas they show.
Three photos show the front, the side with the rider and the back with the Capitol; together they run from one side of the handle round to the other. The strip under the handle is not shown clearly.
Collector notes
- The inside of this mug is blue, which shows at the rim in the photos.
- The design runs all the way round: the rider's lasso on the side loops around the boot on the front, and the snake and ribs from the side peek in at the front's left edge.
Before you buy
Three photos show this mug from both sides of the handle, and the inside is blue. Texas also appears in the Been There series (three entries in our checklist, plus a Christmas edition) and the You Are Here series, and Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University have their own Discovery mugs, so check the series and name before you order.
