Starbucks University of Hawaii mug: Discovery Series
A campus mug for the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa: Hawaiʻi Hall, Diamond Head, the athletics 'H' beside a rainbow and on a football helmet, four dormitory towers that look like Hale Aloha, a stadium, a graduate in leis, the campus entrance sign and a student walking past a glass-fronted building.
- Series
- Discovery Series
- Place
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Honolulu, Hawaii, 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 students who sang on the steps of Hawaiʻi Hall
On 7 December 1941, University of Hawaiʻi ROTC cadets were ordered to campus and handed old Springfield rifles with a single clip of five shells each [7]. Most of them were Nisei, Japanese Americans [7]. On 21 January 1942 the military governor, General Delos Emmons, disbanded the Territorial Guard they had joined [7]. The students were discharged, and their draft status was changed to 4C: enemy alien [4]. They asked to serve anyway. On 25 February, according to the university, about 160 of them gathered on the steps of Hawaiʻi Hall, the first building of the University of Hawaiʻi, and sang the alma mater [4]. They called themselves the Varsity Victory Volunteers and petitioned the military to let them serve [4]. The answer was a job without rifles: a 169-man labour unit for an engineer battalion at Schofield Barracks [7]. Many later joined the newly formed 442nd Regimental Combat Team [4]. The white columned building with its front steps, on the face of the mug opposite the handle (8), looks like Hawaiʻi Hall.
The mug does not label its drawings, so connecting this one to the story is our reading.
What's on the mug
- 1UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
The words UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII in tall light grey capitals, set over a large dark green circle in the middle of the front. Part of the lettering at the right runs off the circle onto the white glaze.
- 2Diamond Head (Lēʻahi)
A dark ridge with a higher left end sloping down to the right, sitting under the green circle above bands of green water. The shape and the water point to Diamond Head, the volcanic headland that overlooks Honolulu and forms the backdrop to Waikīkī, though the drawing does not copy its outline closely. The mug doesn't name it.[1]
- 3Stadium that looks like Aloha Stadium
A large grey stadium seen from above, with tiered stands on both sides, a tall upper structure and a green striped field. It looks like Aloha Stadium in Hālawa, which was the home field of UH football until 2020, but the drawing is too stylised to rule out another stadium. The mug doesn't name it.[2]
- 4Football helmet with the athletics 'H'
A dark green football helmet with a face mask, seen from the side, carrying a white stylised 'H'. The letter is the University of Hawaiʻi athletics logo, the stylised 'H' the university adopted in 2000; the same 'H' appears with a rainbow on the back.[3]
- 5Figure that looks like a marching band member
A standing figure next to the handle in a green jacket with light panels and black trousers, with a tall green plume on top of a white rounded hat and a green box at the waist marked with an 'H'. It may be a member of the university marching band carrying a drum. The mug doesn't name it.
- 6Flowering branches
Branches of dark and light green leaves with white five-petal flowers and pale yellow-green pom-pom blossoms, running from the top of the green circle down the left side of the front and on round to the right edge of the side photo. The plants are not drawn closely enough to name.
- 7Low building with palms
A low grey building with a flat roof and tall narrow openings, with small palm trees, at the bottom left of the front. It is too small in this photo to identify.
- 8Hawaiʻi Hall Side view
A white two-storey building with a row of tall columns across the front, wings with windows on each side and steps leading up to it, framed by palm trees. It matches Hawaiʻi Hall, the first building of the university, whose front has tall white columns and a central staircase. The mug doesn't name it.[4][5]
- 9Four towers that look like Hale Aloha Side view
Four tall pale grey towers with grids of windows and dark tops, standing behind a band of trees; two of them are also seen at the far left of the front photo. They may be the four Hale Aloha residence towers on the campus, though the drawing makes one tower clearly taller than the other three; many tall buildings would look alike at this size. The mug doesn't name them.[6]
- 10Athlete in a green jersey Side view
A woman with long dark hair in a green jersey and grey trousers, crouched low with her arms reaching forward, on a green patch of grass with a white line. The drawing does not show a ball clearly enough to say which sport she plays.
- 11Spreading trees Side view
A grove of green trees with dark twisting trunks and wide rounded crowns, below the columned building, with low planter walls and small figures walking between them. The species is not drawn closely enough to name.
- 12Low modern buildings Side view
Two low grey buildings along the bottom edge: one with a facade of small square openings, one with thin posts and glass. They are too small in this photo to identify.
- 13STARBUCKS Back view
The word STARBUCKS printed vertically in dark green beside the handle.
- 14Athletics 'H' with a rainbow Back view
A dark green stylised 'H' outlined in white, with a rainbow of grey, light green, teal and dark green bands arching from it, marked with a small TM. The 'H' is the athletics logo the university adopted in 2000, which left out the rainbow; the rainbow was part of the athletics logo from 1982 until then and lives on in the Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wāhine team names. Putting the two together is the mug's own pairing.[3]
- 15UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MĀNOA Back view
A grey stone sign or pillar with a dark round seal near the top and the words UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MĀNOA in small decorative lettering below it. Two small birds sit on top of the pillar.
- 16Graduate wearing leis Back view
A graduate in a black mortarboard and a long dark brown gown streaked with green, wearing several thick green and white leis around the neck, standing in sandals. The mug doesn't say who it is.
- 17Student with a backpack Back view
A student walking to the left across the lawn in a green top and dark shorts, with a dark backpack, below the 'H' and rainbow.
- 18Glass-fronted building Back view
A large modern building with a slanted roof and a glass front divided by green posts, with small figures walking past it, between the graduate and the lawn. The mug doesn't name it.
- 19Flat-crowned tree Back view
A tree with a dark trunk and a broad, flat, spreading crown of dark green leaves, standing on the lawn. The species is not drawn closely enough to name.
- 20Palms and a small white kiosk Back view
Two palm trees beside a small white box or kiosk marked with a round green emblem, on a green patch at the left end of the lawn.
The bottom of the mug and its base stamp are in no photo, and the front and side photos are small and soft, so fine lines and small lettering cannot be read. In the front photo the handle is on the right, in the back photo it is on the left, and in the side photo it is hidden directly behind the mug, so that photo shows the face opposite the handle.
Collector notes
- This is the campus edition, not a state or island mug: the printed words are UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII and the sign on the back reads UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MĀNOA. Mugs in our checklist that share the name Hawaii: discovery-series-hawaii, been-there-hawaii, been-there-christmas-hawaii, you-are-here-hawaii, you-are-here-christmas-hawaii and icon-hawaii. Other Oʻahu mugs: discovery-series-honolulu, discovery-series-oahu and discovery-series-waikiki.
- The design is drawn almost entirely in greens, greys, black and white, the athletics colours of the university, and the inside of the mug is dark green in the back photo. The athletics 'H' (on the helmet and on the back, next to the rainbow) and the MĀNOA entrance sign are the quickest way to tell this campus mug from the Hawaii, Honolulu or Oahu mugs.
- The photos do not show the base, so they do not settle the base markings. The small buildings along the bottom edge of the front and side photos are too small to identify; on the back, the walking student, the glass-fronted building, the flat-crowned tree and the palms by a white kiosk are drawn large and clear.
Before you buy
This is the campus edition: the athletics 'H' on the helmet and beside the rainbow, and the UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MĀNOA sign on the back, set it apart from the Hawaii, Honolulu and Oahu mugs. The inside is dark green in the back photo. No photo shows the base, so its markings are not confirmed.
About the Discovery Series
Sources
- Diamond Head, Hawaii (Wikipedia)
- Aloha Stadium (Wikipedia)
- Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine (Wikipedia)
- Hawaiʻi Hall (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Campus Environments)
- Renovation project restores the luster to Hawaiʻi Hall (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa News)
- Hale Aloha (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Student Housing)
- Hawaiʻi football remembered for role in Pearl Harbor attacks (Hawaiʻi Athletics, 2021)
