Squadron Coffee Cups

[Cobblers161]

Great mugs especially the Victors!

 

[unclegrumpy]

I love the F-84 on this one, it needs a little cleaning but I really pleased with it.

The only thing I find that sometimes works to "clean" these, is to soak them for a day or two in a 50/50 water to chlorine bleach mix. Try doing the inside first to see what happens. I am sure it will improve it, but it might not be perfect....meaning some brown spots still left. The bleach is not going to hurt the outside paint, but it might not be able to get between the cracks in the finish enough to leave you with a consistent even finish.

I have had a couple of these Japanese made mugs that had the same problem. Mine were so gross from old coffee and cigarette stains from being on a shelf for thirty years, that I just went for it and tossed them in. They came out fine, but not 100% perfect....meaning some brown was still visible in places.

 

[Anonymous]

Will the bleach fade the image?

 

[oose]

Hi,
Thanks for the advice, I've heard peroxide is good, I don't think it will fade the image at all, I've cleaned some crasing before at it came out great.
here is a guide from an ebay seler on how to do it.

As a seller of pottery and porcelain pieces, I have found a couple of great ways to reduce or even eliminate the awful staining one can find on older pieces. These stains are due to seepage through teeny, sometimes invisible (to the naked eye) cracks, called crazing, in the glaze. First: DON'T put these in a chlorine bleach. This may alleviate the problem, but it is also damaging to the piece. Here's the first (easiest) way: Go to the store and get some regular oxygen bleach; the kind you use for laundry (OXY, etc.). All you need to do is mix the powder (in hot water) or just use the liquid kind, and soak your stained piece in this for several hours. Sometimes, this is not even necessary; you may see results much more quickly than that. This method is good for mildly stained pieces, i.e. coffee stains in an old cup. Here's the more involved (BUT effective!) method: Go to a beauty supply store and buy the Hydrogen peroxide bleach, 8%, the type that is used to bleach hair. Take the piece and soak it in this, completely submerged overnight. Then, take the piece out of the peroxide (don't dry it) and place it in your oven set to 200 degrees (or on the WARM setting). Let the oven rise to 200 degrees with the pottery piece in it. DO NOT preheat the oven, as the sudden temperature change could aggravate the crazing. Leave it in for an hour and then wash it. You should see that most of the staining seeped out with the peroxide when it evaporated during heating. AGAIN! DO NOT take the heated plate out and place it directly in cold water. You may transfer it to hot water for washing or allow it to cool before washing it. This has, in my experience, totally eliminated or greatly reduced this staining. Good luck!

I'll post some shots once I've refreshed it little. I think I'm at the end of my mini spending spree, got to concentrate on restoration now!

All the best
stu

 

[unclegrumpy]

That is an interesting post from eBay. I have used chlorine bleach for years and have not had any problems, though I guess with this, I need to do some research. I have used Oxyclean powder too, and it sometimes works really well with a longer soak....actually, I have used it a lot in the past years because I don't always have any bleach around.

One thing about these Japanese made mugs is they are cheaply made and not very good quality to start with. I think I would be wary of putting one in the oven. This might be fine with better quality ceramics, but it would make me nervous with these.

As far as the images, if they are under the glaze, they should be fine. Some of these mugs have hand painted insignias or names that are on top of the glaze....those you have to very careful with as the paint will come off.

 

[bebel]

Hi Stu,

Great 7th FBS mug. It would be nice with my Korean war era A-2 flight jacket of the same unit!

Franck

 

[oose]

Hi Stu,

Great 7th FBS mug. It would be nice with my Korean war era A-2 flight jacket of the same unit!

Franck

Yes it would Franck, send it over I think I can find space for it!

All the best
stu

 

[bebel]

Stu,
I would prefer the other way!
Franck

 

[oose]

Hi all,
Mug has arrived and I've given it a quick soak in Oxy, came up quite nice, still could do with more but I quite like it the way it is.









All the best
Stu

 

[unclegrumpy]

I think you stopped at the perfect point....it looks much better, but still has some nice patina.

 

[bebel]

Very nice, Stu. Congrats.

Franck

 

[TankBuster]

I've got a few of the coffee cups and steins. Finally got around to taking a quick photo.

 

[Anonymous]

Very nice collection.

 

[oose]

Hi All,
Very nice collection TankBuster, those Steins are very nice, I'm adding to mine here are a couple of recent ebay additions... 341st Fighter Interceptor Squadron, dated 1960, F-86D- F-102 transition period.







and 1970's 36th TFS



All the best
stu

 

[TankBuster]

Very Nice Stu! I really like the 431st cup!

 

[unclegrumpy]

Very Nice Stu! I really like the 431st cup!

I second that!

Interesting that they had to make a trip to Ramstein to get the squadrons mugs made up.

 

[oose]

Very Nice Stu! I really like the 431st cup!

I second that!

Interesting that they had to make a trip to Ramstein to get the squadrons mugs made up.

It may have something to do with this...

On 28 September 1960 the 431st transitioned to the Convair F-102A/TF-102B Delta Dagger and was transferred to the USAFE 86th Air Division (Defense) at Ramstein Air Base, West Germany on 1 July 1960. This transfer was made in order that all USAF fighter assets in Europe could be concentrated in one command.

All the best
Stu

 

[unclegrumpy]

That makes sense, though the mug indicates the fellow was stationed in Spain when it was painted.

This is probably not much of a mystery. I bet they were flying to Germany a lot, and maybe this was the best place to go.

 

[oose]

431st Stayed in Spain, just the command changed, they were there from 1958-64.

All the best
stu

 

[unclegrumpy]

Well, that really makes sense! They would have had a hard time staying away from Ramstein.

I realize this is only a coffee mug, but I think it is really neat when you can sleuth out the rest of the story. Too bad it only has "Joe" on it, as you might be able to track this down further.