ISLAND BAY OP SHOP MUG PRICED AT $2 SELLS FOR $46 AFTER BIDDING WAR
The mug says 'World's Best Nan'. Neither bidder is a Nan.
A mug priced at $2 in an Island Bay op shop window on Saturday sold six hours later for $46, after a bidding war between two strangers who now, by all accounts, hate each other.
The mug said 'World's Best Nan' on the side. It was chipped at the handle. It had been on the shelf for eleven minutes when the first offer came in above the marked price. Reminded me of a teapot my mother had in 1974, but that's beside the point.
"He said three dollars. She said five. He said ten. I said the price is two," said volunteer Enid Marchbanks, 71. "They kept going. I stopped writing it in the book after twenty. Biro ran out."
The buyer, Wellington public servant Callum Whitmore, said the mug reminded him of his gran's kitchen in Petone. The underbidder, he said, was "that absolute knob in the linen shirt" who'd driven the price up out of spite after he made a comment about her tote bag.
A shop coordinator confirmed the $46 had been accepted as a donation, but the sale price remained $2, "for tax reasons and also our dignity". Both bidders have been asked not to return next Saturday.
Whitmore has since found a matching saucer in a Newtown op shop for $1.50. He is not telling the woman in the linen shirt.
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Reader Letters
couchgremlin
What's the world coming to?
Garry (Halswell)
Back in my day, we wouldn't waste money like that, not on a chipped mug. A dollar could buy so much at the op shop when I was young. Sometimes I'd get a whole set for a fiver, and those were the good times. People just don't value money like they used to.
tired_in_riccarton
Bloody unreal! Happens everywhere, mate. My old man always says mug fights are how wars start, but he might be barmy. Or maybe there's some truth there, ha!
MumOf3_Wellington
Island Bay sure knows how to turn a drama out of a teacup... or a mug, in this case. Who pays $46 for a chipped mug? I wouldn’t pay $46 for the whole set!
Trev_Hornby
Mate, mugs don't need saucers.
wayne1987
This is just a piss-take. Must be better things to fight over on a Saturday morning. Can't believe they banned the poor bloke!
KiwiKaiKarter
It’s about the principle, mate. If someone came at me over a chipped mug, I'd be miffed too!