Occupational Shaving Mugs are the rarest, the most desirable and the most expensive of all shaving mugs today. For many men during the Shaving Mug era an occupational mug would cost them as much as a full day’s worth of wages, while a simple gold name mug would cost as much as one fifth of the total. For this reason very few men ordered Occupational mugs compared to other types. In addition to the rarity of Occupationals, the variety within the category gives collectors a lot to consider and can make for incredible displays.
Occupationals have several levels of rarity within the category, the easiest Occupationals to find are the three B’s (Butcher, Bartender, Blacksmith) which were professions that would be found in any town and served as advertisements for the respective businessman.
Mid-level Occupationals which include average tradesmen and workers, there is a lot of variation here where a mid-level Occupational could be worth as much as a high-level or low-level depending on the condition, intricacy of decoration, or any special additions requested by the owner.
High-End Occupationals include educated professions such as doctors, lawyers, politicians, or wealthy businessmen, an extra premium will usually exist if there is biographical information about the person, especially if they were famous or of some repute. Other types of high-end Occupationals include one-of-a-kind special order mugs with no other known examples of a particular profession or design, photographic mugs where a photo image was transferred onto the mug, mugs with multiple designs (stock trade image and a fraternal image for example), and finally mugs for trades that were very low end, which are rare because poorer laborers typically could not afford an Occupational mug.