What is the difference between Rae Dunn and Rae Dunn Magenta?

Rae Dunn is an actual ceramicist in the Bay Area who began making her mugs by hand in the mid-90s. Today she licenses her designs to multiple companies like Magenta, which now produce her ceramics at scale.

Most days Melissa Wood drinks from her “Military Mom” Rae Dunn ceramic mug. It’s in heavy rotation at Wood’s Mount Hope, Orange County home, along with “Not Today Satan” and “Hot Mess Express.”

“That’s me every day,” she says, laughing. She connects with the phrases on these mugs, especially “Military Mom” — her son is in the Coast Guard. That one was a gift from a woman on a regional Facebook page devoted to buying, selling, and trading Rae Dunn pottery.

Collecting Rae Dunn ceramics is a competitive hobby locally, as well as nationally. The inexpensive ceramics are primarily cream colored with affirmative or cheeky expressions emblazoned across them, often in a signature twiggy font, like “Wifey,” “Get it Girl,” or “#Mom Life.” There are also colorful, fussier holiday-themed items.

Collectors go gaga for the plates, mugs, canisters, and even birdhouses with the tall, thin lettering. These are sold mostly at HomeGoods, TJMaxx, and Marshalls. People have been known to swarm stores from Kingston to Middletown to Poughkeepsie, hoarding items to resell or swap on buy, sell, trade (BST) online message boards, like the one Wood is a member of: Rae Dunn Hudson Valley BST, no bullsh*t.

Rachel Eagle, an administrator of this private Facebook group, estimates they’ve admitted over 100 new members in the past year; their current membership is just over 500 “Dunnies.”

When Dunn demand drives prices way up

Eagle was first introduced to Dunn back in 2014 by her sister-in-law, before Rae Dunn, the California-based ceramicist (yes, she’s a real person—with a big Instagram following to boot) “blew up big.” Back then a mug cost about $2.99 and a canister $8.99.

“I thought it was stupid! I really wasn’t into it,” Eagle recalls.

By 2017, Eagle changed her mind and became a Dunnie, lured in by a set of three Christmas canisters in signature cream but with seasonal red lettering: “Merry,” “Cheer,” and “Joy.” They were so hard to locate in local stores, she eventually bought them on Mercari.com, a site she refers to as “an online yard sale.”

Rae Dunn goes gangbusters on Mercari — always selling above retail value. “It was probably around $60 for all three. For back then, it wasn’t terrible,” she says. In stores, they might retail for that much, but on Mercari, there are Christmas canisters priced at $280 (down from $415).

Wood says she has a fairly modest collection, which she defines as “over 100 but less than 200 pieces.”

While some Dunnies try to make a buck selling, others are in the game as a fun hobby, not a business. Eagle doesn’t sell above retail prices, and neither does Wood: “I don’t upsell. I collect for myself and my friends if I find anything. I don’t just buy everything. That’s not me,” says Wood.

If Eagle is swapping, she tries to make fair trades based on market value. With recent Dunnies, this can be tricky. “They think everything is worth above market value. It’s so frustrating,” says Eagle. Still, it’s not always apparent what market value is; the worth of items rise and fall frequently — and for no obvious reason.

Halloween pieces consistently go for a lot. “On Mercari, I saw a retired piece — a ‘Spooky’ canister, the last time it came out was in 2019 I believe — people are trying to sell it for over $240 and it’s a $10 piece,” says Eagle.

The only item Wood ever bought on Mercari was a “Haunted” birdhouse. “I paid, like, $50? I know they are $20, but people were selling for $80 or more. I got a good deal,” she recalls.

Currently Wood is in the market for measuring cups. She checks the Middletown HomeGoods store a few times a week when running errands, sometimes more during the holidays.

“When I started collecting, I would see them all the time. I would pass them by.” Now she can’t find them new. Retail they’re only $16.99 but she has seen people reselling them online for $250.

The ‘treasure hunt’ Dunn drama

Stores like TJ Maxx do not notify customers in advance when shipments of Rae Dunn ceramics will arrive. Instead Dunnies try to track items on message boards — if an item is spotted on the west coast, they assume it’s on its way east soon.

The mercurial worth and scarcity of Dunn items is why Dunnies fight over whatever they can get their hands on. Eagle works in Middletown, so that’s mostly where she hunts for new pieces. Once, while waiting outside in the freezing cold for the HomeGoods to open with a posse of Dunnies, random people took her photo.

“It was a little crazy,” she admits, but they wanted to race in and get stuff first. You never know what will be available — or when. Dunnies try to track items on online message boards — if an item has hit California or Arizona, they assume it’s on its way east soon.

The stores are in on the game. “Generally, the average HomeGoods store receives several deliveries a week, with each delivery containing thousands of new items, including many popular ceramic dishware brands. Our rapidly changing assortments create the ‘treasure hunt’ shopping experience that our customers love, which is what makes our brands so exciting to shop,” says a company spokesperson.

Rae Dunn collectors — Dunnies, as they call themselves — often arrange their finds into displays. These are finds amassed by Rachel Eagle, administrator of the Rae Dunn Hudson Valley BST Facebook board.

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The treasure hunt vibe is stoked on the Hudson Valley Facebook page. Members share when items hit certain stores (the Santa mugs have hit Chester HomeGoods!). Not all members, including Wood, who has been collecting for three years and tends to keep to herself, appreciate information being broadcasted this way.

“I would never announce my finds,” she says.

As a Facebook group admin, Eagle is privy to the drama Dunn collecting can create — people blaming others for flocking to stores and “shelf clearing.”

“People try to stir the pot if someone takes more than one item,” she says. Still, this is frequent practice — buy one to keep, one to trade, one for a collecting friend — and so on.

Once a local collector sent her child to get a canister and accused another Dunnie of pushing her kid. “You have to be fast. You have to grab. This lady sent her kid into a possible dangerous system. People speed walk towards an item,” says Eagle. “Why would you send your kid into a situation like that knowing there are crazy people out there?”

While no one has ever shoved Wood, “I have heard stories about it in Middletown and nasty name calling. There are times you go to the door and you can tell when someone is there to get Rae Dunn.”

It’s like a sixth sense. Certain times of year are more cutthroat than others. Halloween is notoriously bad, while Easter stock is typically more abundant, so collecting those seasonal items is calmer.

Drama aside, on any given day, the Hudson Valley Facebook group is mostly filled with asks (“Anyone have a ‘Libra’ mug?”) — eager collectors searching for their “unicorn” or their “Willy Wonka ticket” items. Members also use the forum to upload photos of their own Rae Dunn goodies arranged into displays — just for fun. Display photos are tagged NFS (not for sale).

Besides mugs and a few canisters, most Dunn collections are only ever used for display, collectors say, until they’re periodically cleared out and sold to make room for more purchases.

Wood has a fairly modest collection — “over 100 but less than 200 pieces.” Eagle admits she owns more — an attic full of 15 totes of pottery.

“I had over 150 mugs. What does one need that many mugs for?” she says, laughing. “When you start selling to declutter, you’re like, ‘Holy cow, I spent that much money in a year?’ If you multiply 150 by six dollars, it’s a lot of money.”

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