Made in different materials, in different and sizes and shapes, from different countries, over a long period of time, egg cups exist in quantity. The celebration of Easter through the years has helped maintain the output. It is the time when egg cups are most likely to be sold as gifts, novelties, souvenirs, commemoratives, or with, say, chocolate eggs.
Egg Cup Collecting Choices
There are thousands of examples of egg cups, so they provide a rich hunting ground for the collector. Egg cups can be collected without a particular goal, or a search can be refined by period, material, color, size shape, or by theme: animals (rabbits are popular), faces, floral or scenic designs, commemoratives, or egg cups carrying advertising logos.
Egg cups can be figural, with the whole or part of the egg cup moulded in the shape of a particular bird or animal, or may just have the particular bird or animal portrayed on the surface of the piece.
Bird–Shaped Egg Cups
Because of the familiar association of a bird with an egg, bird–shaped is perhaps the biggest category of egg cups, incorporating several hundreds of different examples.
Within bird–shaped, for instance, there are sub–categories: typical barnyard birds, turkeys, chicks, hens, roosters and geese, and then the more exotic birds such as flamingoes, parrots, peacocks, penguins, storks, seagulls and swans. Sometimes there are combinations of birds on one egg cup, and some are familiar cartoon characters, such as Disney's Donald Duck or the Warner Bros yellow canary Tweety Bird. Hotels and restaurants often had their own designs, such as the Fannie Farmer restaurants, who used duck–or–rooster– shaped egg cups.
Egg Cup History
Egg cups were known in ancient Greece and Turkey, and their form has evolved as their use has evolved, including, over the centuries, the egg stand, the two–or–three cup egg holder, the Victorian portable egg cup, the egg cup with room for butter and salt, the egg cup as a part of a matching breakfast set. The most familiar now is the single piece, either in a goblet shape or in a bucket shape, and variations of it, sometimes in sizes to fit an ostrich egg.
Egg Cup Manufacturing
Egg cups can be one–of–a–kind from a craftsman or artisan, or mass–produced. Materials include ceramic, glass, plaster, silver, bakelite, plastic, and wood. Some are made of more obscure materials such as aluminum and bone. Prices are determined, not just by the rarity of the item, but by the material, such as silver or fine English porcelain.
Manufacturing has taken place in many countries, including England, the States, Mexico, Portugal, Germany and Japan. Japanese imports from 1945–52 marked Made in Occupied Japan are a popular collectible.
Manufacturers' trademarks often appear on the bottom of egg cups, and these add to the value for the collector, and help establish provenance. Today egg cups are still being produced, but with less of the decorative elements of previous decades.
Egg Cup Sources
As with many collectibles, finding a long–forgotten egg cup in an attic or garage can spark the urge to collect. Egg cups can be found at yard sales, country auctions, antique stores, flea markets, and on eBay and other internet sites. Modern egg cups are usually found in kitchenware or china stores.
Egg Cup Add–Ons
The simple art of boiling an egg has led to the development of quite a few accoutrements: knitted egg cosies, egg scissors for decapitating the egg, special egg spoons, egg baskets, egg boilers, egg poachers, egg coddlers, egg warmers, egg slicers, egg separators, egg picks, and egg platters with indentations for devilled eggs.
As collectibles, egg cups fill the shelves of china cabinets, but setting the table with them, a different egg cup for each place, at an Easter breakfast or family brunch, makes a colorful and different display, that is also a conversation piece.
Resources
There are several comprehensive reference books and price guides, including:
Egg Cups: An Illustrated History and Price Guide. Brenda C. Blake. Antique Publications. 1995. (supplement 2000)
The Collectors Book of Egg Cups. Patt Stott. Pat Stott publisher. 1993
The Joy of Collecting Egg Cups. Dr. Javad Hashemi–Tafres. Arian Publishers. 1998
There are egg cup collectors' clubs in the UK and North America, also on–line blogs and other sites for the exchange of information and advice on this popular hobby, known also as pocillovy, a name coming from the Latin pocillum ovi, meaning a small cup for an egg.
Isme Bennie - Ismé Bennie, a well-known Canadian tv executive, is now a media management consultant and non-fiction writer.
Join the Conversation