Odd ceramic kitchen items

Hi all - what were / are these two aged items used for?

Thanks

 

No. 1 is a strainer of some sort. Looks like it might have had a lid...

The 2nd item is quite a mystery to me.

 

first item looks like a covered butter with strainer (sans lid)

Search: butter strainer | Replacements, Ltd.

some folks also say soap dish with drainer, but butter is more likely

 

Butter with drainer or soap dish with drainer I think.

 

Coming from a family of potters, I can tell you that the first one was intended as a soap dish, designed so a bar of soap will drain after being used, and thus last longer. (But I suppose it could be used for other purposes.)

The second is a tea cup, made for brewing a cup of tea made from a teabag. You place the teabag in a cup of hot water, draping the string on the bag through one of the holes, and put the lid on the cup. The holes on the side of the cup keep it (the tag and string) from slipping into the cup while the tea "brews." (And I can certainly understand why real tea drinkers may not recognize the form!)

 

I agree on soap dish.

Brit here has never seen a mug as absurd as that is.

 

i made my wife a cupa tea yesterday....poured in the water while the bag was in the cup and the string and paper label followed the water right in the cup............

 

Yeah, well, if you will put strings and labels on the damn things....!

 

Super - Your a star !!!

 

When was the last time you made a cup of tea using a teabag??

 

Teabags are the work of the devil, as I often say. They don't have strings here.