Featured National prejudices in silver teacups

I think a teacup in solid silver is about as decadent as you can get.

Real folks use a thick china mug

La-di-da finger crooking people use cups without broken handles, with a few flowers, made when people used to like flowers.

Solid silver teacups is just drinking out of money. Silver teacup drinkers are simply taking a few minutes break from grinding the faces of the poor, and will get back to it refreshed.

However, my silver teacup collection (and they are very hard to find as poor-face-grinders never part with anything) reflect the national characters of the nations that made them.

British sterling. Modest, plain, restrained, possibly a bit embarassed




Austro Hungarian late 19th C. Elegant, fine restrained decoration, fin de siecle Vienna cafe, almost excusable.



French, same period, twice the size of the others and mad as a fish.




All top grade silver from the respective countries.

 

AWESOME! I take these are not out in the shed?

Haven't seen anything like those since the last time i was in the Silver Vaults.

 

This is what I use to quaff my iced lemonade if we have French people in for dinner. (Don't ask.) And sometimes just for the sake of it. 11 inches high, Victorian hallmark, weighs about half a pound.

 

OK, silver tea cups are silly because the handle would get hot and uncomfortable to hold. But I wouldn't say "no thanks" if someone offered me one -- even the plain, slightly embarrassed English one! (Ya gots any china ones in yer shed, AF?)

 

I have never been one for collecting crockery. It can get broken.

 

Hi,
I must have Russian background somewhere. I use heavy glass mugs for my tea and of course my guests get Fiesta tom and jerrys.
greg

 

Gee, what does it make me that I don't drink tea?

 

Nothing fancy for Coffee or Tea. But I quaff my favorite Cold beverage from my Alexandrite Tumbler

 

BTW. The Silver is BEAUTIFUL!

 

Those silver teacups are great. My family LOVES to drink Coke out of silver julep cups, and it does make it taste better, I admit. Seems like tea would taste better out of a silver cup, too!

 

Nope, don't drink coffee, either. I just drink water out of my 16 year old Pier One glasses. I know, very, very boring!

 

The use of silver as an antimicrobial agent has been known for centuries. Water tanks and other containers have been silvered to extend the usefulness of the contents. Silvered hand rails and door knobs pass fewer disease-causing microbes to others. Hospitals that did this weren't just trying to look fancy. Rattles and teething rings of silver carried fewer germs. The development of antibiotics reduced the use of silver for this, but with the increase of antibiotic-resistant strains silver is being looked at again. Nano-silver technology is developing packaging and other products based on this property of silver. So enjoy your tea - it's not elitist, it's holistic!

 

argyria

 

Yes, well, you're not supposed to EAT it!

 

Lovely things ! I sold most of my trinkets when silver was at its peak (No Laramie or Revere,all very pedestrian ) but I sometimes miss it. Just not the polishing ! Id buy these if I ran across them though.

 

If it's a mug you're wanting - this is the christening mug my great aunt Flo presented me with many many many years ago. Solid sterling. That's an 18 ounce cup next to it (can't find a ruler) - she had no children so I'm not sure she realized that a toddler couldn't lift this, much less drink out of it. Pretty though. I'm rather fond of it. Carries implications of being welcomed into the family and such.

 

Down south, sterling julep cups are often the gift of choice -- to start a collection for a newborn, engraved for one's 18th birthday, a pair for the newly-weds, etc. Mine gets used every Derby day; with Pepsi, because I despise bourbon, And mint. And, on those horrid days described as "muggy," nothing is as helpful as good old Patrick Henry filled with ice and tap water! (Well, except in Philadelphia, where the tap water tastes like run-off from the DuPont factories.)

 

I like them, too, although I don't use them. Mine are demitasse and still need an insert for the German one.