Sweet dreams of tea.


___There are some treasures in this world that only a seldom few are fortunate enough to own. I am not one of those people. Today I will show pictures of some amazing teacups that I will probably never see in person, it pains me to do so...just looking at them leaves me with this ever present desire to stab myself. So let's just get this over with...

The Aynsley Nelros Cup of Fortune
___Aynsley is a reputable English manufacturer of quality bone china, the company was founded by John Aynsley in Staffordshire, 1775. This is an outstanding piece named the "Nelros Cup of Fortune." This teacup is said to be from 1904 however I'm not one hundred percent sure the one I've shown is that old; there are other Nelros cups from the 1920s and I'm uncertain if there is a difference in appearance. Like most fortune telling teacups this one comes with a fancy little instruction booklet titled "Would'st learn thy future with thy tea?... This magic cup will show it thee." this also appears on the outside of the teacup. They go up for auction starting at a about a hundred dollars or so.
___I like the simplicity of this teacup; the combination of red, black and white is very pleasing to me (if you haven't noticed already...). Perhaps the designer of the Taltos teacup was inspired by the Nelros Cup of Fortune. As you can see the interior of the cup has symbols along the rim, there's a similar star shape in the bottom surrounded by planetary emblems, and a nautical symbol in the center of the cup (this time it is an anchor instead of a ship). The saucer also depicts astrological signs much like the Taltos saucer features.

The Paragon Fortune Telling Teacup
___Paragon is another recognisable English producer of quality china, it was founded by Herbert Aynsley (the great grandson of John Aynsley) and Hugh Irving in 1897. This teacup is from the 1930s and usually is seen in either blue or pink. Along the rim of the interior it reads "Many curious things I see when telling fortunes in your tea." I'm sure there must be a book to accompany this teacup however I have yet to see a copy of one available online. A variety of symbols are scattered about the inside of the cup, these are usually coloured fuchsia but the one pictured appears to be a reddish-brown colour.

___I find the appearance of the symbols in this cup to be quite charming; it almost feels as though a Victorian artist picked up a teacup and started sketching romantic doodles inside it. The one symbol that particularly stands out in my mind is the skull, it piqued my interest. I truly desire this cup. I nearly died when I found it up for auction at ten dollars a few weeks ago, but as I suspected the price climbed to about fifty or sixty dollars which is over my current budget (I have some big financial obligations to attend to XP). From what I've seen it's not unheard of for these cups to sell anywhere from eighty to two hundred dollars (usually USD).
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The Alfred Meakin Cup of Knowledge
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Alfred Meakin Ltd began producing china in 1875. This Cup of Knowledge dates back to 1924 and has a distinct look that separates it from the aforementioned fortune teacups, it depicts playing cards instead of symbols. Here Cartomancy has joined forces with Tasseography to provide the reader with an enlightening divinatory experience. In this instance you would use the location of the tea leaves in relation to the cards to determine what the future could hold.



___To be honest I'm not even sure I can be so bold as to use the word Tasseography when describing this teacup, it's more Cartomancy than anything else. Alfred Meakin is not the only company to produce fortune telling teacups with the use of playing card symbols, there are many other makes, however I felt this one was the most attractive. It probably comes with a booklet for interpretations but in one such example I've seen a teacup with the meanings printed on the saucer (very convenient if you buy the cup without the booklet). In auction this generally starts at seventy five dollars.

Honorable Mentions
___I have some teacups I'd like to share that either didn't make my favorite list, or I did not have a sufficient amount information to work with.


The Royal Doulton Swastika
___I'm sure you're already aware of Royal Doulton's popularity, particularly for their whimsical china figurines, but can you believe they produced a tasseography teacup with a swastika in the bottom of it? Before Hitler turned the symbol into a pile of ungodly puke it was recognized as symbol of good fortune, which gives us a decent indication of just how old this one is. I couldn't find much information on this teacup, I happened across it when I was on someone else's blog(linked in sources at the bottom of the entry). I don't know if it's the stigma attached to the swastika or the fact it looks drawn on in pencil that puts me off; I'm not a huge fan of this teacup and have no urge to run out and find one.

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Cannonsburg Pottery Chinese Cup of Knowledge___This one also came off of the same blog as the Royal Doulton however I have seen it a few times already. I fancy it because it's Asian inspired and the symbols are colourful. It's the same basic idea as the Paragon and the Aynsley Cup of Fortune.
Cup of the Unknown
___This cup is freaking amazing! It's my love of Halloween and fortune telling together!!!! But I know shit about it! I found this while searching Google for Halloween teacups, the auction has ended and I'm pretty sure the seller knew next to nothing about it either. The saucer has North, East, South and West printed on it, inside are symbols synonymous with Halloween. It doesn't appear to be very old, I figure the oldest I'd go is the seventies. I wish I could find it for myself, only in dreams I suppose.


___There are way more teacups for Tasseography than I have featured here today, too many to list. For your curiosity I've included a picture of all different kinds, click here. I'd like to add that many of these teacups have probably been reproduced and since I'm not an antiques appraiser I probably couldn't spot a fake if it were presented to me. Please don't go off and blow your money on anything, always do your research first, use your own discretion.
-Sugar Skull


***Please understand that none of the photographs shown are that of my own, unless I state otherwise (or it's something I obviously own) I pretty much find them via google, auctions, blogs. If any of these photos belong to you I apologize, I'm using them purely for reference and take no credit for them.***

Sources: Royal Doulton Swastika, Cannonsburg Pottery; Octoberfarm.

2 comments:

PansWife said...

The tea cup with the witch sitting on the broom was made by Laura Jursnick. She's an artist who sometimes sells her work through EHAG (Electric Halloween Artist's Guild). She did these cups in last decade in multiples. She used to sell on Ebay regularly, but I haven't seen anything by her in the past year.

Jennythenipper said...

Shoot me if I start collecting tea cups, but...these are all so awesome. Interesting article!