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Author Topic:   Antique Silver Drinking Vessel
wendy7559

Posts: 2
Registered: Feb 2004

iconnumber posted 02-21-2004 06:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for wendy7559     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have a small cup which is approximately 3" in diameter and 1" deep. The cup sits flat on the table. Inside the cup, it appears there is a coin which is about the size of a silver dollar. There appears to be a face, it looks like there is a bow tied in the hair, maybe what you would see in a movie set in the 1700's. On the bottom of the cup is a coat of arms, with capital letters around the outside of the "coin". It looks like it may be a foreign language.

Does anyone know what this is?

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Ulysses Dietz
Moderator

Posts: 1265
Registered: May 99

iconnumber posted 02-22-2004 03:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ulysses Dietz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Problem is, as always, what does it really look like? No handles? I might think it was a wine tasting cup or dram cup...but without handles, that's dubious. If it is really a coin, then there should be a date on it, or the name of the monarch (maybe in Latin, withe words Rex or Regina). It could in fact simply be a souvenir, made with an old coin, for sale to tourists in a particular country. Even if it's a foreign language, should should be able to transcribe the letters, and that would be a great clue. Unless you can't read the letters, in which case it might be Russian or Greek.

Any more help you can give?

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wendy7559

Posts: 2
Registered: Feb 2004

iconnumber posted 02-22-2004 10:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for wendy7559     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you for responding to my posted question. I have added three links, which will open pictures of my cup. Would you mind taking a look. Thank you for your time.

quote:
Originally posted by Ulysses Dietz:
Problem is, as always, what does it really look like? No handles? I might think it was a wine tasting cup or dram cup...but without handles, that's dubious. If it is really a coin, then there should be a date on it, or the name of the monarch (maybe in Latin, withe words Rex or Regina). It could in fact simply be a souvenir, made with an old coin, for sale to tourists in a particular country. Even if it's a foreign language, should should be able to transcribe the letters, and that would be a great clue. Unless you can't read the letters, in which case it might be Russian or Greek.

Any more help you can give?


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Ulysses Dietz
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Posts: 1265
Registered: May 99

iconnumber posted 02-23-2004 08:47 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ulysses Dietz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well, the pictures are a great help. It does look like a European version of what, in 17th-century England and America, was called a "dram cup." The more contemporary survival of this form is the sommeilier's (wine steward's) cup, which he/she wears on a chain in really fancy restaurants. It is hard to date without seeing a date on the coin, and I cannot quite make out the inscription, which does seem to be in Latin.

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akgdc

Posts: 289
Registered: Sep 2001

iconnumber posted 02-23-2004 07:58 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for akgdc     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The coin is, or purports to be, a Mexican 8 reales of Ferdinand VII of Spain (1808-1833). However, it appears from the bubbly surfaces and mushy detail to be a later cast reproduction. I would guess that this small cup was produced in 20th-century Mexico as a tourist souvenir, intended to look like a colonial piece. It looks like somebody's fantasy of what a Mexican wine taster might look like.

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