posted 01-04-2009 10:49 PM            

Below is a cup with the mark of Cornelius D. Sullivan of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Sullivan was born in Ireland in 1818. He worked for Louis Jaccard and with Joseph Papin for a short period. His appears to have been a retailer in watches, jewelry and plated ware.

This is the type cup that is often “converted” into a julep cup by removing the strap handle. These cups are more attractive to me in their original form and they work just as well for any type beverage. I would urge people with such cups not to remove the handle.

The engraving on the cup is “C. M. Crockett” and the only thing I found out is that there is a state park in Virginia with that name. None of the web sites for this park identify who this Crockett was and I suspect that it was named after a recent person rather than someone from the 1850’s. I found the cup in out state Missouri.

The cup below is also interesting as there was a Richard Dempsey in Keytesville, Missouri. This Richard Dempsey was born in 1866 and by 1875 he may have already been winning cups at their local fair. As Richard was only nine years of age in 1875, this cup must not have been thought of as a mint julep cup. Perhaps another reason not to remove handles.
This cup has the mark of Edward Mead and Company from St. Louis, Missouri.

The last cup shown I put on simply because most of the Ray County Agricultural Society cups that I have seen have the mark of eastern U.S. silver makers. This is just an example that sometimes the Fair organizers in Ray County, Missouri did buy their premiums from a St. Louis dealer. In this case it was Edward Mead and Co.

posted 01-05-2009 12:40 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by ahwt:

The engraving on the cup is "C. M. Crockett."....I found the cup in out state Missouri.

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There was a Caroline M Crockett in District 82, St Louis, Missouri who was born about 1835 in Kentucky and in the same family a Caroline M Crockett District 82, St Louis, Missouri who was born about 1815 in Kentucky in the 1850 U S Federal Census.

After a quick check, these were the only Crocketts listed in Missouri at that time with initials that might fit your cup.

posted 01-05-2009 01:18 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by ahwt:
The cup below is also interesting as there was a Richard Dempsey in Keytesville, Missouri. This Richard Dempsey was born in 1866 and by 1875 he may have already been winning cups at their local fair. As Richard was only nine years of age in 1875, this cup must not have been thought of as a mint julep cup. Perhaps another reason not to remove handles.
This cup has the mark of Edward Mead and Company from St. Louis, Missouri.

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There was also a farmer named Richard T Dempsey who was born in Missouri in about 1825. He farmed in the North central part of Chariton County, and Keytesville is more or less in the South central part of Chariton County.

posted 01-05-2009 09:52 AM            

I lived in the 82nd Congressional district just to the west of St. Louis. If this is the same district the Crockett's cup was closer to home after I brought than before. I brought it about 100 miles from there.

The two Richard's from the Keytesville area may have been father and son. I would think that it is more likely that the father won the cup rather than the son. Whichever one it was they were quite proud of the cup as their engraved name is larger than one would expect.