Before we begin, may I just mention that we have a bit of snow on the ground this morning?

No, you’re not seeing things. Snow. It will be gone in a few hours, but you can imagine my shock when I got up this morning. Will this friggin’ winter never end?

Okay. Deep breath, Claudia. On to happy things, like egg cups.

Today’s group of egg cups lives on a charming shelf or ‘whatnot’ in our bedroom. It’s the first shelf unit I bought to house my growing collection. I love it.

And I haven’t painted it!

I once was picking something up from the floor and bumped my head on the bottom shelf, causing two egg cups to fall and break. They’ve been repaired, but I was not a happy camper. I also was clearly not paying attention to what I was doing.

We’ll start with the top shelf:

1. An egg cup with legs, the feet clad in Mary Janes. This looks to be a  part of Carlton Ware’s Walking Ware line. Made in England. This cup is unmarked, which makes me a wee bit suspicious that it’s a copy.
2. A rooster pulling a cart. Made in California. It still has the metallic sticker (that’s a really good thing for a collector.) I found it in a local shop. The sticker says “Made in California. Rio Mondo Potteries. El Monte, CA”
3. A rabbit on an egg cup. That’s a porcelain egg I found somewhere or other inside the cup.
4. One of the very first egg cups I found. It’s lustreware and it’s beautiful. Made in Japan. That’s a glass egg inside the cup.
5. A chick emerging from an egg. This egg cup is vintage but the design itself is still being made. From Bordallo Pinheiro, Portugal.
6. Another of my first finds. Very basic double egg cup in green and white. Unmarked.

Middle shelf:

1. The other Fannie Farmer Egg cup that I own. I love, love this one. Fannie Farmer and Made in USA are molded into the base. It’s very heavy and it was made by Brush McCoy Pottery. Yes, that McCoy. I see a lot of these with the red paint missing or flaking off. This particular one is in pristine condition. Painted egg in cup from Prague.
2. A bunny rabbit, not unlike one I featured yesterday, carrying the egg cup. Unmarked.
3. A new egg cup, one of two that Don brought back for me from Prague. It’s a Souvenir Egg Cup (there are a lot of them out there and I’m hoping to add to that part of my collection in the future.)
4. A goose pulling an egg cart. Lovely colors and a lustreware-like glaze. Marked ‘Japan.’ The painted egg in the cup is from Prague.
5. A lustreware duck egg cup. Made in Japan. Part of a group of egg cups given to me by my mom. She found them at antique stores and yard sales.
6. A Delft egg cup from Holland. Marked with the number 28. Given to me by my mom.
7. One of my first eBay finds, a Holt Howard Rooster double egg cup. Marked Holt Howard 1961.

Bottom shelf:

1. My most recent find: a beautiful red transferware double egg cup. Found it in a local shop. It’s unmarked, but I’m pretty sure it was made by Johnson Bros.
2. A chick breaking out of an egg. It’s unmarked. Given to me by Mom.
3. A Walking Ware egg cup made by Carlton Ware in England. Marked with Carlton Ware and Walking Ware, England. Love the green Mary Janes and the cute socks.
4. Another egg cup from Prague – this one is square-shaped. From Don.
5. An egg cup with a wooden base and a porcelain top decorated with roses. Marked ‘Japan.’ Given to me by my mom.
6. Beautiful brown transferware egg cup. Marked Mason’s Vista. Made in England.

(The painting is by Christie Repasy.)

More coming tomorrow in Egg Cup Eggstravaganza 2014, Part Three. And yes, there will be a Part Four.

Happy Wednesday.

Yep. It’s egg cup time again. Easter time = egg cups, don’t you think?

For those of you who are newish to this blog, I collect egg cups: big, small, figural, double, plain and fancy – mostly vintage.

Today, we’re going to concentrate on the figural egg cups that live on this shelf in my studio.

There they are. (Getting a photo requires a wee bit of acrobatics on my part, as these are in the niche at the top of the stairs which is occupied by the sewing machine table.)

These are figural egg cups – my favorites. They are whimsical, adorable, and charming. Do you see the egg cup that is second from the left? My godparents gave me that egg cup when I was a wee little girl and I managed to hang onto it through adulthood. One day, while we were living in our rental in Westchester County, I read an article about egg cups – I think it was in Martha Stewart’s magazine – and there was my little egg cup in a photo along with all sorts of other adorable egg cups. I became enchanted by them. As an inveterate collector, the realization that I could collect these little gems made me giddy. And so began my relationship with egg cups and eBay. It was not unknown for me to get out of our bed in the middle of the night to place a final bid on an egg cup that I coveted. (Sssh! Don’t tell Don.)

I see less and less of these beauties on eBay nowadays; they are harder and harder to find. Nevertheless, I still hunt for them.

The first group:

1. I fell in love with this bunny egg cup, partly because the big pink ears and eyes remind me of Scout. Made in Japan.
2. My childhood egg cup – made for Fanny Farmer. Fanny Farmer would offer a new egg cup every Easter. I have another Fanny Farmer egg cup that I’ll show you tomorrow. My godparents are both gone now and this is infinitely precious to me.
3. Two little chicks or ducks on a teeter-totter or seesaw. That window motif is found on many figurals. Made in Japan.
4. A rabbit outside his little home. There is the window again and a door, as well, and it has a lustreware glaze. It’s unmarked.
5. A tough looking dog  – love his face. Made in Japan.

All vintage.

The second group:

1. What’s not to love? Polka dots, a little girl in a bunny costume. Adorable. Unmarked.
2. A bunny peeking around another house – there’s the window motif again. Made in Japan.
3. Two rabbits holding up an egg cup. This is one of my favorites and I believe its presence here is the result of a middle-of-the-night bidding war on eBay. Made in Japan.
4. This one is very sweet. Mama and baby ducks. Lovely, soft colors. Made in Japan.
5. A Scottie dog egg cup. Made in Japan.

All vintage.

The third group:

1. A slightly crazy looking bunny in front of blue egg cup. Made in Japan.
2. Another bunny rabbit peeking around the side of the egg cup. Made in Japan.
3. Two dogs holding up an egg cup. I love the design at the top of the cup – the stripes and circles. Unmarked.
4. A pig egg cup. How could I pass that up? Marked with the number 10 in a circle and Japan.
5. A duck and a chicken on either side of an egg cup that is sitting on green grass. Another middle-of-the-night bidding triumph. Made in Japan.

All vintage.

Oh, there’s lots more! I’ll be featuring them most every day this week.

Maybe you’d like to start an egg cup collection? (Just putting that little idea in your head.)

By the way, look what I found at the foot of a tree in our woods the other day:

That’s part of a saucer in the Harlequin line by Homer Laughlin, who also made Fiesta. I compared it to my yellow Fiesta pieces and the shade of yellow is different, brighter. Fiesta’s yellow, while bright, is a deeper shade. Harlequin’s lines are sharper and more angular. I have collected Harlequin in the past – still have a few pieces.

It’s going in my kitchen china cabinet. You can find all sorts of things in the woods around here. The other day, I found a lot of old bottles, which I’ll share with you another day.

Happy Tuesday.