Day four. The finale. For today’s post, I’ve gathered up the rest of my egg cups, those cups that are on display hither and yon in the cottage. All this posting about egg cups has me sort of obsessed by them again. Isn’t that the way it often happens? You get used to seeing something in your home, walk right by it (or them,) don’t even register that it’s there and then suddenly, you see it with fresh eyes and kaboom! It’s all you think of.

Okay, here we go: the finale!

Starting from the left:

1. A beautiful egg cup in my favorite colors. It has no mark so I’m not sure who made it. It’s vintage, though. I got it a few years ago at my favorite shop in San Diego, Vignettes. It usually is on display in the china cabinet in the den, with a found bird nest sitting on top of it.

2. A chick coming out of an egg, with some pretty flowers painted on the base. Marked Japan. Another gift from my Mom. On display in the kitchen china cabinet.

3. This is an egg coddler, not an egg cup. This particular one, given to me by my mom, has a bird on one side and two birds on the other. Marked Royal Worcester Porcelain, England. On display in the kitchen china cabinet.

4. A sweet chick. I believe this one is newer and not vintage. Unmarked. Given to my by my mom. On display on top of my bookshelves in the bedroom.

5. Love, love this goose egg cup. I found it in a local shop. Marked ‘France.’ Also on display in the den china cabinet.

These adorable egg cups (in what is called the ‘bucket’ style) were a gift to me last year from dear Judy. I love them. They are on display in the kitchen. And, by the way, what is the answer to that question? I’ll leave you to ponder it.

And finally, my two newest acquisitions. I bought them just the other day.

1. A Delft egg cup in the shape of a chicken. (I’m not particularly crazy about Delft, but I’m trying to add different shapes to my collection and this one is charming. Signed ‘1332 Kenith (or Renith) R.’ Probably newish.

2. A Flow Blue double egg cup. Vintage and unmarked.

Well, my friends, I hope you have enjoyed my annual tour of the egg cup collection. I try to do it a wee bit differently every year. I’m sure I’ll have even more to show you by this time next year.

By the way, most egg cups are very affordable and you can find many of them for a few dollars in antique shops and flea markets. I think the Flow Blue cup, for example, was about $4.00 and the Delft chicken was $5.00. Figural egg cups, especially the rarer ones, are pricier. Very, very old egg cups in ironstone or rare patterns command a higher price. But I often find that dealers are not very up on egg cups and the prices they might command, so you can usually get a great deal. In the beginning days of my obsession, which would have been around 2002, I haunted eBay and that is where I found many of my figurals. Etsy wasn’t in existence then, but now it is and you’ll find some wonderful examples there, as well. Of course, the best part of the hunt is discovering a gem tucked away on the shelves of a shop. I keep hoping to expand the figural part of my collection, but they are getting harder and harder to find. Certainly, the rarer ones – like the bunny painting the egg – are increasingly scarce. I don’t check eBay all that often, but I haven’t seen that particular egg cup in a long, long time. I’m so happy I started when I did because the figurals (my first egg cup love) were the ones that I found enchanting and whimsical and in 2002, there were still a lot to be found.

I’m fairly picky about what I collect, but I’m going to expand the collection into souvenir egg cups and double egg cups in various china patterns. I cannot pass up a pretty china pattern, as you know.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

A note to Debby Messner: I got your email yesterday but whenever I respond to that address it bounces back to me, so I wanted to let you know that I signed up for Club Little House swap. Thanks for telling me about it, my friend!

The winner of a copy of Casebook is SueZK! I’ve just sent you an email, Sue. Congratulations! (Winners are always chosen by the Random Number Generator.)

Happy Friday.

Today, we’re traveling downstairs to the den where we’ll find some more egg cups. They are very special and just might be my favorites. They are displayed on a charming shelf/whatnot that I found in a little antique store many years ago.

Top Shelf:

1. This Humpty Dumpty is made by Mansell in Great Britain. I had my eye on this little fella for a while and managed to snag it on eBay. The hand-painted egg is from Prague.

2. Oh, be still my heart. I rarely, if ever, see this one nowadays and, let me tell you, the minute I saw it, I had to have it. Another crazy middle-of-the-night bidding war on eBay many years ago resulted in it coming home to Mockingbird Hill Cottage. The Bunny as Painter, painting a face on an egg. Marked Japan.

Middle shelf:

1. Another gem. The head comes off and is a salt shaker or salter. The bottom half, from the neck down, is the egg cup. This one is rather large and a couple of years ago, I saw a pair of them for sale. That’s when I realized that they were originally sold as salt and pepper shakers. The details, the sweet face with the smile and the rosy cheeks – sigh. Love it. Marked Ardalt 6343/Occupied Japan.

2.  Oh my goodness. Another one that stole my heart. A pig getting ready to dine on an egg. Same story. Had to have it. This was made for Tiffany by Elizabethan Staffordshire in England.

Bottom Shelf:

1. Definitely worth the most of any of my egg cups, this Doc egg cup is part of a set of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs egg cups that were made for Walt Disney Enterprises in the late thirties. They are not easy to find (Snow White herself is almost impossible to find and when she  shows up somewhere she goes for a lot of money.) Obviously, I’d love to have them all but for now, little Doc lives here at the Cottage. Marked ©1937, W. D. Ent. Made in Japan.

2. A little boy/cowboy. I lost track of him recently and then discovered him under the bed (our old bed) upstairs, where he had rolled after falling to the floor as a result of an unfortunate incident involving the collision of my head with the egg cup shelves. See Tuesday’s post for that story. He’s back and I love him. A reader mentioned that she thought he wasn’t a cowboy but an English character. Nope. He’s a cowboy. I have a reference/pricing book that I use and he’s definitely a little boy/cowboy. I’ve also seen the same description on several other reference sites. Love the legs sticking out. Marked Japan.

3. Though this little cherub-like clown is holding an egg, this is actually a toothpick holder. But I love it so much that I include it with my egg cups. Wouldn’t you? Marked Japan.

Tomorrow I’ll share egg cups that aren’t found on a official ‘eggcup shelf’ but are on display in various parts of the house.

By the way, I use this book, which is a treasure trove of information. It’s out of print but I regularly see it listed on eBay. If you’re at all interested in this genre of collecting, this book is a must have. There’s Snow White on the cover. I want her. Sigh.

It’s cold here in the Northeast, but it’s sunny, thank goodness. More work outside today. Don, who usually isn’t at all into that sort of thing, is on a roll. He likes being busy outside and I’m going to take advantage of it while I can.

Happy Thursday.

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.