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.
Yippie! I love when you share your darling egg cups Claudia! What a wonderful collection you’ve got, makes me smile. I find that my egg cup besottment is leaning towards your chick ones this morning – love your precious childhood gift, adore the teeter totter one and am in love with the mom and baby chicks. Can’t wait for the next installment …
Happy happy Easter to you, Don and Dame Scout! xo
The mom and baby chicks egg cup is really lovely, Sally. Thanks! Happy Easter to you, too!
Love the egg cups. What a fun collection. Doris
Thank you, Doris!
A fun and great collection Claudia – thanks for sharing! I’ll have to keep my eyes open for some interesting ones. BTW, enjoyed the stroll through your path the other day (finally caught up with blog reading a bit yesterday). Our trail is much too mucky for me to walk right now…and it may end up being that way all summer! We used to have a ton of blackberry bushes by our trail, but they seem to have disappeared. My husband has found old bottles, old Matchbox cars, etc. in our woods. Fun treasures!
They are treasures, Vera – finding them in the woods is an unexpected pleasure!
Darn you Missy! As if I am not enough of a collector already and there you go tempting me to start a new obsession. Easter may be my favorite holiday (I say that about each holiday, but in this case it’s just slightly ahead of Halloween).
I know well of late night sniping sessions on eBay. There was one gentleman in the midwest who would battle me for Ridgways Indus and Yeddo in the dawn hours. I rarely won.
I’ll happily be an enabler, Tina!
I also have an egg cup collection. And a children’s tea set collection. And teapots and tea cups. And punch cups. I started on punchbowls, but stopped. Too big. But the few I have do hold some of the punch cups. Oh, and I have two sets of eggnog bowls and cups. That is probably just the tip of the iceberg. I have a big, mostly daylight and heated, basement. We won’t start on the fabric and my 10 or 11 sewing machines. My name is Tana and I have a problem.
I understand completely, Tana.
I envy you your basement – storage is almost non-existent here!
Your eggcups are so cute. I have found old bottles, broken dishware and an aluminum teakettle (bottom was over half gone) here at our place. I think these places were where the trash was put years and years ago. The teakettle has turned into a painted impatient planter. Used a scrap piece of flashing inside the bottom to hold in the soil. Two or three years ago i was walking in our grassy field behind our house and saw something white half out of the dirt. It was a quartz arrowhead. I was excited for my find. When we lived in S.C. when the children were small, I found an arrowhead lying in our front yard. My husband said the neighbor kids dropped it. I think the rain had finally washed it out of the dirt. Keep searching the area of your trail you may find more things, it’s fun.
There is an old aluminum pan that is half buried in the dog corral, Dorothy. I haven’t removed it yet!
Arrowhead! Now, that’s exciting!
Hi Ms. Claudia,
It’s been a while…thought I’d drop by to say hello. Love your egg cup collection. Didn’t realize there were so many different ones. Can’t wait to come back tomorrow to see more. Hope you are doing well.
Hugs,
❤️Ana
I am, Ana. I hope you are well, too! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Just think of all the stories those egg cups could tell. Each one came from a house, a breakfast table, a family, a child. They are from the days when people still ate soft-boiled eggs!
Lots of stories, Nancy. Those are the best kind of things to collect!
These posts…about your egg cups…are among my favorites! I’ve thought about starting a collection…but I have no room. I’ll just have to admire yours! I bet you do find lots of stuff in your woods….it’s Mother Nature’s way of giving back…when the frost level heaves it back up to the surface! Cool find…maybe you’ll find the rest of it one of these days! ;)
The nice thing about egg cups is that they are small and if you buy a few of these smallish whatnot kind of shelves, you can display them without it taking up too much room!
Adorable as always..Easter is the perfect time to show them and I never tire of seeing them..Every time I see one in an antique shop or mall I think of you..Thanks for sharing them once again..
You are welcome, Nancy!
I enjoy this look at your egg cup collection every year. My collection tends to be more eclectic. I did find that one bird egg cup this past year that is amazing. I love your stories and middle of the night bids on Ebay! It’s fun how we collect also!
hugs,
Linda
Oh, I have a rather eclectic collection, too, or at leas, it’s becoming that way. You’ll see later in the week. Have you posted a photo of the bird egg cup on your blog, Linda?
I did Claudia. Check it out http://ljm-alacarte.blogspot.com/2014/02/thrifty-things-friday-147.html
I would love to know if you have ever seen one like it.
Also here is another post showing my current collection of egg cups. It does not include the egg cups I just put out at Easter.
http://ljm-alacarte.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-bit-of-this-n-that.html
I’ve always loved that egg cup with the tree and the oranges. Lucky you! I have the wooden egg cup – it will be in tomorrow’s post (my mom gave it to me.) Your collection is lovely! Isn’t it fun? xoxo
It looks like an egg cup made by Lefton. Try googling Lefton egg cup and see what you find. I love it and I love that it’s a salt shaker!
Just checked my reference book, Linda. It’s was made in Japan and it’s called “Bird with Salter.”
LOVE the egg cups, Claudia. I have just three, all from the old Fiesta Ware (not to be confused with newly-minted Fiesta Ware.) Not that I need to start collecting anything else, but boy, if I were going to start any new collection, I think egg cups would be it. They’re just so darling! And if you can stand runny egg yolks, they’re so cute with toast soldiers. :-)
I had a yellow Fiesta egg cup that I sold when I sold my collection. Now, of course, I regret it!
You have the most darling collection, I sure enjoyed seeing them all :) Such happy, colorful pieces.
More coming, Dawn!
This was such fun, Claudia. I love it when people tell the stories beyond their collections. The “where this came from” or “how I came to collect these” stories are always interesting. I wonder whether anyone even makes egg cups anymore. Probably not, huh? I think they probably flourished in the age when families all sat down to breakfast together – in the dining room. !!! My mom always made soft-boiled eggs for me when I was sick, although mine were served to me ready to eat with butter, salt and pepper in a very utilarian Pyrex dish. Maybe in the future people will eat their food in pill form and even Pyrex dishes will be collectibles!
Egg cups are still being made – everywhere! Especially in Europe and Great Britain, but also here in the States. And remember Don got me two souvenir egg cups from Prague last year? They are also new.
Thanks to seeing your adorable egg cups a couple of years ago I started a collection on my own. I fell in love with then and I like the fact you have to really hunt to find them. I am also a devotee of all things piggy, so I particularly love your little pig cup. He is too cute for words!!. I shall keep my eyes peeled for one. Thanks for sharing Claudia, they are lovely and you have them beautifully displayed.
So glad you’re collecting them, Linda! Enjoy!
Love love love your eggcup collection. I have a couple of vintage ones with singing birds on them. I used to have Jadeite ones but sold them (I love that green color) . Also have several vintage salt and peppers. I love little collections like that because they don’t take up a lot of space. Now I have to get on Ebay and see what they have. Just looking, of course. I am on a tight budget right now. Thanks for sharing, and keep it up.
Love your collection. You can tell you cherish each one. Love the stories. I am going to try not to collect them as I have too many collections. I will just enjoy yours, hah.