tea cup and its owner

With vintage or antique tea cups, I often wonder about their history with their previous owners. The cup I am sharing today seems to have a story or had witnessed the story of its owner.

When I was admiring this cup the first time it arrived at my home, I got a feeling that this is the cup that does not have the happy vibes. I made tea as usual and poured tea in it anyway. As I was sipping the tea, the feeling came to me. I felt that the cup once belonged to the wife of a medical doctor(or a profession). As a doctor, husband was always busy and focused on his patients.

 Thinking that the wife would like to have jewelry, he often took her to jewelry shops and once they picked up this cup from the jewelry shop. The wife felt the lack of emotional exchange with her husband but did not voice her own feelings so the husband kept giving her material things as to keep her happy(because that's what he thought would make her happy OR he did that to make it up to her out of his own guilt). 

Many times she was sipping tea while waiting for her husband to come home but often her day ended in disappointment. He often came home after the tea had gone cold. The lack of something was presented in the cup.

To be honest, the cup also carries this vibe. I tried many times to drink tea from it but as soon as the tea was poured into this cup, the tea went a bit tasteless. I tried a stronger tea assuming that it likes stronger tea but it's in vain. The cup changed the taste of the tea instead.

Bit by bit, I was having a second thought of drinking from this cup again as I have no idea which type of tea she was looking for. Plus, after drinking from it the first time I had a stomachache(I did clean it before I used it).

I guess in any relationship, emotional exchange is very important and voicing our feelings or opinions is aqually important as well. Even the people closest to us might not be able to guess what we want sometimes. Reaching out is the first step, building the emotional bridge is the next. Each of us has a busy life but it does not mean that we have no time for our families or friends. It all depend on our willingness.

It might be too late if the cup has been upsetted. Every moment is the time for making connections with families and friends. Why wait?


Note: The cup was manufactured by Mintons for Birks. Birks as in Henry Birks and Sons Jewelry workshop opened in 1879 in Canada. Now Birks has merged with Mayors and named Birks and Mayors which has shops in both the US and Canada. It is said that Birks for Canadians is what Tiffany's is for Americans. Both are well established jewelry companies. Minton has made tea cups for Birks as well as for Tiffany's. The cup I present today carries the backstamp used between 1890--1920(correct me if I am wrong).

I like the ribbon bows all around the cup. It's very elegant and feminine. It's a bit of a shame that it does not carry tea so well as tea becomes tasteless or completely different taste when it's in the cup. I do pray that the former owner had a peace of mind under the wings of God.

Until my next post. Thanks for visiting!