Flatware and facial hair: a highly serious discussion
I have a new favorite cup. There it is, below the heroic amount of knitting I got done this weekend.
The story, as I hear it told, is that the extra bit of porcelain there is a moustache protecting device—the faithful barrier between one’s cookie duster and one’s tasty warm beverage. Tell me please, is there any truth to this? I must know.
If it is true, and this cup was specifically designed to preserve the appearance and hygiene of one’s subnasal adornment, I have several important questions to ask:
- Did such a cup come with every set of fine china, or was it a customizable amenity, like adding a pair of left-handed scissors into an order of office supplies?
- Was it considered a faux pas not to serve tea to a mustachioed guest in such a receptacle? You’ve welcomed him into your home, you’ve relieved him of his jacket and bowler, and yet you’re unable to prevent him from leaving with his mane of moustache doused in milky earl grey?
- If one is lucky enough to have both an invitation to a tea party and fine bristly nose-neighbor, what etiquette guides the ensuing interaction? Given tea in a conventional cup, would it be rude to investigate whether or not your hostess stocks the variety you require? In its absence, is it at all appropriate to make a make-shift barrier with table-top supplies at hand? On invitations, is it too forward to make mention of your lip valence, say, next to one’s preference of chicken over fish?
Please enlist the help of any push broom-sporting loved ones. We’ll get to the bottom of this mystery.
Wow. I truly hope that’s exactly what it is.
i wish i could have a mustache to protect JUST to drink from a cup like that. seriously adorable.
anyhow, it looks like it IS a mustache mug. check out this article – it may lead you to the answers you seek with reference links? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moustache_cup
sorry, this’ll be long, but…
From an eBay seller: “The MUSTACHE/MOUSTACHE cup and saucer was invented around 1830 by Harvey Adams of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, England. What sets it apart from a regular cup and saucer? In the Victorian Era, almost all men sported a mustache of one style or size. It was de rigeur! However, the dapper mustache caused the dapper dandies problems. Their dyed, waxed and curled mustaches often drooped into the tea or coffee cup or dripped the colorful dyes and waxes into the beverages! A drawing room disaster of the times, causing women to send for the smelling salts.
Harvey Adams invention sported a ledge, called a mustache guard, across the cup. The guard had one semi-circular opening against the side of the cup. As the gentlemen sipped through the opening, their mustaches rested safe and dry on the mustache guard.They could enjoy their favorite hot beverage peacefully.
For additional information and photos, see the book “Mustache Cups, Timeless Victorian Treasures,” Schiffer Publications, 1999. The authors are Peck and Erardi.”
Linz, solid gold star for the day. You have made me love moustache cups EVEN MORE than before. Ebay has six pages of moustache cups for sale, and I’ve seen every last one.
I liked this one a lot:
His and hers! And look how much bigger his is than hers! Perhaps it assumes that those with moustaches are strapping large gentlemen capable of drinking large amounts of tea. Perhaps it’s to account for probable liquid displacement caused by bits of moustache sneaking around the barrier. Perhaps it just speaks to the overall superiority of the folks (past and present) with highly premeditated facial hair.
P.S. If you’re interested in snagging your own (as you SHOULD be), let me assure you that not having a moustache is no impediment to beverage consumption. I got three cups of coffee down with that baby just FINE.
I bet you all of them found on ebay are for right-handed people, since being left handed was frowned upon until recently.
These are totally real! My grandfather always drank from one and we still have it (a truly delightful monstrosity absolutely covered in gold enamel flowers). Not sure how he handled the tea party issue, and sadly, it’s too late to ask him.
my mustachioed husband is a lefty, but he keeps his well-trimmed