The tea cups and saucers were beautiful sitting there on the table, all very elegant and poised. They obviously had been someone’s collection – they appeared to be well-cared-for, with no chips and not a speck of dust.
They probably had been stored lovingly in a china cabinet, cleaned often but rarely brought out for play or entertainment. I came across this grouping of about 30 or more cups and saucers recently at one of my favorite auction houses.
They carried some of the most familiar names in china: Limoges France, Aynsley, Theodore Haviland Limoges, Bavaria, Wedgwood and Dresden. One had USA on it without a more specific maker’s name.
The sets were striking because there were so many of them. At auction, I’m used to seeing a tea cup and saucer here and there – or even several of them at a time – but never a collection. My auction buddy Janet has picked up a few, including some lovely pieces by Aynsley.
The air of sophistication that permeates a vintage tea cup makes you feel cultured – a feeling that is emboldened with the sip of refreshing and relaxing tea from one of them. Put yourself in the middle of a tea party and the experience is enhanced. That’s what I felt when I saw a photo of a women’s tea party in Harlem captured by photographer James Van Der Zee in 1929. It was in an auction at the Swann Auction Galleries in New York earlier this year.
The photo felt like a Saturday afternoon, the group of women in their finest clothes, sitting or standing while around them were other women servers. The caption identified them as the Madame C.J. Walker Valentine Tea Club, Shop Number 1. Walker was the black business woman who 100 years ago built an empire on hair products for black women.
They’re holding what would now be called “vintage” tea cups. (Photo above is from the Swann Auction Galleries website).
When I think of tea parties, I think of the British and their high teas. But tea didn’t get its start there. The Chinese have been drinking tea from tea cups – they were actually small bowls without handles – for centuries. Tea cups didn’t arrive in Britain until the 1600s. Initially, tea was so expensive that only the upper crust could afford it. During the 19th century, handles were added and the modern tea cup was born. Here in America (especially in the South), we like our tea cold.
Surprisingly, I could not find a collectors group for tea cups on the web, but I’m sure there’s one out there. As for prices, I found tea cup and saucers ranging from $20 to over $100. Here are some beautiful ones for sale at the Atlanta Antique Gallery.
If you’d like to start collecting them, several sites offered some good information on where to find vintage tea cups and saucers at low cost – flea markets, thrift shops, Goodwill, (and I would add, auctions) – how to take care of your pieces (wash by hand, not in the dishwasher) and tips on collecting.
You don’t have to collect them to just sit in china cabinets. Several sites had put them to other interesting uses: holding cupcakes at a wedding, serving as a cutesy birdbaths, and using chipped ones for storage or good ones for flower arrangements.
And we must not forget that they are also used to read fortunes through the scattering of tea leaves. It’s a practice called tasseography – I didn’t know it had a special name – and it has its own special tea cups. Since I have never had my fortune told before, I assumed fortune-tellers used any old cup to read the leaves. Many do, I suppose.
Here’s a look at two fortune-telling tea cups – one with symbols and one with playing cards – for interpreting the leaves, and a website that sells them. These tea cups are also made by some of the finest china makers, including Aynsley. According to wikipedia, the most common designs inside the cups are zodiac, playing cards and symbols.
At one auction a few years ago, I got in a box lot a small pamphlet with some age called “Cup Reading: The Ancient Art of Foretelling the Future,” distributed by the Salada Tea Co. It tells you all about reading leaves and understanding the symbols. An arch – a long journey, probably by steamship. A ring – marriage. A peacock – a happy marriage or good fortune. An owl – illness. Gun – unhappiness.
I’ve never tried out the book’s offerings. Me, I like to figure out my fate on my own or at least make it happen.
As for those tea cups at the auction? After brisk bidding, they sold for $80 – the price for just one of them.
