Egg cup
An egg cup, sometimes called egg server, is a container used for serving boiled eggs within their shell. Egg cups have an upwardly concave portion to hold the egg and often include a base to raise the egg-retaining portion and give stability, informally known as footies. Egg cups can be made of porcelain, pottery, wood, plastic, glass and various metals or bakelite. Some are made of two materials (wood and ceramic).
The egg cup is a collectible item. There is a newsletter available through email for egg cup collectors "Eggcup Collectors' Corner". There are also egg cup conventions for collectors in England. Collecting egg cups is called Pocillovy, deriving from the Latin pocillum for small cup and ovi for eggs. Invented by Miss L. Gourlay
History
Egg cups have been used since prehistoric times, with some of the earliest occurrences on Minoan Crete.[1] In particular, archaeological recovery at the Bronze Age palace of Cretan Knossos reveals the presence of egg cup use as early as the 18th century BC.[2]
Egg cups have many shapes and bear various designs. An early silver egg cup from 74 BC was found in the ruins of Pompeii.
See also
References
- Javad Hashemi. 1998. The Joy of Collecting Egg Cups, 1998 ISBN 0-9519288-3-X
- C. Michael Hogan. 2007. Knossos fieldnotes, Modern Antiquarian
- John D. Pendlebury. 1991. The Archaeology of Crete, Biblo and Tannen Publishers ISBN 0-8196-0121-7
External links
- Egg cups
- An Egg Cup A Day (Spanish)