We collect well cups. These are the old cups that used to hang out on the old farm pump so you could draw up a cup full of water way out back when you were doing chores. Some cups get very damaged when the rain fills them and freezes in the fall. The bulge in the bottom is characteristic of this. Usually just an old tin or enamaled mug is hung on the hydrant by a piece of rusty wire, but now and then you find a nice old pewter or even silver cup. I took this one in on a trade long ago after mentioning that we collected them. "Nellie Gump" is engraved on the front of this cup, and serves as a reminder to me that you just never know. The natives on horse back and foot chasing buffalo is a great scene, and the half horse half sea serpent handle rdeminds me of some of the boasts the early frontiersmen made. T.C.A.
What makes this a well cup?
ReplyDeleteIs a well cup any cup you sit by the well?