What counts as a silver cup here?

Egg cups and trophy cups are the two biggest single forms, at roughly an eighth of listings each. Hip and spirit flasks with detachable cups follow, then christening cups and mugs. After that come goblets, beakers, chalices, tot and shot cups, quaichs, porringers, tankards, loving cups and tygs. It's a family of drinking and presentation vessels rather than one standard shape.

Are all of these solid silver?

No. Around two hundred titles say sterling and another hundred and twenty say solid, but ninety say plated and sixteen specify Old Sheffield plate. The plated pieces are numerous, not scarce. They run to trophies, egg cruets, loving cups and communion goblets.

How old are silver cups on Sellingantiques?

The dated field spans 1700 to 1960, with 453 of 738 listings carrying a clean year. Victorian is the largest single label, with the 1920s, 1910s, 1900s and 1930s not far behind. The earliest entries reach back further than the dated field suggests: a Nuremberg beaker given as circa 1670, a London porringer of 1694, a Britannia standard cup of 1698. Many of the remaining titles rest on reign labels such as Georgian, Edwardian or simply 19th Century.

Why are egg cups in this category?

Silver egg cups belong to the later table-service tradition and were often given as gifts, which puts them alongside christening pieces in use. They turn up singly, in pairs, in cruet sets for four and six, and in cased sets with a spoon and sometimes a napkin ring. Novelty versions include an 'Acorn', golfers, duck egg cups, a three-legged example and a Victorian carousel.

What makes a trophy cup stand out?

An identified occasion. Titles naming a golf club, regatta, rowing or tennis event, coursing or pigeon club, rifle shooting, harriers or a horse race sit in the upper trophy band. A cup carrying no attribution sits low. Size, a cover and a gilt finish all pull the same way as a named event.

Do unusual forms appear in this category?

They do, in ones and twos. A coconut cup with Old Sheffield mounts, a nautilus shell cup, a horn and silver hunting beaker, an agate cup with silver-gilt mounts and an Irish mether have all passed through. Wager or marriage cups appear too, the figural sort with a windmill or a skirted figure and two drinking vessels. A silver-plate bi-plane carrying four egg cups is about as far from a plain beaker as the category goes.

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Antique Silver Cups

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Silver cups cover everything drunk from or awarded: egg cups, christening mugs, trophies, goblets, quaichs, tot cups and the little cups screwed onto hip flasks.