Which tea cups do you collect for readings?

[tarotbear]

Cups! Cups! Cups!

Has, anyone bought specific tea leaf reading cups ... at an antique shop or ebay? I am suddenly finding it is big business when I thought that all you needed was a cup that was white and plain on the inside.

 

[Grigori]

Has, anyone bought specific tea leaf reading cups ... at an antique shop or ebay?

There an explosion of those sorts of cups at the local new agey stores at the moment. Big white bowl like cups, with marked sections and patterns, I think ceramic even. I don't know anything about reading tea-leaves, but was tempted to buy 1/2 a dozen to use as really cool soup bowls. A great conversation starter I think

 

[Elektra]

Has, anyone bought specific tea leaf reading cups ... at an antique shop or ebay? I am suddenly finding it is big business when I thought that all you needed was a cup that was white and plain on the inside.

I want one. They're really cool-looking . I actually want it just to drink tea out of, though I suspect my curiosity would get the better of me and I'd start trying to read the leaves.

 

[Elven]

Tarotbears Quote:
Has, anyone bought specific tea leaf reading cups ... at an antique shop or ebay? I am suddenly finding it is big business when I thought that all you needed was a cup that was white and plain on the inside.

Elektras Quote:
I want one. They're really cool-looking . I actually want it just to drink tea out of, though I suspect my curiosity would get the better of me and I'd start trying to read the leaves.



I picked up a set at the local book store just a week ago. I had it on lay-buy for a month. It was $35.00Aust.The one I got is white china - the cup edges are scolloped and the markings on it are in red and black. Its really nice!

Its marketed as 'The Cup of Destiny' by Jane Lyle. Comes in a box with Red Satin, and a book with the meanings of the tea of coffee ground patterns.

I went out and bought some really nice tea and did a reading after I had finished drinking it.
It was easy to do, I'd never done one before!

I am now drinking tea till it comes out of my ears!
Elven x

 

[tarotbear]

Yes - "The Cup of Destiny" - just bought one from Barnes & Noble - comes with the book.

This is actually a modern knock-off of an antique cup I also own called 'The Nelros Cup of Fortune' which was copyrighted in 1904. The antique version has better markings, and around the outside says " Woulds't learn thy future in thy tea - this magic cup will show it thee" ~ my boyfriend says is 'appropriately occult-looking.' It was made by Aynsley.

Aynsley also makes many versions of it's "Cup of Knowledge" which is another tea-leaf reading cup that for reasons not understood has little playing cards all over the inside! The outside has many variations but the inside remains constant.

Also available are the Red Rose Tea "Cup of Fortune" ~ a promo item from the late 1960s. Ther are three different cup & saucer sets with different markings on each. i just tracked down a PDF file of the booklet that came with the cups. I have all three cups but only #1 and #3 saucers and are looking for #2 saucers to complete my set.

Go to ebay and do a search of 'cup of fortune', 'cup of destiny,' and 'cup of knowledge' to see examples. If you do a search of 'tea leaf reading' you will also get other cups made by other manufacturers.

 

[tarotbear]

This is the 'Nelros Cup' which has been reissued as a modern knock-off in the 'Cup of Destiny.' I now have one original and one reproduction.

 

[Chronata]

ooh ooh! I just fouind this thread!
I have a great collection of tea leaf cups!
I have about 9 different ones...including the nelros and the red rose.

Alas...many of them came without the saucers, or with broken ones.

Thanks tarotbear! I never thought to look for them on E-bay!

My favorite cup is a Royal Kendal cup. The ouside says...
"Would'st thy fortune like to see? Perchance this cup will show it thee.
The inside has wonderful pictures along the edge in color, with a ship and the planetary influences on the bottom.
It's my oldest...missing a saucer and been broken and glued many times.

But I adore it.

Funny...I have so many...and I never use them for tea leaf readings!
They are just too distracting!

 

[tarotbear]

ooh ooh! I just fouind this thread!
I have a great collection of tea leaf cups!
I have about 9 different ones...including the nelros and the red rose.
Funny...I have so many...and I never use them for tea leaf readings!
They are just too distracting!

I wanted toi ask someone about that - with all those symbols in there -- don't they get in the way? Or do you incorporate the leaves with the symbol they congregate on? Or are you supposed to ignore the symbols?

In the 'Cup of Knowledge' - which is used for coffee or tea leaf divination - the inside of the cup is filled with tiny playing cards! Any ideas as to why playing cards? What does one have to do with the other?

I have seven Red Rose cups with saucers - some are sets, some not. I also just purchased the missing booklet as a pdf file ( I will share!)
I have the orignal Nelros cup and it's modern knock off in the 'Cup of Destiny.'
Almost won a different one today - which I could buy the next time I go to Salem, Ma - a modern one.

 

[tarotbear]

Since it is bad form to change a topic according to Emily Post-it I will restart a thread with a discussion of the pottery you use.

I collect mustache cups. One day two months ago my boyfriend and I were in an antique collective and I saw this cup high on a shelf with golden dotted markings. The sticker was around the side and all I could see was 'fortune' - so I stretched over the entire display of delicate china and found my first 'Red Rose Tea Cup of Fortune' for $7. That was two months ago and now I have five. Now I have seven! As I was typing this the mailman just brought my latest eBay purchase of two more! There are three sets of cups with saucers marked 1, 2, and 3 and there are 39 different markings in all. I contacted Red Rose Tea about them, and Red Rose could give me almost NO info on them other than they were a promotion in the late 1960s, and the company that made the cups is out of business. Almost all the info I have found has been by scouring ebay and reading the posts with every auction and piecing the info together myself. Can you imagine? These cup and saucer sets sold for $2 and were shipped to you from England included in that price??? I have also found a copy of the original booklet and bought a copy as a PDF file.

A china company called Aynsley in England makes many different cups. There is an antique one called the 'Nelros Cup' which is a low cup with a matching saucer covered with markings. This also bears the legend about "Woulds't thy future you wish to see? Perhaps this cup will show it thee" around the outside of the cup. This design was patented in 1904.

The same cup design has been revived as a knock-off and is sold as the 'Cup of Destiny' with an accompanying book through Barnes and Noble. The knock-off does not bear the legend on the cup. Although it is exactly the same-minus the Aynsley markings - this pure white cup does not have the same panache as my antique one.

Aynsley also makes a 'Cup of Knowledge' which has many changes of design on the outside of the cup, including commemoratives. The inside is always exactly the same - a deck of 52 playing cards! Why playing cards inside a tea-leaf reading cup? (Sorry for the double post, but it is bad form to introduce another topic in a thread if it is off-topic.)

I always thought a tea cup was supposed to be plain white without markings, so this is all new to me! Now I collect mustache cups and tea leaf reading cups. And my boyfriend still wants to know exactly where I intend to display them all....

 

[Elven]

Im just an old tea 'bag'!

Thankyou Tarotbear for a little more info on your cups! I live in a place that thrives on antiques and Im trying not to give away what Im looking for too much to the dealers before they double the price of every cup in their shops!

Start collecting! I just have a feeling in my little Carricorn bones that all those old ones are about to make an enterance and come out of the pantry!

While your browsing for cups, better look for a antique cabinet for them to be displayed on! Sooooooooo beautiful. Try not to think about the amount of washing up and where all the matching tea pots are going to go!

Blessings

Elven x