Museums are wonderful places to visit where you not only learn about your local history, but where you can also be transported back in time. This is exactly what happened when Hermanus Times recently saw a very interesting object, the moustache cup, in the Caledon Museum’s House Museum, where most of the rooms are decorated in the style of the Victorian era with beautiful furniture and artefacts pertaining to this time period.
What is a moustache cup, you may well ask. This interesting cup, which at first glance looks like any other elegant tea cup, was designed especially for men with moustaches, which were very popular in the Victorian era (1837-1901). The difference was that it has a butterfly-shaped insert in the cup, which allowed men to drink tea without getting their moustaches wet.
British potter Harvey Adams is credited with first designing the moustache cup around 1850, which soon became popular all over Europe as well as in America. Not only did this keep the moustache dry, but as many men applied moustache wax to their handlebar moustaches, it prevented the wax from melting, and heaven forbid, possibly dripping into their tea.
The popularity of moustaches waned during World War 1, when soldiers found it difficult to groom their moustaches while living in the trenches, and subsequently the production of these cups declined as moustaches were not fashionable any more.
Novelty replicas of moustache cups are available these days and a popular bar in New York even especially designed a cocktail to serve in these cups. The original cups have become collectors’ items and are mostly found in museums or private collections. Interestingly enough, many of these cups are really dainty and have very feminine designs and colours, obviously to match the rest of the Victorian tea set.
If you would like to see one of these cups or many other artefacts of this era, visit the Caledon Museum in Constitution Street..Location and props courtesy of the Caledon Museum.
