Featured Lunt Sterling Baby Cup - Age?

Excellent catch. I double checked the height on mine - with a ruler this time and it is 1 1/2 inch tall. I'll correct my original post. Definitely oranges and blossoms for a juicer.

 

'551' is the factory code for the orange-motif handled child's juice cup - it was made for decades, yours is a later piece, unlikely to be earlier than mid 20th century and was still in production in this century...

~Cheryl

 

Perfect. Makes me want to put orange juice in my cup.

 

And thus @say_it_slowly 's paperweight.

 

That seems definitive then. Perhaps that's why it is in such good condition. Newer rather than early.

 

The floral handle is executed in repoussé i.e. metalwork hammered into relief on the reverse side.

Debora

 

So they laid the silver over the mold and pounded?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repoussé_and_chasing

Debora

 

So the mold that @say_it_slowly found, they pound the silver onto it - repousse!

 

Ours is this model https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2566B/lots/397 but the inscription is on the bottom, not the side. The inscription has the baby's name "from her Godmother" and then the godmother's name. Also on the bottom are the marks, "Sterling" and "A112". The person it was to was born in 1907. She passed away when she was 12, and this cup has been saved and passed down as remembrance of her.

 

Very nice cup. Sad she died so young, though. Quite a lovely family heirloom.

 

The handle is not repoussé, it was die-struck - the item in the link posted by S_I_S is actually a hub used to create the dies (note that the design is raised rather than impressed).

~Cheryl

 

It looks like my baby juice cup (sorry, I can't get to it to take pictures) that is packed away. Mine has my name inscribed on the side. I was born in 1938 - so almost an antique.

 

So the SIS piece is used to create the die and the silver is stamped into the die?

 

Too bad it's not near the surface. You, @smallaxe and I could have a juice party!

 

The first pic below is a pair of hubs for a spoon, they would have been used to make a pair of dies as in the second pic (dies could be hand-cut too - die-sinkers were/are the unsung craftsmen) - a silver blank would go between the dies and pressed to make the spoon.


https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-lunt-factory-hubs-figural-18159930



http://ancientpoint.com/inf/119169-...oon_industrial_factory_die_mold_bookends.html


~Cheryl

 

Fascinating. So the hubs were used to make the dies - thus they were the reverse of the design - then the dies were used with the silver to make the spoon. Thank you.