Featured Hong Kong Sterling Shot Glass

Bought it because I thought the dragon was cute, chasing the pearl of wisdom through the clouds...

 

If the size is right it is probably an egg cup.

 

It isn't right, that's the problem. Egg's too big to fit into it.

 

Shot/drinks measure?
Quails egg cup?

 

Is an egg much too big?
What we now seem to consider as a standard hen's egg would have been considered very large even 50 years ago.
Quite a number of everyday objects have grown over the years till we take the current size as normal but when dealing with antiques we need to coonsider what was normal at the time, smaller cigarettes for example.
People have got bigger in the last 100 years as well

 

That may be so, but even then, I doubt this is an egg-cup. For one thing, it's only two inches tall.

 

Hi,
I think I need to go back to bed. I read your title as KING KONG sterling shot glass.
greg

 

Unlikely that one would use silver to house an egg...

 

Try a quick Google image search to see how many people have done!

Debora

 

Oops! Having never (not once!) been able to emulate my English friends' dexterity with the egg shell, my knee-jerk response was egg + shell + cracked-the-wrong-way = silver polish every single morning!

BTW, I particularly like the one with chicken feet!

 

Egg shape with wide stable base - looks like an egg cup to me...

Two inches in height wouldn't be at all unusual, and you don't give a diameter - I have a couple of other silver egg cups packed away, one about 2" tall, but the two I have here are early 20th century Scandinavian pieces with taller pedestal bases, only 2.5" and 2.75" tall, and both about 1.75" wide (4.5 cm), but they have sturdy rolled rims, so the inner diameters are only 4.3 and 4.2 cm, they are pictured below with regular large eggs.




Here is a piece similar to yours, described as 5 cm tall (just under 2"), and 4.25 cm wide, about the same as mine: http://www.lindenantiquesilver.com/...-silver-egg-cup-with-bamboo-decoration/267618

~Cheryl

 

I have several shot cups which are very close to yours.

 

Could this be part of a Saki set?

 

They come with a portable liquor flagon

 

I would consider these cordials rather than shot glasses. The "portable liquor flagon" is usually referred to as a flask.

 

If the OP wishes to use his piece as a shot glass, then he should, but by its shape and apparent size, the original purpose would have almost certainly been as an egg cup (I've used an old crumber to serve enchiladas, but it's still a crumber).

Unless Asian Fever has exceptionally long fingers, her pieces are an appropriate size and shape for shot or liqueur glasses - though both Wang Hing, would be surprised if the pocket flask and stemmed glasses were originally sold as a set.

The three shot or liqueur glasses in the foreground of the pic below range from 2⅜" to 3⅜" tall, their diameters at the rim are 3.1 - 3.3 cm (around 1¼"), one with a 2 cl (2/3 oz.) capacity, the other two holding 3 cl (1 oz.).



~Cheryl

 

Yeah, they are different marks, the flask bears a "宝生" retail mark, while the rest doesn't. Also the flask looks much newer than the shots.
What I meant they come with a set is because when my friend bought these, they are sold as a set. But I don't think they originally come as a set. Because the shots have 10 pieces and 8 are the same with dragon pattern, another 2 with chinese happiness charactors.
My shots are very tiny, they are about the same size of my thumb.