Tea Cup Names, Official and Unofficial

From Mystic Tea Room

Latest revision as of 08:45, 1 January 2024

Ugagco Cards and Dice cup set

The Cup of Destiny by Jane Lyle

Aynsley Cup of Knowledge Yellow Band

Gypsy Teacup by Originality Plus

Tasseography by Old Tupton Ware

Hundreds of different patterns of fortune telling cups and saucers have been made over the years, and quite a few have been named by their makers. Sometimes different manufacturers re-used names that another maker had used -- or was still using. Some of the re-used names are mere coincidences, and some are deliberate attempts to defraud the public by illegally copying a title, type font, or images found on a competitor's divining cup.

Official Tea Cup Names

Official Tea Cup Names are those which are placed in the glaze at the pottery factory before firing or printed on the accompanying hang-tags, boxes, sales brochures, catalogues, booklets, pamphlets, or instruction sheets that accompany a specific style of tea leaf reading cup.

Unofficial Tea Cup Names

Unofficial Tea Cup Names are those bestowed by collectors, usually when referring to unmarked tea cups or to a class of cups that share a similar design feature. These names may be accompanied by the maker's name and/or a date, if doing so helps to distinguish like-named cups and saucers from one another. Since this is my museum, and, as far as i know, the only fortune telling tea cup museum in the world, the unofficial names found here are mostly my own devising.

Tea Cups Listed by Name

• Cards and Dice (1946) Ucagco
• Courtney Locke
• Cosmic Cup and Saucer (Killstar)
• Cup of Destiny (1926) The Zancigs
• Cup of Destiny (2001) Jane Lyle / Barnes and Noble
• Aynsley Cup of Fortune Nelros To be remade as a category with 3 sub pages
• Cup of Fortune (1940) Hy-Hil Studio To be remade as 2 sub pages
• Cup of Fortune (1964) Red Rose
• Cup of Fortune (1946) Ucagco
• Cup of Knowledge (1) Alfred Meakin
• Cup of Knowledge (2) Aynsley
• Cup of Knowledge (3) Booths
• Cup of Knowledge (4) Bridgwood
• Cup of Knowledge (5) B. Shackman
• Cup of Knowledge (6) Fairylite Foreign
• Cup of Knowledge (7) Jackson and Gosling
• Cup of Knowledge (8) Unmarked Made in Japan
• Fortune Teller Cup and Saucer (Knobler)
• Fortuna Fortune Telling Tea Cup
• The Meredith Fortune Cup
• Fortune Teller's Cup and Saucer
• Fortune Teacup and Saucer
• Good Luck
• Gypsy Teacup
• Gypsy Teresa's Fortune Telling Cup
• Ian Messiter Fortune Teacup and Saucer
• Japan Marked with Flying Bird
• Japan Marked with Crossed Laurel leaves
• Japan Marked H-B
• Heather Lee Harris / Treasures in a Teacup / Tea Leaf Reading Kit
• Kim Allen Psychic Cup
• Lipton's Royal Marigold Cup of Knowledge
• Meakin Royal Marigold Cup of Knowledge
• Morley House Tea Leaf Reading Tea Cup
• Mystic Teacup
• Ouija Mug (Rogue and Wolf)
• Psychic Cup
• Romany Cup of Fortune (!935) Creative Arts
• Romany Fortune Telling Tea Cup (1935) Wilkinson
• Royal Marigold Cup of Knowledge
• Royal Doulton Swastika
• Signs and Omens
• Taltos Fortune Telling Cup (1975) Jon Anton
• Taltos Fortune Telling Cup (1980) Royal Kendal
• Tasseography Cup / Old Tupton Ware
• Tea Leaf Reading Victorian Trading Company
• Tea Leaf Reading Kit / Treasures in a Teacup / Heather Lee Harris
• Tea Shop Tea Reading Set
• Treasures in a Teacup / Heather Lee Harris / Tea Leaf Reading Kit
• Wembley Marked Cups of Knowledge (Wembley moulds, 6 British makers)
• Wembley Unmarked Cups of Knowledge (Wembley moulds, 6 British makers)
• The Wimsatt Cup
• Zarka Fortune Telling Teacup Set
• Zodiac (Ardalt-Lenwile)
• Zodiac Cup and Saucer (Killstar)

catherine yronwode
curator, historian, and docent
The Mystic Tea Room

See Also

• Tea Cup Makers and Markers
• Tea Cup Names, Official and Unofficial
• Tea Cups by Style of Divination
• Nations of Origin
• Specially-Marked Commemoratives
• Design Patents