Thread: New guy and collector...help me ID this cup

Hey, New guy here. Quick intro: 4-yr old AGE mechanic/retired USAF after 24.5 years. Been wet shaving for about a year now and have moved form safety razors to a shavette. Much harder than I thought it would be but I'm enjoying the experience. Anyway, one of my other passions is collecting vintage stuff and being into the wet shave thing has opened up a new world of collecting. The pictures that follow are of a metal cup I found yesterday at an antique mall. Other than the tag saying "shaving cup" I have no idea what it is. You'll note that it is hinged and will raise up. My presumption is it was for a puck and the holes were for draining. But I used it today with a soap-loaded brush, agitated in the cup, and a mix of Taylor's (my usual lather mix). Well, with the holes in the cup providing extra texture my lather was much easier to attain and in a shorter amount of time. My usual cup is a cheapish ceramic mixing cup. After my shave I raised it up and rinsed it out, pretty cool overall. No futher ID is available other than "patent applied for" etched in the bottom lip. No maker's mark at all. Has anyone seen this before? I have no intention of selling it and all the intention of using it. Any help will be appreciated! I look forward to more finds and sharing them in the future!

Welcome to SRP!

That is an interesting cup and I don't know any more than you do about it, but it's sure as heck NEAT!

One of the resident wizards will along before long and maybe they'll have an answer for ya'.
Willie

I'm with Wullie - that thing is interesting!

The thing that has me really scratching my head is the mechanism for raising it up. Why do that? At first I thought maybe it was for use on a boat/ship with the cup allowed to swivel and self-right. But that can't be it because boats move in more than one direction and it would only be able to swivel on one axis. And it looks really top-heavy because the lugs are so low down.

So... I haven't a clue either.

From what I see, as you lower the bottom a notch, the bottom just falls out! I don't see how to keep water in it from leaking out, opened or closed! Maybe you stuck a puck in the bottom and just used it until it would not work, and stick another puck in?

How would a razor fit standing in one of those "key holes"?

Maybey it is a sort of razor sterilizer. Some sort of something went in the bottom and the razors were arranged around? Sounds good.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

From what I see, as you lower the bottom a notch, the bottom just falls out! I don't see how to keep water in it from leaking out, opened or closed! Maybe you stuck a puck in the bottom and just used it until it would not work, and stick another puck in?

YOu know I thought about that and actually it didn't lose much water. My technique is to brush up the soap first on a puck in a wooden bowl, then allow that to drip into a mug which has a little bit of water as I load the brush. Then I get a small amount of cream on the brush and go to town combining the soap and the cream together to get my lather. Since there wasn't a lot of water in this mug, not much came out the holes and the content of lather stayed inside.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Maybey it is a sort of razor sterilizer. Some sort of something went in the bottom and the razors were arranged around? Sounds good.

Razors for surgical prep are usually made all metal... put 4 of them in the "holder", a little alcohol in the bottom cup and presto!

Welcome to SRP. Wait until you move from the shavette to the vintage straights ..... collecting those is when the fun really starts IME.
Could the top be to lay a puck in and lather, let the excess drip down to the catch pan/bottom. When the shave is done and you're cleaning up bring the top up and tilt it away from the bottom to where you can rinse and clean efficiently ?

Well certainly, whatever it's intended use, if you can use it that is very cool.
Neat Mug!