Late Victorian Souvenir Ware Ceramic Moustache Cup with Burnham Coat of Arms

This is a charming piece of souvenir ware relating to Burnham in Somerset, produced at the turn of the 19th to 20th century.

The cup is made from porcelain and is of classic tapering form. It is moulded with eight broad ribs that give the gilded rim a scalloped edge. The ornate, gilded handle is looped with protrusions to rest your finger and thumb on.

On the interior is a moulded moustache guard, with a small hole at the rim to allow the tea to be sipped. The edge of the guard is also gilded.

The cup is decorated on one side with the unofficial or mock coat of arms that was designed to be used on pieces of souvenir china. It was loosely based on the coat of arms of the Reed family.

The underside of the teacup is plain and marked in the centre with the words ‘MADE IN ENGLAND FOR L. S. HAUSER BURNHAM’.

Louis Sidney Hauser (1865 – 1947) founded the Hauser’s ironmongery business, which was based from 1888 at The Golden Key, No. 60 Alfred Street, Burnham. The store was advertised as a ‘Porcelain, Glass and China Warehouse’, and an advert from 1903 lists them as the sole agent for ‘Burnham Arms China’. 

It has a height of approximately 7.5cm, with a diameter across the rim of about 8.6cm and across the base of about 5.2cm.

It has an unwrapped weight of 130g.

It is in excellent condition, with no chips or cracks, although there is some wear to the gilding on the rim.