The Cobalt Blue Gilt Coffee Cups

[Cody Gentry]

I do remember seeing these in several books, in the exhibit that's still on the rounds, and in several replicate catalogs. I do have a question though: how many of these were on board the ship? I remember reading somewhere that they were expensive to construct because of the color and gilding. How much would it cost to produce them? And with this (perhaps I can do the calculation if I get the two statistics) how much would the inventory of these be worth aboard the ship?

It's unfortunate that decadent figures such as these no longer find themselves on any modern ships or anyplace elsewhere :/

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>...how much would the inventory of these be worth aboard the ship?<<

Probably not as much as you might think. Breakage was always a common problem so the line had a range of common designs which would have been used by nearly every ship in the line, and they would be issued as needed to replace anything lost through breakage and pilferage.

While scarce now, and having a premium value as a conseqence, they wouldn't have been worth much as all in 1912.