Maiden Quest
07.24.06By Derek Dahlsad” I have a quest for you,” my mother commanded. She led me inside, and produced a pewter trinket from her purse.
I recognized it from my childhood; it had occupied a visible place in the household pretty much every place I lived. The body is that of a woman, arms held high, supporting a 
container. The ‘bucket’ is not fixed; it pivots on each side, allowing it to remain upright as you turn the lady over. Her dress is bell-shaped, forming a chalice-like space where her petticoats should be. The figure stands around five inches tall, and with her arms in the air the overall height is six inches.
“I need to you figure out what this is. I think it has something do to with weddings.” My mother had found it many years ago, when I was quite young, at a sidewalk sale in a mall. The gift/jewelry shop had discounted a number of items, and this was on the clearance table. My mom was quite taken by it, paid very little, and brought it home to decorate her shelves.
A while ago, in the early age of the internet, I’d recklessly been awarded the mantle of He Who Can Find Anything Online, but in this case I failed. I didn’t know what to call it. This little silver lady had no maker’s marks, no item number, no serial number, no identifying features, save the odd pivoting bowl held over her head. I searched for wedding chalice, wedding glass, pewter wedding mug — all kinds of things, but no luck. As my wife says: “if it’s not in Google, it must not exist.” I was beginning to believe her. Was this little woman a random creation, something without any peers? Did some demented silversmith decide to show off his talents and make a commonplace item like a cup significantly more difficult to drink from? I had no clue.
My sister, who is getting married in a few months, came to the rescue, and I happily award her the mantle of She Who Can Find Anything Derek Can’t Find On The Internet. The maiden is the clue, but it isn’t the only definition of what this chalice is.
In most places, this little lady is called a Jungfrauenbecher, or “maiden’s cup.” Originating in the 1500s, legend has it that a rich man’s daughter had two suitors. One was of the upper class and therefore more desirable, and the other was a goldsmith, a poor artisan. The father made a deal with the goldsmith: make a goblet that two people can drink from at once, and he would have the daughter’s hand in marriage. As in most fairy tales, smarts and ingenuity overcome obstacles. The goldsmith met the father’s wager by designing a cup with two basins attached at a pivot — when one is tipped, the other remains upright for the other person to drink from. These cups still have their place in weddings as a symbol of unity and a sign of good luck. Bride and groom are expected to drink from the cup at the same time, the groom drinking from the skirt, the bride from the smaller bowl.
These cups, today, are more commonly known as “wager cups,” but only partly due to the bet between the father and the goldsmith. Throughout much of history, culture and entertainment have centered around pubs. Besides the general fun of drinking, carousing, and visiting with friends, drinking games were as popular then and today. “Wager cups” were one such game: drink the contents of both cups without spilling, and you win. As anyone who’s played a drinking game in modern times knows (proving you can’t improve on a perfect system) the inebriation is far more important than winning a bet. The “winners” no doubt find it far more difficult to keep both parts of the wager cup balanced after their fourth or fifth attempt. The design itself forces the player to drink, because once both cups are filled the “wager cup” cannot be set down without spilling.
My mom’s little pewter lady, her bowl held high, sits here waiting to either drink some lout under the table or celebrate the union of a happy couple. Of course, despite being a puzzle for my family, she knew what she was for: a solution to the puzzle of a poor suitor and a puzzle for drinkers that gets more difficult the more you succeed. In either case, her unique design fulfills both purpose with ingenuity and style.
