hard to find and all original victorian era porcelain "mustache cup" with floral patterning. the nearly intact cup is chipped in places at the scalloped and gilded edge. it is missing a handle. just below the rim is a semi-circular ledge or mustache "dam", retaining remnants of gold paint, and a raised petal-like patterning. the cup features delicate hand-painted pink and yellow flowers with somewhat faded outlining and branches. around the bottom heel of the mug is a raised petal design, similar to on the mustache dam. a raised ornate branching design is found all over, even overlapping the painted flowers. the cup bears no maker's mark. the moustache cup is a drinking cup with a semicircular ledge inside, with a half moon-shaped opening to allow the passage of liquids. the "dam" serves as a guard to keep moustaches dry. moustaches flourished throughout the victorian era and often, moustache wax was applied to facial hair to keep its shape. when steaming hot cups of tea or coffee were carried up to the mouth for sipping the steam melted the wax and sent it right into the cup, or otherwise stained the hairs. mustache cups were popular from 1850 to 1900 when the large, flowing mustache was in style. harvey adams (a potter born in 1835, whose company operated out of longton, staffordshire, england), is acknowledged as having invented the mustache cup in the 1850's to address this problem. the new invention spread all over the european continent and soon, every famous potter was making the new cups. a multiplicity of moustache cups were made by famous manufactories such as meissen, royal crown derby, imari, royal bayreuth, limoges and others. each potter created his own version of this masculine tableware and the news of that invention soon spread to america. although many moustache cups were made in america, the earliest were marked with names which led buyers to believe they were actually manufactured in england. this was due to the popularity of english-made ceramics. therefore, with the exception of the quadruple silver moustache cups made in the u.s., it is nowadays extremely difficult to find an authentic victorian moustache cup bearing an american pottery mark. moreover, between 1920 and 1930, moustaches progressively began to go out of fashion and moustache cup production dwindled.