cyclists cup

Yesterday was just nasty out all afternoon so Jen and I went out and hit some thrift sales. It was a bit of a bust and all I got was a couple bread pans and some pants, so we got some lunch and hit up the record shop and antiques emporium. I was rummaging through some shelves and found this bad boy for $12. It's a collapsible tin cup dated Feb. 23, 1887.

I can't begin to express how stoked I am about this little thing. As a history and bike nerd it's pretty interesting. 1887 puts it right in the middle of the Gilded age late 1800's bike boom in America. The civil war had ended and people could finally use steel for stuff other than weaponry and people(northerners) finally had money and time to use for recreation. The pennyfarthing had gone out of vogue in England and the US imported the newest bicycle technology in the form of the "safety" bicycle.

The modern bicycle was one of the most popular and important popular inventions of the gilded age in my mind, especially considering it's role in womens suffrage and emancipation. Which is kind of uprising that this cup has the woman riding captain, and the man riding stoker. On top of that the woman is wearing knickers, and the frame isn't a step-through in front. I can't help but wonder where this imagery came from that it found it's way on to these cups. Which apparently aren't that rare as their are a bunch on Ebay right now for fairly cheap. Anyway I just thought this was awesome and wanted to share.

"I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world,"- Susan B. Anthony, 1896

Learn more about women and bicycles in the Gilded Age.

This is as close as I could come to finding the patent for this thing.

God, I love google patents.