Collection Oddities: Vintage Mario Brothers Egg Cup

It's not a stretch to say I'll buy almost any vintage item with Mario on it (we have a similar problem with Sailor Moon).  So when I first saw one of these little beauties I knew I had to get one for my collection. A few months later I was lucky enough to find one at a price I could tolerate, thus I present you with the Mario egg cup.

Perfect for holding your scale model Yoshi eggs.

I have never in my life used an egg cup and I don't know anyone who has. They seem like one of those little relics of a bygone era like berry spoons or salt cellars, that I associate with Victorian literature and illustrations in fairy tales. Obviously though Mario doesn't fit that aesthetic and in fact I've seen several 80s icons on egg cups like Garfield and the Ninja Turtles. After a little research I discovered that it's apparently just us Americans who've relegated the egg cup to dishware of days gone by as they're still quite popular in Europe, Which shouldn't have been totally surprising to me as this is a British item. I did note few US retailers do still carry egg cups, so maybe it's just me and egg cups are normal items and I'm weirdo for having never used one.

Questions about the weirdness of an egg cup aside, there are certainly some design choice to call into question here, First off why isn't Mario with Birdo? (this was before Mario and Yoshi were BFFs so I'll give that a pass) Birdo flinging an egg at Mario would have been a perfect motif here, certainly a missed opportunity for the maker. Also "1 egg please" isn't very Mario-y, I'm not sure what would be better, but hey it's not my job to design egg cups, but if it was I'd think up something more entertaining and get paid for it.

Regardless of all of the above, it's a fun little item we enjoy having in our collection.

~Stephanie


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