The plain shell with a scalloped and pierced silver rim mount,
raised on three hoof feet issuing from shell attachments;
the rim mount engraved with two crests:

A boar passant quarterly;
and gu on a pillar arg encircled by a ducal coronet,
an eagle preying on a bird's leg erased
For the families of Lee and Guinness. (The latter Fairbairns 248.1)

See Below for More.

Condition : Excellent; a wonderful coconut cup; the shell mounts and hoor feet are in excellent condition;
some silver pins missing but the mount is not loose; stands flat

3-7/8" High, The Bowl 5" Wide; The Rim Opening, 4.25" Wide
Total Weight, 6.2 oz.

SOLD

#7302

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Silver-Mounted Coconut Cups :

Coconut cups have been popular in Western Europe from the late 15th and 16th centuries,

transported from India, as well as South American and the West Indies,

particularly by the Spanish and Portuguese.

Drinking from a coconut cup was believed to cure all sorts of ailments such as fever, kidney failure and tapeworm.

They were not only restorative, but thought to have aphrodisiac powers.

"In the 17th century, travelers and merchants brought back to this country (England) coconuts,

exotic shells and rare birds' eggs, which were given silver mounts"**.

Coconut cups were often turned into the bowl of a wine goblet.

"These often only have a maker's mark or perhaps no mark at all. They are rarely found with a full set of hallmarks."**

17th century examples normally had the rim mounts joined to the foot by means of three equally spaced vertical straps.

Common during the time of Charles II, these cups went out of vogue for a time.

It was not until the reign of George III that examples are again found.

At that date, the British cup was often fully silver- lined, but without vertical straps,

having plain mounts and a full set of hallmarks.

(**Waldron, Antique Silver, p. 182)

The Crests of Guinness and Lee

The crests as engraved upon the rim of this George III Sterling Silver Mounted

Coconut Cup dates probably to latter years of the king's reign by an unknown

silversmith/manufacturer are those of the families of Guinness and Lee.

They may be blazoned as follows:

Crests:

(Dexter) A boar passant quarterly or and gules (for Guinness)

(Sinister) On a pillar proper encircled by a ducal coronet or an eagle

preying on a bird's leg erased also proper (for Lee)

Given the date of the presumed manufacture of this coconut cup with the dual crests

of Guinness and Lee, it was probably commissioned and in the possession of

Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness (born 1st November 1798 died 19th May 1868), the 1st

Baronet of Ashford in the County of Galway and St. Stephen's Green in the County of Dublin.

Sir Benjamin's father, Arthur Guinness, married Anne Lee, the eldest daughter and co-heiress of Benjamin Lee,

of Merrion in the County of Dublin on the 24th February 1837,

hence the use of the Lee crest shown here in combination with that of Guinness.

If the cup was not commissioned directly by Sir Benjamin

it was certainly commissioned by a descendant of the Guinness Lee marriage.

Sir Benjamin was both a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for the County of

Dublin. He also served as the Member of Parliament for the City of Dublin between

1865 and 1868, the year of his death. He married his cousin, Elizabeth Guinness, the

third daughter of Edward Guinness, of Dublin and his wife, Margaret Blair. On Sir

Benjamin's death, his eldest son, Arthur Edward Guinness became the 2nd Baronet of

Ashford and St. Stephens Green. Sir Arthur was created Baron Ardilaun, of Ashford in the County of

Galway within the Peerage of the United Kingdom on the 1st May 1880. This

peerage fell into extinction for the want of a male heir on the 20th January 1915. The

United Kingdom Baronetcy (of Ashford and St Stephen's Green) was inherited by Lord Ardilaun's nephew,

Sir Algernon Arthur St Lawrence Lee Guinness, who became the 3rd Baronet.

Heraldry by John Tunesi of Liongam

MSc, FSA Scot, Hon FHS, QG