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Kim Meyerholtz (at right) saw the old cup on eBay and thought it would make a nice addition to her collection.
And the price wasn’t a deal breaker. With a $1 bid, it wasn’t exactly like she was bidding on a Barry Bonds home run ball.
“I didn’t really know anything about the cup,” says Meyerholtz, a 1989 Purdue graduate (College of Engineering) and toxicology technician in Purdue’s Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.
“But my husband (Brad, BS ’89) and I collect a lot of Purdue memorabilia.
“I got kind of excited when I saw it in Connections (fall ’05 issue). I told my friends at work, ‘Hey, that’s my cup!’”
Unfortunately, the Connections team didn’t know anything about the cup. We were hoping our readers could provide a little of the history behind the mystery mug, and here is what they had to say:
I have an idea about the Class of 1910 cup. Two of the classes - sophomores and juniors, I think - would have a fight each year and the winners got to put the class numerals on the water tower shown on the cup. Also, the seniors supervised the action. Unfortunately, a student was killed a few days after 1910 and that ended the fight. My father, Frank, graduated in Agriculture in 1914 and this is my source. Charles Beall, BS '52 | I also have a tin cup of the same design in my small collection of Purdue artifacts. The cup was given to me by George and Louise McNelly. George was a former dean of technology at Purdue. They think the cup was given to them by a lady in the Purdue Alumni Office. They think the picture on the cup was the Purdue president, a Dr. Smart (Purdue president from 1883-1990). They think the cup is a party gift or token for those attending the 25th anniversary celebration or gathering of the 1910 class in 1935. They also shared with me that they found another cup of the same design in an antique shop, but that it was in very poor shape. Howard Poole |
On my desk holding pencils is a tin cup from my Uncle Ivan Alexander, who went to Purdue about 1925. My cup has the same tower as the one shown in Connections, with "10" at the top in the first triangle, then "15th ANNIVERSARY - JUNE 1925." The blue background center triangle has a lamp and a Maltese cross with symbols on each point and "1910" in its center instead of the bearded gentleman, next is "LAFAYETTE WE ARE HERE," and the last triangle shows old Heavilon Hall. I have thought perhaps the cup was a Phi Delt party favor, but I don't really know. Marilyn Alexander Forsythe, 1950 |
