Last Sunday’s column on my cherished Stanley Hardware coffee cup struck a nostalgic note among readers who love their vintage mugs. I even heard from an old friend from my hometown who remembers going to the Stanley employee store with his dad.
This from a reader in Grand Forks:
“Loved your column about your coffee cup. I know what you mean. I have an old ceramic mug that was made years ago at the University of North Dakota when it had a School of Mines. It was my mother’s – part of a tea set, she said, but only my one cup survives. It has a couple of chips in it. It’s a kind of crooked tan thing with brown patterns in the clay. It has a round, faded blue label on the bottom – says ‘Made at School of Mines, N.D. clay, Grand Forks, N.D.’ A collector told me once it might be worth a few bucks, but I just like it for my morning coffee.”
A reader from rural Minnesota said:
“I still use a beat-up aluminum cup that came with my old Boy Scout mess kit – like from the 1960s. It’s dented and pitted, and it’s really scratched up – been kicked around in the tractor cab for years, but it’s still a damn good cup. Oh, and it was made in the USA, according to the worn down engraving on the mess kit’s frying pan. How about that? Have to be careful when the coffee’s real hot, ’cause the aluminum heats up. Burned my mouth lots of times, but I love that old cup.”
My hometown friend was incredulous:
“I can’t believe you still have a Stanley cup from the company store. That’s just amazing. I remember the store and all the stuff. My dad had a Stanley coffee cup, just like yours with the Stanley colors. Wish I’d held on to it. Next time I’m in the old hometown, I’ll swing by the store. Still there, I hear. Maybe I can find a cup, but I suspect not made in the U.S.A.”
This from a Fargo reader:
“I looked at every cup and mug in the house – and some of them go back some, college mugs and all that – but not one is made in this country. They come from all all over the place, but not this country. Nice cups and all, but not one (looked at about a dozen) made here.
And this from a reader with a sense of humor:
“I did what you recommended – turned over my favorite mug and there it was: Made in Taiwan. You know, you should have warned people to make sure the cup was empty before they turned it over …”
Enjoy your morning coffee – in an old mug with memories.
Contact Editorial Page Editor Jack Zaleski at jzaleski@forumcomm.com or (701) 241-5521.
