Sometimes you make a lucky purchase and find you have obtained an item of great value for far less money than it is worth. Such was the deal with this cup.

I remember the day well. It was warm and sunny and we were on vacation in Kentucky. We were staying in Lexington, and would usuallly try to visit Berea while we were in Kentucky. We had made the 20 minute drive from Lexington to Berea and gone through several shops, including Brian Boggs chair shop. We walked across the railroad to the main shop area in Berea and saw a store front called "Gastineau Studios". We went inside and looked around for a while at a number of pieces of jewelry when I noticed some plain but nice looking cups, all different sizes. I asked the propretor about them and he said they were made out of lead free pewter and hand spun in his shop. I asked him what hand spun meant and he said in a minute he would show me.

After he was done waiting on his customers, he told me to step into the next room, and Meg and I went out to watch him. He clamped a flat round metal disc to a form in a lathe, turned on the lathe at about 20 rpm and then proceed to form the cup on the lathe with a long blunt stick, forcing the metal to bend against the form. When he had bent all the metal at the angle off the bottom, he grabbed a coupdl different tools and formed the lip at the top of the cup. He then took the cup off the form and cnc engraved the bottom with the logo. About 30 minutes after starting he handed me the completed cup, about 3" high maybe and 2-1/2" diameter at the top.

I asked him how much he needed for the cup and was a little shocked when he said " forty five dollars." My first thought was that there was no way I was going to spend $45 for a simple little cup, but I felt bad about making him do all that work for nothing. My wife asked me if there was something I would rather have, and mentioned that she had her eye on a piece of jewelry that cost a little more, and we could both spend a bit since we were on vacation anyway. So we talked each other into it, pulled out the plastic and the cup went home with us.

Since that time I have been diagnosed bipolar and have to take medication morning and night for it. So the cup gets used twice a day at least, plus a lot of drinks in between. SOmetimes I drink a good cup of orange juice out of it, and I have occasionally put in 3 or 4 large ice cubes and filled it half full of scotch, which is really what it was made for. I wonder what the cost per use will be by the time I die?

There is something about using a finely made expensive item that brings out the best in people, an aim for excellence in what we do. When we use cheaply made items, we are usually frustrated and angry. A well made item is a pleasure to use. Plus buying a work of art from an artist is the same thing as helping out the poor with charity work.