Can anyone help me identify this object?

[alex2013]

Hello,
My grandfather 80 years ago dug up a very interesting item which my mum inherited when he passed away. Is it a Goblet?...Vessel?
I used to be apart of a archaeologist club in my youth and so I showed the group founders and it caused alot of dispute between them as to what it was or its origins.
I dont know what metal it is, some have said it has more one metal, a small area was polished and seemed it could be brass or copper
Could anyone tell me what this item might be and how old it is?

[Butch Wilson]

Can you post something indicating size, and the bottom.

[alex2013]

Hey, yes it is 13cm in height, diametre at bottom 7cm and 9cm at top.

[painshill]

Before everyone jumps in could I just draw your attention to the fact that Alex is from Chester in ENGLAND!
Hi Alex, and welcome to the forum from another Brit. It would really have helped everyone if you had said where this was found. Most people here are from the States. There is also a section of the forum for "International Artifacts" (ie non-American items), but no matter... you've posted it here now.
I'll think about the design for a bit, but yes, it does look like a drinking beaker.

[rmartin]

Wow Roger, I was typing as you posted. Welcome to the forum Alex.

[Doug Humbarger]

The first thought that came to my mind was "Persian" designs on it.  Could it have been brought back from one of the crusades? Maybe even by one of the Douglasses?  No on second thought we would have brought back gold -and- silver -and- to Scotland not England! :laugh:    :unsure:

[painshill]

Doug Humbarger wrote:

The first thought that came to my mind was "Persian" designs on it.  Could it have been brought back from one of the crusades? Maybe even by one of the Douglasses?  No on second thought we would have brought back gold -and- silver -and- to Scotland one England! :laugh:    :unsure:

  I agree it has an Islamic kind of feel to it. Maybe Ottoman/Turkish or North Africa in the territory of Algeria/Tunisia/Morocco. The use of the hexagram would be consistent with any of those. It certainly isn’t English unless it has been produced in an exotic styling. However, it doesn’t look very old and I would guess no earlier than 19th Century. I would guess it to be a tourist/export item from a bazaar in one of those places.
I take it there are no other design indicators apart from the hexagram, dog-tooth and floral items? No marks of any kind on the bottom?
You might also want to check exactly how much water it holds to see if it corresponds to any known unit of measure. That might help narrow it down.
[I'm relieved no-one has said Viking (yet)!]  

[frog]

I have no idea what i am looking at, but is that a 6 pointed star on it?

[clovisoid]

It looks Viking... :lol:
It does look like arabesque art, which was popular off and on a couple of times over the last 500 years.

[painshill]

frog wrote:

I have no idea what i am looking at, but is that a 6 pointed star on it?

  Yes… it’s called the hexagram. It was used by the Hindu, Abrahamic, Jewish, Christian, Mormon and Muslim religions (among others) as well as in occultism and Freemasonary.
(but not by the Vikings)

[Doug Humbarger]

pain you don't like wikings? 

[painshill]

Doug Humbarger wrote:

pain you don't like wikings? 

  Just putting my marker down in case anyone Googled "Chester" and saw it was raided by the guys with the horned helmets in 893AD. On their way to Minnesota. 
[sorry, Alex... there's an insider joke here. When in doubt, say it's Viking]

[Hoss]

Please show us some close ups of the base of that cup. Take some pictures in good daylight and re post them please. Thanks for the show and welcome to the site. I will move this post over to international artifacts for you.
Hoss

[alex2013]

Hello!! Thankyou for the kind welcomes!
I was excited to open my mail box to see your responses! Well according to my mother she says it was found in snowdon, in Wales, UK.
I had a look this morning on the base, and without the light shining on it I would of missed it but I saw 1883 etched in and a name I cant make out something like GS Wood..not a welsh name but maybe an English name? I wouldnt have thought it was the makers engraving as they would of done a better job. Looks for like the owner etched the name.
Will take a photo later as I am work right now...naughty!   
Thanks for all your help its very fasinating seeing other people thoughts

[painshill]

Maybe GS Wood was the owner, not the manufacturer, but do you really mean “engraved” or do you mean “stamped?” There was a manufacturer of sundry brassware called GS Wood operating in Liverpool in late Victorian times. It wasn’t unusual for companies to import inexpensively-made items from abroad and stamp them on arrival.

Wood bought out a company called Abraham & Co, founded in 1817 and based in Lord Street, Liverpool who were “Opticians & Mathematical Instrument Makers”. They made expensive items in brass such as microscopes, telescopes and sextants. They later had retail premises in Liverpool from 1851-75, extending the range to other brass items such as magic lanterns, sundials, barometers and fancy gentlemen’s items such as theatre binoculars, pocket altimeters and barometers in gilt brass. After they were bought out, they traded initially as “GS Wood Late Abraham & Co” and then just as “GS Wood”.

Treating the truncated conical shape as a cylinder with an averaged diameter of 8cm, then I estimate the volume at just over 650ml. That’s way too large as a drinking vessel for anything apart from beer! In fact it would just accommodate a pint (568ml) with room for a ¾ inch head on it.

It wouldn’t be surprising if GS Wood’s shop was just the place for a Victorian gentleman to buy a fancy gilt brass beer mug. But I’m just guessing.