An interesting cup that brings us into close contact with a superstitious age is the Poison Cup at Clare College, Cambridge, which is a glass tankard mounted in silver - gilt, enclosed in a filigree wire ring, the whole resting on three angels' heads. On the lid (which is mounted tankard fashion, i.e. hinged to the handle) is set a crystal, surrounded by a plain band of silver, and this crystal is the cause of the vessel becoming known as the Poison Cup. In olden times poison was a common method for getting out of the way any undesirable acquaintances, and it behoved those in high places to be very wary of what they ate or drank. Superstition played a great part in the lives of our ancestors, and one of the precautions which they took to make sure that their drink was not poisoned, was to have their beverages served solely in vessels which in some way revealed the presence of poison. It was believed that a vessel made from a narwhal horn showed the presence of poison, whilst if a certain variety of crystal came in close proximity to poison, the crystal would immediately become clouded, hence the raison d'etre of the crystal set in the Poison Cup, which was given to Clare College by a Doctor William Butler (a pseudo M.D. by the way) of great fame in the reign of James I. As will be seen from the illustration the Poison Cup is a beautiful specimen of the silversmith's art, but history does not relate if it was successful in its supposed attributes.

Queen's College, Oxford, possesses probably the earliest specimen of a horn - drinking vessel (mounted after the method of the Saxons), which was made in the fourteenth century. It is now known as the ' Wassail Horn, but in the old inventories it was styled a "poculum caritatis," or cup of affection, and is said to have been given to the college by the Queen of Edward III through the founder, Robert d'Eglesfield, who was her private chaplain.