We found this between the joints of a wall of a 19th century barn, in SW Pennsylvania. We have seen similar designs that were civil war basic kit. Unfortunately, the only provenance we have is the age of the building where we found it. The owners of the property told us that the farm was settled in the early 1800’s, and that is the original barn.
The cup could have been used not only as a drinking vessel, but is large enough to serve as a meal ration bowl as well. It looks as if it would hold roughly a quart.
We only cleaned it with dawn dish detergent, and allowed it to air dry, except the bottom, we used a lemon and salt to clean the crust on the bottom. There was a buildup of crud and other gross stuff. Don’t worry, it is now thoroughly cleaned.
Measures 6 inches across at the rim, and 5 inches at the base.
We found no maker’s mark. We think this a museum quality artifact.