The Mystery of the Broken Eggcup

When I was in elementary school, I thought I wanted to be a mystery writer so my title today is a nod to that long-ago ambition. The mystery of the broken eggcup was a bit strange, but I was able to figure it out quickly enough.

I haven't been in my dining room a whole lot lately, except to run through chasing a cat or two. So when I flipped on the light and started unpacking some dishes I brought back from my mother's, I was a bit shocked to see one of my ceramic eggcups was broken...it hadn't fallen over or anything. It was sitting there right where I had placed it, but a section of it was sitting next to it as though it had spontaneously fallen off. Hmmm.

I had brought back the Moravian egg cups from Prague along with a bunch of other Moravian plates from the same shop, located right near Havelska Market, which was where I had bought quite a few of the decorated eggs of which I have a small collection. In addition to the real eggs from Czech Republic, I also have some wooden eggs from Poland and Hungary, and some more real eggs from a top craftsperson in Romania. I like to display them in my dining room in my ceramic egg cups, as well as hanging from the chandelier.



So there was an egg sitting in the eggcup, with the front part missing. Here is a reenactment!


Have you figured it out by now? I examined the other egg cups, and some others also had some pieces cracked and easily pushed off the eggcup, while others were still intact.



The ones which had broken were holding the wooden eggs! Uh, I think the wood must have expanded, as wood does, hence the breakage. Lesson learned: don't put wooden objects into ceramic holders.


I think the egg holders will be all right. I bought some new glue to make sure it's not too thick, and I think I can glue the cups back together fairly well. And in the meantime, I have new dishes!!