History

The origin of the commemorative beakers and mugs

denron
2 July 2026

THE OLDEST MUG IN OUR COLLECTION PRINCESS WILHELMINA 1884

The origin of the commemorative beakers and mugs lies in the age-old tradition of immortalising important historical, military or royal events on drinking utensils. The beginning of the Commemorative mug as a royal tradition as we know it began in Great Britain, the very first machine-printed cup was made in 1760 for the coronation of King George III, by the Worcester factory.

When Queen Victoria celebrated her jubilees in 1887 gold and 1897 platinum, mass production took off. Thanks to the industrial revolution, it became possible for manufacturers from Staffordshire and others to manufacture beakers and mugs on a large scale so that people could have a permanent commemoration of the event.

This started in the Netherlands in 1884 when princes Wilhelmina became the heir presumptive but really took off in a huge way in 1898 for the Inauguration of Queen Wilhelmina.

Beakers were made of earthenware, porcelain, tin and enamel. Many of the metal and enamel beakers were made by the company Berk from Kampen.

The porcelain beakers came mostly from German factories such as Krumm in the city of Crefeld.

Since this time, it has become a Dutch custom to distribute mugs or beakers and sometimes plates for special royal events such as anniversaries, births and inaugurations, to schoolchildren in order to involve them in the festivities. This meant that the Commemorative beaker became a regular part of Dutch culture and ended up in many households.

Unfortunately, this tradition is nowadays virtually extinct. These beakers are now collected as souvenirs and older examples have become highly sought-after collectables. These items are a beautiful piece of social history and often reflect the image of time through their designs.

Commemorative beakers and mugs are still made but since the 1980s mainly by large retail chains such as Blokker.

We at DenRonCollections have also issued a number of commemorative beakers in very limited editions in the 1990s and 2000s, mainly to keep the tradition alive.

Here some examples.