I recently read Carol Perkins' story on Columbia Magazine "Memories of Recess," which read, in part:

"At the end of recess, we lined up at the water fountain and drank from our handmade paper cups. Someone had a tin collapsible cup that shut down like an accordion and popped up when ready for the water. I don't know who brought it, but I thought it was cool."

I'm not sure what age Carol Perkins is but I'd venture to say in her late 60s, maybe younger because we didn't have a water fountain where I started school. I went to 1st Grade in the school at Pellyton, KY, which is about 17 miles from Columbia, KY. It was a two-room schoolhouse. This would have been around 1960. I don't believe Carol and I went to school together, if we did then my memory is shot because I cannot place knowing her. However, I was one kid of probably many that had one of those small tin, "collapsible" cups. In fact, it not was not only collapsible, but it also had a cover that you could put over the rim to keep out any foreign material that might invade it.

Here I am a 68-year-old and I still have my collapsible cup with cover. It sits on a small shelf in our kitchen. It's still a "cool" cup as Carol states. I'd be happy to sell it for $5,000 to the first person to offer it. It clearly is an antique and I doubt they even have one in the Smithsonian Museum.