Remember Me

For my birthday, I asked for bobbles from the Vintage Glass & Pottery shop. Dad and I had planned to go on my birthday and he said he "knew exactly what to get [me]" but he wasn't feeling well that day and we postponed the trip.

When he was in the hospital and it was pretty clear he wasn't heading home, I asked him if he wanted to tell me what bobble he had planned to get me from the vintage shop. He smiled. I remember saying that he didn't need to tell me so that we could keep that hope that maybe we would still make it. He brought it up one more time and this time it was clear that he was going to the grave with a mystery [I should note that that is very Dad/me and the not knowing is part of the magic.] But he also said, "There will be signs."
Today I dropped in because I was feeling down. I wanted to pick up an old sugar spoon but I browsed because it's an amazing glass shop. This piece called to me before I even read the wording. There was just something about it.

This Victorian beauty is an Early American Pressed Glass Motto Mug from Campbell, Jones & Company in Pittsburgh, PA. This mug was introduced c1877. It reads “Remember Me.”

This piece closely aligns with the memento mori tradition, where everyday objects carried themes of memory, mortality, and remembrance. Like mourning jewelry, memorial hair art, and sentimental keepsakes of the period, the mug’s inscription served as a gentle reminder of enduring affection and the desire to be remembered after separation or death. Its floral motifs and sentimental wording reflect the Victorian fascination with emotional symbolism, especially the “language of flowers” and remembrance culture that surrounded mourning practices of the era. While softer and more domestic than earlier skull-and-hourglass memento mori objects, the mug embodies the same underlying idea: preserving memory and emotional connection through material objects.