Cup with cover

A commemorative wooden cup with an opening lid and a round handle was intended to hold a champagne cork broken against the side of a launched ship and other small souvenirs from the moment of launching. It was made by the Szczecin shipyard carpenter Zdzisław Wcisłek, who created commemorative gifts for the godmothers of launched ships. The most common forms were miniature helms, barrels and cups. After launching, corks and necks from champagne bottles broken on the side were put into the latter. Such souvenirs were additionally decorated by the shipyard's engraving workshop with appropriately decorated plates with the names of godmothers and the names of ships. The wooden cup that is in the MNS-CDP collection was not made with a specific launching in mind. It's a copy, a duplicate of these cups. The craftsman, leaving the shipyard for retirement, kept duplicates of all the similar objects he made: a barrel, a steering wheel and a cup, which after years the family gave to the collections of MNS-CDP. Zdzisław Wcisłek (1928–2008) came to Szczecin in the early 1950s from his hometown of Kopydłówka in the Łódz voivodship. His father, Jan, was a platoon leader of the 2nd Grochowski Uhlan Regiment. General Józef Dwernicki, awarded the Cross of Valor for participating in the Battle of Warsaw and the Battle of Komarow in 1920 during the Polish-Soviet War. Zdzisław was employed at the Szczecin shipyard as a carpenter at the W-5 Department, and then until his retirement he worked as a ship equipment fitter at the W-1 Department. He participated in all the shipyard workers' protests. He was awarded the Golden and Silver Cross of Merit. Agnieszka Kuchcińska-Kurcz