At the Tea Table with Cynthia Boucher of The Teacup Attic

If you want to spend hours getting lost in the world of vintage teacups, move your cursor over The Teacup Attic and click! Cynthia Boucher is the owner of this online shop based out of Ottawa, Canada. She proudly curates vintage china, so tea drinkers have the opportunity to own and treasure elegant pieces for tea time. The Teacup Attic’s online collection includes spectacular finds from Royal Albert, Paragon, Aynsley and more. You will find a variety of shapes and patterns all in excellent condition. At the tea table Cynthia opened up about her journey that led her to teacups, rare finds and must-have advice when shopping for vintage china.

The kettle is on and I can hear it about to sing. What tea are you going to steep for us today?

The one thing you will learn about me is that I am somewhat a creature of habit. Today, we are steeping some Earl Grey. I never tend to stray too far. I enjoy Lady Grey and Cream Earl Grey. Also, a fantastic blend my husband purchased while in Victoria, British Columbia this summer from the Empress Hotel called Blue Suede shoes which is a blend of black and green teas.

Do you recall your first sip that started your tea journey?

I grew up on the East Coast in rural Quebec. My parents are originally from Northern New Brunswick and a lot of people from the region drink King Cole Tea. They always had a cup of tea after supper and I must have been 8 or 9 the first time I had a sip. This was my first exposure to tea and although I tried coffee later on, I was a devoted tea drinker from a young age.

How did your love for vintage teacups start and blossom into The Teacup Attic?

The beginnings of my journey as a teacup lover or even fanatic you could say was all developed thanks to my husband. Back in 2011, he shared that in a previous life, he had sold teacups on Ebay and had enjoyed it. He asked my thoughts on taking X amount of dollars and investing it in vintage china. I have to be honest, I really thought he was out of his mind We opened our shop on Etsy and what began as a hobby became my full time job.

I became interested by the colors, patterns and the history of it all. Little by little, I researched and learned. In 2014, when my husband was transferred to Ottawa for work, I took over the business full time and set off to learn absolutely everything I could about vintage English china. There is so much to learn but I love it. Now I am proud to say, I am not only the owner of The Teacup Attic but also a Certified Personal Property Appraiser. What began innocently, has now blossomed into a passion or perhaps even an obsession.

As a teacup curator, I imagine it’s hard to let some pieces go! Can you share your favourite teacups from your personal collection?

As a shop owner, we bring large quantities of stock in and sometimes it can be quite difficult to let beautiful pieces go. Our business is to bring the world together, one teacup at a time. As a result, we have met so many wonderful people on this journey. We like to say that we take forgotten vintage china and place it into new and loving homes where it will be appreciated once again. I like to think that each piece that is sold will make someone very happy.

I try to keep my own personal collection in check. It would be very easy to get carried away and completely fill my house with teacups…not that it would be a terrible situation to be honest. My personal collection consists of 54 teacups and 8 teapots.

One of the favorite teacups in my collection is an Aynsley fortune teacup used in the art of Tasseography. I had seen similar ones online and had always hoping to find one in the wild. While waiting to meet a friend for lunch one day, I entered a used furniture store and looked around. I stumbled upon the teacup I had spent 2 years searching for. This just proves that you never know when and where a beautiful teacup will pop up.

My other favorite is a Royal Albert teacup that my husband purchased for me for Christmas a few years ago. It is a beautiful black teacup in the Gainsborough shape and the pattern name is Cynthia 🙂

I love that you own a teacup with a pattern named after you! 😉 Do you come across a lot of rare teacups during your searches?

Along our path we have discovered a few rare and expensive teacups. For example, one was a flower handle Shelley, another was an Art Deco Shelley and one month I actually had 3 Floating Rose Paragons! Most of our items are purchased from auctions across the country.

If someone just beginning their collection asked for your best vintage teacup shopping advice, what would be your answer?

The best advice I can give someone just beginning their collection is to not get hung up on brand names. Collect what calls to you. The colors and patterns that take your breath away and make you smile. The other piece of advice is to ask for help from someone who knows more. Hang out with those people. One of the things I love to do is to help beginning collectors learn the basics of picking a good teacup, checking for damage and learning about the history. I want people to make educated purchases for whatever teacup they are purchasing. I want them to walk into an antique store or garage sale and know that they feel confident.

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