The Anthora is a design for a disposable paper cup for

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

that has become iconic in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

daily life.

History

The cup was originally designed by Leslie Buck of the Sherri Cup Company in 1963, to appeal to Greek-owned coffee shops in New York City, and was later much copied by other companies. Sherri was later acquired by the Solo Cup Company, which in turn was acquired by Dart Container in 2012. The name is said to come from Buck's Eastern European-accented pronunciation of the word ''

amphora An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

''. Sales of the cup reached 500 million in 1994 at its peak, and fell to about 200 million cups annually by 2005. At its peak, up to 15 million cups were used monthly. One ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' writer in 1995 called the Anthora "perhaps the most successful cup in history". Solo halted production in 2006, but continued to license the design. By 2007, it was mentioned in passing in a ''New York Times'' television review as "one of those endangered artifacts". Production restarted in 2015. Buck never received royalties from his design, but as a salesman he was well-remunerated for the product's success. When he retired from Sherri Cup Company in 1992, he was presented with 10,000 Anthoras printed with a testimonial inscription. After Buck's death in 2010, a ''New York Times'' writer described the motto on the cup as having "welcome intimations of tenderness, succor, and humility".

Design

The original Anthora depicts an image of an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

amphora, a Greek key design on the top and bottom rim, and the words "WΣ ARΣ HAPPY TO SΣRVΣ YOU" in angular script intended to evoke ancient Greek epigraphy and using Σ to represent the letter E. There are three steaming cups of coffee below the slogan. The blue and white colors were inspired by the

flag of Greece The national flag of Greece, popularly referred to as the Blue-and-White (, ) or the Cyan-and-White (, ), is officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols and has 5 equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white. There ...

. The original capacity was ; 8 ounce versions are also made. There are also variant knock-offs; a popular one produced by Premier Cup portrays a discus-thrower; others depict the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek gods, goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of c ...

, a harpist, and so on, and have variant slogans such as "We Are Pleased To Serve You".

Culture

The Anthora has been displayed in the Design Department of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, in an exhibition at the

Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European ...

on "The Persistence of Classicism", and in an article on "A History of New York in 50 Objects". It has been featured in various movies and television, where it is used to "evoke Gotham at a glance". In 2003, Graham Hill of the design group ExceptionLab designed a ceramic replica reproducing the construction of the paper cup as a

skeuomorph A skeuomorph (also spelled skiamorph, ) is a derivative object that retains ornamental design cues (attributes) from structures that were necessary in the original. Skeuomorphs are typically used to make something new feel familiar in an effort t ...

, converting it from disposable to permanent; it is sold at the

shop. In 2004,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

commissioned a special edition of the Anthora for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, including its peacock logo and the

Olympic rings The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses icons, flags, and symbols to represent and enhance the Olympic Games. These symbols include those commonly used during Olympic competitions such as the flame, fanfare, and theme as well as those u ...

External links

Official site by manufacturer

Instagram collection of Greek cup variants
!-- WP:ELNO normally doesn't allow Instagram accounts, but this is "a unique resource beyond what the article would contain if it became a featured article"-->
Instagram collection of Greek-style cups found in media and merchandise

References

{{reflist Coffee culture Drinkware Culture of New York City Products introduced in 1963