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Home / What to Collect / meeting readers

Vintage styrofoam Magi-Cups – Chay’s entry

pam kueber - Updated: May 4, 2021

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

chays-magic-cup.jpgChay’s entry into our Found Objects Found Art contest. P.S. Chay, we need to seem more of that flamingo pink laminate, dear!…

We found this little beauty when we were cleaning out the “mother-in-law” house of our 1947 ranch. For me it speaks of the optimism of the mid-twentieth century. It is hard to believe that styrofoam would have been considered magic anything- especially in today’s green age. Yet, in all actuality, styrofoam is “greener” than paper and uses less energy and materials to produce. According to the wrapper, these cups could be used at home or the office, for picnics, poolside, parties, patios and bar-b-q’s. More amazing still is that they are still intact in their original wrapper – apparently they weren’t as “magic” as they advertised. The original buyers only used 3 of the six cups.

Chay R.
Nacogdoches, Texas

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6 comments

Comments

  1. Tikimama says

    February 5, 2009 at 3:37 pm

    I’m not sure what the Ask logo is…maybe it’s Australian?? Well, for an eleven-year-old, PugFreek, you have very sophisticated opinions! He he he! What is your real name anyway? (If you don’t mind sharing). I feel funny calling you a “freak”!! 🙂

  2. PugFreek says

    February 5, 2009 at 5:35 am

    Tikimama I agree with you every time!What about the Ask logo?

  3. Tikimama says

    February 4, 2009 at 11:07 pm

    Neat find! I get excited about old packaging too. They had such great designs. And I’m with you, Katie – I usually can’t stand new logos. And I wonder how much money the company has to spend to change something that was fine to begin with!
    And definitely – Photos of the laminate please!

  4. sonnie says

    February 4, 2009 at 10:33 pm

    The pink counter does have quite the charm doesn’t it? 🙂 It’s a great background for those fabulous Magi-Cups.

    • Pam Kueber says

      February 4, 2009 at 10:36 pm

      Welcome, Sonnie!

  5. Katie says

    February 4, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    I think this “found art” shows how so many of the design elements we encounter are temporary and disposable… whoever designed that wrapper designed it for the time but probably never thought it’d survive. Makes you look at package goods today — am I the only one who occasionally gets sentimental when logos change?

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