The Porcellian Cup
(signed by every member!)
The White House, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harvard, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss Twins: it's all here!
Monstrous, decadent, comical, 18 1/2", fraternal drinking chalice. Bearing the signatures of all ten of the 1906 Porcellian Club members, this is likely the largest and most important artifact ever to escape the halls of Harvard's most elusive club or, all of Harvard for that matter!? The punch bowl sized chalice is inscribed with the 1906 wedding date for Joseph G. Willis. With no mention of the actual wedding (or the bride!), it is our opinion that this was not a wedding gift, but given as a celebratory frat-house drink mug. A gag gift. Stories handed down through the family support this conclusion (club members joked about it, passed it around and drank directly out of it). New York's impressive 1906 Dominick & Haff 925 sterling mark. Large & heavy, weighs about 4 1/2 POUNDS! Measures 18 1/2" across the handles, 12 1/2" across the rim and 8 1/2" high. Has a few dents & scratches (as pictured) but, as you can see, it displays as "beyond spectacular!"
The Porcellian Club invades The White House(...and turns it into Animal House!)
The President of The United States' daughter was also married in 1906. The White House wedding was held in February and boasted more than one thousand guests. Thousands more surrounded the First Family's home hoping to get a glimpse of the goings-on inside (photo above). All ten members of the 1906 Porcellian Club were invited & in attendence, as was FDR. At The White House, and in front of thousands, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt gathered-up the ten boys named on this chalice and lead them to a private room where they held a Porcellian Club "meeting". They reportedly partied, sang porky songs, drank, smoked & told dirty jokes. Historical accounts of the event confirm it was an official Porcellian Club meeting because a humiliated FDR was, once again, turned away at the door. We believe the presentation of this "party chalice" took place at that White House meeting, four months prior to the Willis wedding. Did the Porcellian Club charm its way into The White House and pull-off the ultimate bachelor party!? It would appear so!
First rejected by the Porc in 1903, FDR leaves Harvard. Willis left Harvard in 1906 after having been a member of the Porc for three years. We believe this means Willis was the "punch" choosen over FDR? Information and misinformation about the Porcellian is seemingly endless. We would love to hear from you Harvard & White House historians.
The 1906 FDR & 2004 Mark Zuckerberg-Winklevoss twins periods stand out as the club's two most historic moments. Both events changed the course of history and are testament to the Club's 200+ years of strictest exclusivity. The birthplace of Facebook, the club is now a museum of sorts, collecting artifacts from its historic past.
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William Ladd (1880 -1967) ~ "The Father of Pediatric Surgery".
Charles Sprague Sargent Jr. ~ broker at Hornblower & Weeks for the Dodge, Hudson & General Motors Companies.
Guy Fairfax Cary (1879 -1950) ~ Grandfather to Princess Diana of Wales by marriage to Cynthia Roche.
Louis Crawford Clark Jr. (1881 - 1933) ~ partner in NYSE brokerage Clark, Dodge & Co.
Charles C. Ramsey ~
Arthur Scott Burden ~ (1879 -1921) ~ NYSE, died falling from Polo horse.
John Weiss Stedman (1880 -1952) ~ Vice President of Prudential Insurance Co.
Philip Acosta Carroll ~ private life ~ Declaration of Independence family fame.
Crawford Blagden (1881-1937) ~ All American football tackle. In 1918 lead the rescue of WWI's famed "Lost Battalion".
Joseph G. Willis ~ Died in a California race car crash circa 1919.