Objects, such as cups, dishes or ornaments, kept by families for generations as tokens of good luck. According to tradition lucks cannot be bought; they must be given to a family, typically by royalty or magical individuals such as witches or fairies and as long as they remain intact the family line will thrive. Lucks were once commonplace in the British Isles among the gentry and nobility, and it is conceivable that in the days when reading and writing were not common some lucks were tokens of tenures
One of the most well known lucks is the luck of Edenhall in Cumberland – a cup made of yellow and brown glass, decorated with colourful enamel and kept in a leather case, belonging to the Musgrove family since the fifteenth century. There are a number of stories of how the luck came to be the family’s prized possession. The popular version is that one day the butler came to draw water from a fairy well. He interrupted a group of fairies dancing and they left behind their drinking cup, which the butler picked up. As he left with the cup in his hands the fairies called after him:
If this cup should ever break or fall, Farewell the luck of Edenhall.
There are a number of theories as to the origins of the Edenhall cup. The letters IHS inscribed on the leather case has lead to speculation that it is Spanish in origin, but these letters may have been added to the case later. Other theories suggest that it is of Damascene, French or English origin from the thirteenth or fourteenth century.
The first written reference to the luck of Edenhall is in 1689 but it didn’t become really famous until the eighteenth century when the Duke of Wharton nearly broke the luck during a drinking bout when visiting Edenhall in 1721. Fortunately the butler caught the cup before it fell. Wharton later immortalized the luck in a ballad: ‘The Drinking Match’.
The Edenhall luck is now on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.