A couple of months ago I acquired from a friend four tastevin (or tasse de dégustation, tasse du vin, wine cups, depending on your predilection). My friend had bought them in northern France and cleaned them up before passing them on to me in exchange for a few drinking tokens.

They are all of the same standard design with bowls 75mm in diameter and have the crest of Bouchard Aîné & Fils, a recognised Beaune wine house. All appear to be white metal plating over a yellow metal base, the latter showing through where the white plating is rubbed. The base metal is therefore likely to be brass (or possibly some form of pewter).
One of the four is clearly silver plated as it has a small stamp “METAL ARGENTE” (the French indication of silver plate) on the bowl near the handle. Two are stamped just “METAL”. The fourth has a tiny (2mm) square maker’s mark of M and P with what appears to be an upward pointing arrow between the letters — I have not been able to satisfactorily identify this maker. As far as I can see there are no other marks. The two “METAL” ones have a very slightly greyer/duller lustre than the other two, which makes me suspect they are maybe tin plated, the brighter two both being silver — but that is pure speculation on my part.
    

This fourth, with the maker’s mark, is noticeably the most worn, with more yellow metal showing through, so it looks as if it may have been someone’s favourite. The stamping of the crest is also of a slightly better quality, so this one could be older.
Looking further at the wear on the handle of this one with a maker’s mark, two further things become apparent: (a) there is a slight wear mark where the tasse would have been worn on string/ribbon round a sommelier’s neck (in fact all four have this) and (b) the wear on the crest suggests that the sommelier was right handed.
Nonetheless I doubt any of them is of any significant age.
I have no expectation that they are of any useful monetary value but nonetheless I’m interested to work out their provenance. I have written to Bouchard Aîné & Fils asking if they can date them or provide other information, but I have so far not received a reply.
If anyone can shed further light on them, then I would love to hear from you.
Meanwhile they are nice little things to have!