in 1992, he was presented with 10,000 Anthoras printed with a testimonial inscription. The Anthora coffee cup is featured in movies and television shows that are set in New York such as Goodfellas, The Sopranos, Nurse Jackie, Archer, Brooklyn 99, NYPD Blue, Suits, Friends, Men in Black, How I Met Your Mother, Succession, the Law & Order franchise, Marvel's Daredevil, and Flight of the Conchords.īuck never made royalties from his design, but as a salesman he was well-remunerated for the success of the product. The trademark was acquired by the Solo Cup Company, which licenses sales of the cup. By 2007 it was mentioned in passing in a New York Times television review as "one of those endangered artifacts". One New York Times writer in 1995 called the Anthora "perhaps the most successful cup in history". Sales of the cup reached 500 million in 1994 (when it was by far the most popular design for the company's cups ), but had fallen to about 200 million cups annually by 2005. The cup subsequently became the metropolitan area's definitive coffee-to-go cup.
The blue and white colors were inspired by the flag of Greece. The original Anthora depicts an image of an Ancient Greek amphora, a Greek key design on the top and bottom rim, and the words "WE ARE HAPPY TO SERVE YOU" in an angular typeface resembling ancient Greek, for example with an E resembling a capital sigma ("Σ", a letter pronounced like English "s"). in 1963, to appeal to Greek-owned coffee shops in New York City, and was later much copied by other companies. The cup was originally designed by Leslie Buck of the Sherri Cup Co.
The Anthora is a paper coffee cup design that has become iconic of New York City daily life. For the plant species, see Aconitum anthora.