Trading Teacups

Attention, teacup collectors (and we know you're out there): For the next week you can sign up to get a random teacup mailed to you from someone you've never met. Huh? Let us explain.

Back by popular demand, New York blogger and teacup enthusiast Beth Stellato has organized her sixth teacup exchange of the year, a version of the proliferating online swap meets that are linking collectors of all kinds via the Internet. Sign up during the next week, receive the name of another participant, mail off a teacup and get one in return.

No telling whether you'll get a cup with painted pansies or scattered violets, but for Stellato that's part of the fun. "It's like having someone someplace else scoping out the flea markets for you," she says, "and you never know what [the teacup] will look like."

To get in on the swap, visit http://www.justmycupoftea.typepad.com .

Terri Sapienza