You know those cardboard coffee sleeves you get for free at Starbucks? Well back in 1840 or so, they didn’t exist. Instead, they used things called Zarfs, into which they would place their hot coffee containers. Here’s one. It’s coming up at Christie’s, with an estimate of $150,000 to $200,000. That’s a bit more than “free”, of course. And it’s only 2.5” high, so you’re not going to be able to get much coffee in there. But still, imagine taking this into your local coffee shop, and explaining that if you really cared about your coffee, you’d use a zarf.
