The creation and use of an otter effigy as this cup’s handle is thoughtfully and successfully executed. It is consistent with the sense that in all great Woodlands carvings, ‘less is more’ and that the essence of a creature is best conveyed by the carver with the bare minimum of detail.

This cup appears to relate to two other cups of similar design. One is pictured in "The Iroquois" by Frank Gouldsmith Speck, p. 83, which is also carved from maple burl and has an open worked handle. The exact effigy on that cup is hard to identify but is zoomorphic in nature.

The other example is in the Heye Collection of the National Museum of the American Indian and the outlines of the cup and the handle are similar to this one, however it lacks an effigy figure. Documentation from the Heye notes the cup’s origin as Scaticook of the Mohican tribes of the Hudson River Valley of New York and Connecticut.

The openwork and the flatness of the carving are strikingly reminiscent of carvings seen on 16th and 17th century Iroquois antler combs and stylistically relate to the wolf effigy scoop shown next in this collection.