There you are standing in the kitchen crinkled piece of yellow paper in hand all excited ready to try the old recipe for Elkhorn Pig's Fatback Christmas Pudding you found tucked away in Granny's unmentionables drawer and lo and behold the first ingredient called for is... butter the size of an egg?  Yikes!!! 
Have no fear culinary stranger! The Poinsettia Avenger is here ready to thwart Christmas cooking catastrophes with a list of old-time cooking measurements.  You are, however, on your own with Granny.

Butter the size of an egg= 1/4 cup
Butter the size of a walnut = 2 tablespoons
Coffee cup= 1 cup
Dash=1/8 teaspoon
Dessert spoon = 1 1/2 teaspoons
Dram= 3/4 teaspoon
Drops,60= 3/4 teaspoon of liquid
Gill= 1/2 cup
Lump= 2 tablespoons (butter)
Pinch= 1/8 teaspoon
Pint=2 cups
Pound of eggs= 8-9 can go as high as 10-12 depends on size
Salt spoon = 1/4 teaspoon
Scruple= 1/24 oz or 1/4 teaspoon (an apothecary weight)
Teacup= 3/4 cup
Tin cup= 1 cup
Tumblerful= 2 cups
Wineglass= 1/2 gill or 1/4 cup

Pint of finely chopped meat packed solidly= 1pound
2 gills = 1 coffee cup
2 coffee cups= 1 pint
2 coffee-cups full of powdered sugar= 1 pound
4 coffee-cups full of sifted four= 1 pound

Canned goods such as vegetables, fruits and seafood appeared in the west around
1837, by 1849 they were commonplace. Try this on for size, sweetened condensed milk was produced in 1859.  But enough of that, back to the point, often the emptied tins were used as
a means for measurement, the following is a useful guide for old recipes.

#1 flat..............1/2 pound
#1 tall..............1 pound
#303.................1 pound
#2...................1 1/4 pound
#3 cylinder..........2 pounds 14 oz.
#10..................6 pounds 10 oz.