F.T. MacLeod stated that it is impossible to determine exactly when the cup passed into the hands of the Macleods of Dunvegan. However, he thought it likely that the cup entered into the possession of the clan in the 16th or 17th centuries. During this era several Macleod chiefs took part in warring in Ireland. He considered it likely that the cup may have been a prize of war, or a gift for services. Later, R.C. MacLeod stated that a Lady O'Neill claimed in 1925 letter, that an O'Neill tradition told how the cup passed into the hands of the Macleods. The tradition runs that one of their chiefs was a close friend of a Macleod chief. When this O'Neill chief visited his friend at Dunvegan he took with him the cup and gave it to Macleod as a present.