Topic: Please help with x-large bowl

[interiorforms]

This bowl measures about 12 inches across and about 5 inches high. There are a few areas of latticino and there are 12 "points" forming a burst pattern on the sides which was. More pictures if i can figure out how to post more! Any thoughts is appreciated. Kimberly

[johnphilip]

It looks a bit like A.V.E. M. but i havnt seen one with the clear cogs .

[interiorforms]

Thank you. It gives me a place to start. Here's a few more pictures:



http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr236/interiorforms/mb07.jpg


http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr236/interiorforms/mb06.jpg


http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr236/interiorforms/mb05.jpg



http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr236/interiorforms/mb04.jpg



http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr236/interiorforms/mb03.jpg


http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr236/interiorforms/mb02.jpg

[obscurities]

Is the pontil polished or ground cloudy?. It does not really look Italian to me....

Craig

[interiorforms]

I stay away from pontils which were ground cloudy; that screams Japan, Mexico, and recent so to answer your question: the pontil is ground smooth and polished. This bowl, along with a few other items, come from an estate which had been in storage since the early 1990s when the owners passed away well into their 80s. These people were severe pack rats and had several properties which were literally packed floor to ceiling with box upon box upon box... and they lived among this "treasure trove" with walk spaces measuring only a few feet across. They had so much that a local auction company held 6 or 7 auctions over the course of the last year, each auction was fri-sun so you can imagine how much things they had accumulated. This past, and last batch of auctions, were conducted 12-14 June.

What made it even more enjoyable is that the family is from Chicago, my home town. If one were into old books (which I'm not) they would have had a field day as the selection of books, as well as subject matter, ran the gamut of human knowledge, in several different languages, but primarily English and German. The book people were running about with grubby, filthy palms rummaging through box after box of books. Everyone who attended the auctions were absolutely in awe of how one could have accumulated so many things, and so many multiples of one thing. For example, they literally had thousands upon thousands of cameras, lenses, everything associated with photography, much from the late 1800s to the 1960s. I did not see one item, book or otherwise, which dated past the 1960s. It was truly incredible and I doubt that I will ever see an auction quite like these, at least from one estate which was untouched for so many years.

I spoke with the nephew handling the estate who had come down from Chicago and he told me his uncle was an architect who traveled extensively, thus the wide range of European objects.

To some up the experience, I walked away with the one item I truly went for: a Gibbings Widdicomb mahogany side table with solid brass legs.

[obscurities]

Anita may see this and be able to give a better thought on origin if it is Italian .....

I ran an auction in Seattle for several years. The estate you are describing sounds like one that we sold off. The people had packed items away in banana boxes for literally decades. The boxes were itemized on the ends and stacked in the house. Most of the boxes were so old that the ink had faded on the lists on the ends of the boxes. The house was huge, and was so packed there were rooms the son did not know were there because he had never seen some doors. I had auctions weekly and it took me about 6 months, with other goods, to sell through the estate. It was a collectors dream, and something I am sure I will never see again. The people gave Obsessive Compulsive Disorder a new meaning. Some of the boxes had newspaper from the early 60's wrapping items that came out of thrift stores back then. This all happened in late 2005-2006

We pulled around 600+ banana boxes out of the house over a period of several days. The home had ceiling leaks, and the son, who was a little odd himself, instead of selling some things to fix the leaks, laid VHS tapes down to cover areas of carpets and floors that would get wet, so his feet would not get moist when he walked in those areas of the house. He never considered selling anything until he had to vacate the home.

We pulled one box of pottery alone (very early Rookwood and early Van Briggle) that after auction would have paid to fix the roof and to also put him up in a motel while it was being done, but unfortunately the house had gone too far and he moved to an apartment. We pulled another box of glass, that had Tiffany and Steuben pieces in it that were to die for. We saw many things that I had not seen in decades, and will probably not see again.

We collectors are a strange group... some more than others....  This family was the most extreme I have ever seen  or heard of... It was truly amazing and bizarre at the same time.....

Craig

[interiorforms]

Speaking of odd and bizarre was that the two people who accumulated all these items were brothers who lived with each other in an old church until they died well into their 80s. Even by today's standards, two bothers who lived together for their entire lives without marrying would merit an up-turned eyebrow. Even so, their collection was all over the map. It would seem by what was found in the properties that they had highly varied interests.

You were speaking of pottery; these guys had numerous early Weller Dickersonware, Grueby, Teco, etc. all mummified in 1950s-1960s Chicago Tribune newspaper. The bowl which started this tread was so filthy dirty that people thought it was a piece of marble. There wasn't much in the way of glass but the estate far exceeded  other people's areas of interest to say the least. And as you've stated, there were things which I doubt I will ever see again, not to mention the mysterious, obsolete objects which I had no clue was to what they were or what their purpose was/is. Just wow.

[interiorforms]

One more thing: there was a Grueby jardinière with a strip of old crispy white masking tape marked with a garage sale price of 1.50USD. There were numerous like items labeled with equally ridiculous prices.

[obscurities]

Ohhhh, If only my time machine weren't broken!!!!!

As collectors, we can only feel privileged  to have seen such stuff.....  On the other hand, as "somewhat normal people", and I leave that definition quite loose, we have to wonder what the purpose of the collection is if you mummify it in newspaper as you say, and pack it away in boxes... It then seems to be an obsession to accumulate, rather than a pleasure to collect and enjoy....  

Oh well....  To each his own....  it is, after all, what makes the world go round!!

[TxSilver]

Anita may see this and be able to give a better thought on origin if it is Italian .....Craig

I would say yes to the Italian and a probably to Murano. Several companies made the fused color bowls -- AVeM, Fratelli Toso, JI Co, and unknown "generic" companies. This one is different in having the floral base that makes the bowl look like a flower. I guess we'll have to put it into the generic category for now. Maybe someone will happen across one like it soon. It is an interesting bowl.