Fruit Bowls / Centerpiece Bowls

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Fruit Bowls / Centerpiece Bowls - Part 3

A HUMAN INTEREST PARALLEL - PART 3

CENTERPIECE BOWLS, BANANA BOWLS & LARGE STEMMED COMPOTES-FOR FRUIT?

Northwood - The smallest of the Grape/Cable Fruit bowls is found on occasion, with the points turned in nicely, as in a rose bowl shape. This, along with the same bowl given a treatment of: points straight up, is referred to as a CENTERPIECE BOWL.

Fenton - Clearly, the June 1916 Butler Bros. Catalog ad displays a centerpiece bowl having the edges turned down. This was achieved from re-shaping the Orange Tree Fruit bowl.

Fenton - The Waterlily/Cattail/Thistle oblong bowl having three huge curled feet is referred to in some instances as: Fruit bowl. Others call it a BANANA BOWL. (It could be said that this confuses the issue. However, the fact remains. We still have a fruit bowl here!)

Now that we're on that subject: We should bring the Northwood Grape/Cable BANANA BOWL into play. It is a deep oval shape having the same large tooth edge as that found on the round Grape and Cable Fruit bowls. Depending upon the flare of the bowl, it can reach 12” long.

Dugan - Wreathed Cherry oval berry bowl in the 11” certainly qualifies to hold fruit in numbers. Some collectors refer to it as a BANANA boat. For some reason the large bowl is more plentiful than the smaller oval berry size. Marigold, amethyst, white, peach opalescent, cobalt blue and oxblood are known colors. It's interesting to note that other shapes in this pattern, such as the water set are not known in peach opalescent or cobalt blue.

Diamond - Peach & Pear oval shaped bowl, which is 12”-13” in length x 7” wide is classified as a BANANA bowl. Marigold and amethyst are the colors known. Iridescence can vary tremendously, from nice strong color to extremely weak, and some of the amethyst bowls have a silvery finish. Production years of 1925-1930 are indicated. One undated wholesale ad calls for 98 cents ea.!

I don't believe that any 9” bowl could be considered a Fruit bowl, so could we determine that only those being 10” or larger should be so-called? If so, where do we fit some of the Console bowls into our thinking? They were obviously created to sit between those candlesticks with FRUIT in. Not all of those are 10” in size. Do you think these might better fit into the Centerpiece Bowl category?

NOW.....we still must deal with categorizing the 11” footed Stag & Holly's, the wonderful Heavy Pineapple, lest we FORGET Dragon Tongues with its three curled feet? It has a commanding 11 ½” span! THAT will accommodate “A-LOT-A-Fruit!”

In the strictest sense, ANY of the bowls discussed, COULD be called or USED as Centerpiece bowls. ANY table is graced by their presence.

So, where do the large, tall, STEMMED COMPOTES, such as Grape and Cable, and Mikado fit into the scheme of things we are discussing? With their obvious generous size bowls, which could hold several fruits, or a bunch of bananas, for that matter, do we term them “stemmed fruit bowls”?

In short, there IS no conclusion to this article! We can enter patterns into this Fruit/Centerpiece category almost endlessly, so for the sake of BREVITY, (what a laugh), after all this dialog; the parallel continues, with no hard and fast rules to guide. The understanding of Carnival Glass terms is a challenge which propels us ever forward to search out and continually learn more about IT, the people who love IT, and are willing to share what they believe to be fact. The learning process is NOT an easy one. After 30 years, (I bought our first piece in 1965, I think), Dean & I are still asking questions.

Let me add: one of the NICEST aspects about Carnival Glass is the willingness of collectors to HELP one another!! Many conclusions surrounding “the Glass” must be arrived at through individual “assessment” and self-determination. Relax! Let it happen over a period of time and study. You'll love every minute spent! GUARANTEED! Rome wasn't built in a day, either, you know.


Northwood GRAPE & CABLE Centerpiece Bowl	GRAPE & CABLE Banana Bowl 12-13 inch in length. Sometimes found in the Banded Style and Stippled.

Northwood GRAPE & CABLE OPEN Stemmed Compote - plain interior

March 1921 Butler Bros. Ad
	WATERLILY Ext. of Thistle Banana Boat <-----Fenton THISTLE Banana Boat. IT is 10 in. x 7 and one-half inch.

Fenton MIKADO in green - 7 1/4 in. tall and 10 inches across	Fenton MIKADO Stemmed Fruit Compote having the Cherries exterior

Fenton Assortment - Butler Bros. ad -July 1922 Displays Thistle Banana Boat and Mikado compote.
Dugan WREATED CHERRY 11 in. oval berry bowl or Banana Bowl Dugan WREATHED CHERRY interior of the 11 in. bowl ---->

PEACH and PEAR Banana Bowl by Diamond