Rindskopf Czech Republic Dinosaur Green on Cranberry Bride's Basket Bowl

The advantage of writing books about Carnival Glass is that readers become excited when they recognize their unidentified items and contact the author for more information concerning those pieces.  Yes, it is a pretty cool perk indeed and Mike Carwile still gets his share of inquiries from all over the world.

More times than not, they are looking to sell what they have. Mike wrote to me about a lady named Julie, who worked in an antique shop in the central part of Illinois. She was interested in selling a Dinosaur bowl for her friend, Richie, a vendor in that mall she worked in. She and Richie finally found it listed, after searching in several books, in Mike's 12th Edition of Carnival Glass Encyclopedia. She wrote, "Richie could sure use some help and advice about this particular item. Right now he is in a state of shock from the information we could get from your helpful book."

I looked it up right away and found it on page 84. I thought, what an interesting bowl! It looked like there was a circle of eight Brontosaurus dinosaurs, in alternating positions, with one facing left looking over its shoulder and the next facing straight ahead to the right. The listing in this book explained, as written by Mike Carwile, "The owner of this bowl, Peter Bauerwald, of Oakland, California, tells me he understands from research by Dr. Alfred Villaanueva-Collado that this is a product of Rindskopf, and that the "dinosaurs" are actually supposed to be peacocks. Only two of theses bowls have been reported at this time."

Well, that was all I had to hear! Only two reported! If the one Richie had for sale was anywhere close to being as pretty as Mr. Baerwald's, then I was all in. I promptly emailed Julie and waited a very long time for her response. I thought for sure she'd sold it but when she finally did email me, our conversations led to pictures, a price and a seamless transaction. Most of all, I gained a wonderful friend in Julie. She explained where the bowl came from. I was touched by her story, during this 2014 Christmas season, by her goodwill and compassion towards Richie.

She explained that Richie was an Army veteran. He was stationed in France and traveled throughout Europe until his second term ended. He then came home to care for his elderly parents. After his father died, he kept his mother well cared for at home because she didn't want to go to a nursing home. She has recently passed away at 94 years old, leaving Richie to live alone in the family home which is in great disrepair. He survives on Social Security but he also rents a booth in two antique malls that are located twenty-five miles apart near his hometown of LaSalle. He likes to stay busy servicing his booths weekly with whatever he can find of value. Julie spends from $20 to $40 a week with him which helps him afford the gas he needs to keep him going. She laughs when she says she donates much of what she buys from him to charities because she cannot keep it all. She explained that Richie found this bowl at an estate sale where two sisters in their 70's were dealing with their mother's belongings. They sold it to him saying as far back as they can remember, it has been in their family but didn't know where their parents obtained it originally.

Well, that's the story. Julie says Richie is using this money from this bowl to repair his roof. He has requested one thing of me and that is satisfy his curiosity as to what people do with his merchandise after they've purchased it. He wants to see a photo of where I keep it. I told her I could do one better which was to show his story on Showcase. This one's for you Richie! Thank you for your years of service for our country...and yes, of course, thank you for the bowl too. You are so fortunate to have a wonderful guardian angel like Julie. More so, you are both lucky to have one another.

Now, this is a pretty good size bowl which measures 11" at its widest diameter. The reason I was attracted to it was because I had seen other iridized, hand-enameled, decorated bride's basket bowls before, called Aurora Pearls, that had the same green mottled glass on and around the base area. It reminds me of patches of moss. (See the next to last picture.)

When I studied the polished pontil on the bottom of this Dinosaur bowl, I found the actual color of the base glass to be a light Cranberry with sporadic patches of light green glass layered over it. Please see the next to the last photo. This is why I'm calling it Green over Cranberry. The stretchy iridescence is very beautiful with highlights of magenta, turquoise, yellow, and chartreuse. The iridescence was applied to both sides, covering the entire bowl, even the bottom. I agree with Dave Doty when he says these bowls are not Carnival Glass. In the true sense of the word, they are not, but, I do think they have a place here on Showcase. They're fine examples of exquisite, iridized glass that was exported to this country during the turn of the century, like much of the other wonderful European glass you see here, showcased by our warm group of collectors. Carnival glass collectors love these bowls and find them attainable, but pricey, at important Carnival Glass convention auctions.

Other points of interest on this bowl is that the pattern of peacocks can be seen on the inside as well as the outside. The bodies of the peacocks on the interior of the bowl are raised or convex whereas and the ones on the outside are sunken in or concave.

Now, if you look at the 4th photo, you'll notice the base on this bowl is deep. This is because it was designed to fit into a wire or steel bracket of a handled sterling or silverplated basket frame. These highly ornamental frames were made by other companies to speck. Then jewelry and other fine retail stores would order the bowls and baskets separately and unite them for display. They were sold to people who filled them with fresh fruit and nuts and would be given away as the perfect gift to newlyweds. These elaborate fruit bowls were in every sense of the words "the gifts that kept on giving". They added life and beauty to any room, which was very important during the dark Victorian days, that is, until the Honeymoon was over!  Why? The glass bowls were very thin and delicate and the metal frames that held them had the tendency to topple over easily with just the slightest nudge. Some of the metal frames were even perched on four tiny feet for added height and daintiness. Parents soon found out these baskets were no match for heavy fruit, pets and little children. Many of these bowls did not survive or were damaged unless they were safely stored away.

Now, a word about rare items and why I love them. Looking for rare Carnival Glass is like big game hunting for  "species"  that are virtually extinct. This Dino bowl is a rare bird since there are only about three known to exist, and if I don't bring it home, stuffed and mounted and put in the Showcase, the chances of you folks ever seeing one again will only be in your dreams, or a club convention seminar or something of that nature. I love rare items for you.

Last but not least,  I would like to thank my good friend Mike Carwile for referring Julie's email to me. Leave it to Mike to find the unique and the unusual, the rare and the beautiful. He shares this gift in his published resources daily. His knowledge of  our glass, that he has always shared with us freely over the years, is a testimony of his dedication to our hobby.

Write to him at mcarwile@jetbroadband.com. He's always happy to answer any questions about Carnival Glass and his books. Just tell him Miss Christina sent you!

The Christina Katsikas Collection