Help What is it

[curiouscat]

Anyone know what this is? the bowl goes inside, its missing handle..its heavy...either silver or pewter....on the bottom of the base its stamped H C REED N.Y. JR & CO

 

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[Peyton Manning]

If it’s silver it will be stamped as well
925 or sterling

 

[Red-Coat]

I think that’s what would be called a “bride’s bowl”. Originally at weddings, a bowl or basket would be used to scatter flowers/flower petals in the manner of confetti and then used as a display item afterwards for the bride’s bouquet. A more expensive modern version harking back to that tradition became a popular wedding gift in the late 1880s as a handled bowl or basket in an ornate display stand but intended to be used afterwards as a functional table decoration for things like fruit… but still referred to by the traditional name of “bride’s bowl”

I don’t have a picture, but there’s one listed in an 1800s Meriden-Britannia (silverplate) catalogue as a “pelican” design and I think perhaps the birds on yours might be pelicans?

H. C. Reed Jr. (Henry Carpenter Reed Jr.) was a retailer in New York City in the 1800s and the city directories show him to have been active from 1865 to 1872 at various locations including Maiden Lane and Broadway.

 

[freeman]

That's one ugly fruit bowl!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

First off, welcome to Tnet from Toronto curiouscat!

Great background information as always from Red-Coat.

If there is anyway that you can take some more 'neutral' pics of your piece, like sitting on a table in sunlight?
I would like to determine exactly what the function & date of this is?

Dave

 

[djackson7348]

Welcome from North Carolina. I don't know anything to help with identifying the bowl but it sure is different.

 

[Red-Coat]

Frustratingly, I had an archive link to a mid 1800s Meriden Britannia silver plate catalogue with a listing of something specifically described as a "bride's bowl" with a pelican design/theme but the link is now defunct. This is from a slightly later Meriden silver plate catalogue (1883) with a bowl generically listed in the "Fruit & Berry Dishes" section. Typically hideous and over-elaborate Victorian Neo-Classical design.



This is an HC Reed Jr & Co advert from 1866 and, although some of their other ads say they are a 'manufacturer', the majority of their fancy plated items were made by larger companies like Meriden Britannia. This was a common practice and the actual manufacturer would stamp whatever you wanted (paid for) as a retailer mark with the possibility of exclusivity if your orders were big enough.



There may be an additional mark somewhere on this piece that says who actually made it.

 

[DCMatt]

That's a great piece. Red-Coat is correct - Bride's bowl (AKA Bride's Basket).

I found this info as part of description of antique nut pickers on Etsy:

H. C. Reed Jr. & Co. was only in business from 1865 through 1867…three years. Henry Reed was affiliated with Hiram Young in 1868 and, when that association terminated, his company was called “H. C. Reed Jr.” The pickers, which have “H. C. Reed Jr. & Co.” mark so they date, either, 1865, 1866 or 1867. And the same design strainer was in the 1867 Meriden Britannia catalog. In January, of 1868, a co-partnership was formed…Hiram Young & Reed. They were manufacturers of silver plated ware under the trade mark “Manhattan Plate Company” and also importers of cutlery and fancy plated goods.

More info here:

https://queenofsienna.wordpress.com/2017/06/08/h-c-reed-jr-co/

 

[DigDug216]

Wow is that a cool bowl.