Who knows where these bowls came from?

May 25, 2010 2:50 PM

So, we bought a large lot of yellow ware bowls at an auction. Included in the group were these two bowls.

My Google-fu has failed me completely. Can you help me identify the origin of these "New Health Ware" bowls or lead me in any direction that might help me know more about them?

posted by Old Geezer to home & garden (7 answers total)

I can't speak to origin, but it looks to me like they might be pudding basins for traditional British steamed pudding. I could very well be wrong, but that might help your search.
posted by mostlymartha at 3:52 PM on May 25, 2010

I don't recognize the vessel shape; that's pretty unique. Did you buy these in the US? UK?

The name alone gives powerful clues as to vintage. Concern with "health" as related to kitchen items points to sometime after the Civil. War, particularly after the publication of the Stowe sisters' American Woman's Home. Until about this time, the kitchen was not seen by manufacturers as connected to family or public health. It was only the dawning awareness that microbes caused diseased that started to create a change in recommended housekeeping practice -- that, and the increasing scientism of daily life in the late 19th century, when everything was subject to scientific analysis and prescription.

Precious little on the web about the imprint name - but it's very likely something produced between 1870 and 1900.
posted by Miko at 7:40 PM on May 25, 2010

These came from the estate of a collector in Tennessee. They had, perhaps, 150 individual yellow ware items of varying age and provenance. I have a pretty good handle on the other items I bought (a very small portion of the whole) but can't place these.
posted by Old Geezer at 7:59 PM on May 25, 2010

This might sound alarmist, but I know that people back then had some odd ideas about the health benefits of radioactivity. The "Health Ware" inscription worries me. I wouldn't eat or drink anything stored in the bowls until they were checked for radiation.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:53 PM on May 25, 2010

I'm curious, does the short bowl fit neatly inside the tall one? It looks like these were intended to be used together, the short bowl inside the hanger bowl. That would indicate some sort of double-boiler effect. Or perhaps they are just made to a standard size for easy storage.
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:19 PM on May 25, 2010

My guess is that the sizes are coincidental. While they have identical tops, I can't imagine how they would be used together. The one bowl would hang well into the other like a double-boiler, but they would not be used on the stove top. Neither has a lip that would make it act as a lid for the other for roasting, so I think they were meant to be used separately.
posted by Old Geezer at 9:26 PM on May 25, 2010

Thanks folks. I love a mystery, so I'll keep looking.
posted by Old Geezer at 5:34 AM on May 26, 2010