Enigma Resolved

If you read my Enigma blog last week, then you know that I was on to something. Yes, I won the bid on Ebay and I am now the proud owner of a tray, #716. Given in 1956 as a wedding present to the sellers mother and never used. Still in the original box, which is the only reason we have a number because there is no stamp, it is on its way to my collection. Here is a sneak preview from the seller's post

 

The tray, a polished steel with a rope edge, it is the floral stamp in the center that is identical to my recent find of a casserole holder with a brass colored tulip final and brass handles.

 

 

 

Above, the box that it was shipped in.

 

 

 

Another view of the central stamp. Compare that to the stamp on the casserole lid.

 

 

 

 

On the down side, I lost a bid for something I had wanted. A butter dish with the lid that matched the catalog page I had from 1955. Below is a picture that some lucky collector acquired while I couldn't make a connection to the web from inside my place of employment. I so need an emoji right now.....

 

 

Well here is what I was outbid on.

 

 

Check out my earlier blog of the catalog page and you will see this breakfast susan. I own #400, with the traditional finial on the butter dish. I don't know if this carries the same number.

 



 

 

Rodney Kent Enigmas

While I haven't written much this summer, it hasn't stopped me from acquiring new Rodney Kent that I've never seen. Now it is possible that like one of my previous blogs, some finds could be copies. SO I have been ever more diligent in examining them before I made a pronouncement.

Exhibit A

 

I picked this up on EBay recently. It came complete with the tag. The person who sold it told me that the tag was on at the estate sale she purchased this from. She has owned it for 12 years. The tag is stamped so that if I am to use it as a marker, it would be pre-1943. Almost nothing on it matches design-wise. I have never seen that decorative  stamping. I have never seen Brass  or gold colored trimmings. It definitely is not hammered aluminum. Yet, the tulip finial is exactly Rodney Kent. The petal detail is all there. I don't know what to think. Anyone have an opinion?


HOT UPDATE!!!
 This may indeed be the real thing with a production date of around 1956 and a number in the 700 series. More on this in a few days

Some Oddities of Rodney Kent

My summer has been busy with little time to write so here are photos of some of the rare pieces in my collection.

 

#447  the Breakfast Utility Set

Notice the plastic spoons, which are the correct spoons for many of the condiment jars.

 

 

 

 

This lovely was used to hold citronella candles.

 

This is the 5 pc table buffet set with Frying pan and lid, serving container (note the lack of handles) and snuffer for the

 

 

The only teardrop shaped glassware for Rodney Kent

 

 

The Rodney Kent Ashtray.

 

 

 

Sometimes, the box is the only way to find out what the number is.

 

 

 

Square candy dish ... also sold with two rectangles

 

 

 

And when there seemed that there were no more things they could do with tulips, they moved on to  Sunflowers. Below is #503

 

 

And the same bowl shape as 405 is used for 506

 

 

 

 

 

 and the most recent find, #407 with the 4 tulip display instead of the ribbon display. Since the stamp on this is the triangle Rodney Kent Silver Co stamp this is an early offering.

Pyrex and FireKing bowls in Cassaroles

All of those lovely serving pieces that had handles and lid, had a glass liner. It's pretty easy to figure out whose bowl was sold with it, because the shape of the aluminum bowl fits the glass liner perfectly. It doesn't wiggle or rock. And the lid sits on the glass perfectly. The earliest bowls used had tab handles. Tab handles were produced by Pyrex until 1936. So any item that came with that lid, was produced prior to that.

A good example is casserole trivet Rodney Kent #440:

 

There are a lot of the trays floating around and some of the lids, often not together.  This particular item is fitted with 1 1/2 Quart Pyrex Bowl (683-B-023-623-B  *  T.M.REG * PYREX  * Made in USA * B-H). Note how the lid fits perfectly around the bowl slightly flaring upward before folding over the  edge of the bowl. The notched openings for the tab handle fit exactly.

 

As you can see below, #440 came two ways  -- a flat picot edge and folded edge. Both are stamped #440 with the shield type of stamp ( see blog  on identifying marks).  If you look at the shapes of the indentations you will notice that the one with the folded edge has a much more rounded curve, leading me to believe that it used a later bowl with the "C" shaped handle, which had more of a curve to its bottom.

 

 

This is casserole #461 with  a similar bowl. The handles of the aluminum bottom, which is stamped with the shield stamp and has the arrow tab aluminum handles, which I believe predates the single flower handle, also has the lid that requires a tab handled Pyrex bowl. The bowl for this casserole has the imprint (683-B-023-623-B  *  T.M.REG * PYREX  * Made in USA * B-WW).

 

Below is the imprint of the bowl.

 

When Pyrex changed their handle style to the "C" handle,  Krischer Mfg. changed the lid style to on the still folded over the sides of the Pyrex bowl, but now covered the handles following its contour. The 1 1/2 Quart casserole below on a footed pedestal is #407 with the shield mark.

 

 

 

Krischer Mfg. also made a 2 Quart Casserole #434. There was no stamp on the aluminum carrier because it was stamped on the box. At this point, the lid changed into the dome type with the pie crust edge. It sat inside the bowl, no longer accommodating the glass insert's handle. The maker changed also. Now the glass liner was being purchased from Fire King.

 

This is the stamp from the original bowl that came with this set. Unfortunately it didn't make it through the mail because the glass was not separated from the lid, which was sitting upside down in the bowl and probably tapped it one too many times on its way from the seller to me. the mark is (T.M.REG  * FIRE KING * 7  * MADE IN USA * 2 QT) Having the imprint of the bottom, I was able to replace the bowl after searching eBay and the thrift stores.

 

Not to be outdone in the 2Quart casserole offerings, Pyrex provided a divided 2 quart bowl in another unstamped item,  #491 2 compartment casserole. It came with the domed piecrust lid. This bowl made it through the shipping process in one piece

 

 

The color advertisement was attached to the lid with a hole punched in it's center.

 

 

The divided bowl was stamped ( T.M.REG * PYREX  * Made in USA )

 

 

Below is the Casserole holder #418, which holds a 1 1/2  quart casserole bowl. It also has the domed pie crust lid. The bowl inside is a Pyrex Bowl with "C" handles. It is stamped:

                (023 1 1/2QT* TRADE MARK * PYREX *  R inside circle * B-18).

This also came with a green tag on a string wrapped round the flower finial of the lid, identifying it as  a Rodney Kent product. More about that in another blog.

 

 

 

 

 

The last lid style takes us back to a bowl from Pyrex. I do not have a handle on when this was produced, so maybe someone from a Pyrex group will know more. This bowl had no handles and the bottom had a pressed design of concentric circles.

 

 

The lid fit the opening exactly and it sat inside the rim of the glass. A  Casserole chafing dish also came with this same bowl. The imprint reads ( 595 * TM REG* PYREX * MADE IN USA * A-5)

 

You can see that as the glass insert changed, the lid changed with it.

 

This blog has covered all the known bowl inserts used in the many casserole iterations that were in the Rodney Kent line. There are at least 4 more types of casserole holders that I own. But they use the same glass sizes.

 

 



Rodney Kent **New Find**

I had to post this ---
This is my latest find. Definitely Rodney Kent for the tray, but as I have learned, Most trays without the stamp had a glass insert. The same dealer that was selling the tray was selling this glass dish. It is depression glass and she found it in the estate sale where the tray was purchased. It fit perfectly. Even the arch of the handles worked with the handles on the glass. White I can't swear  that this is a unit. It fits pretty well, like they were made for each other.

 

 

 

So what do you think? Marriage made in heaven or accidental fit?