When provided a picture and a title, identification of what is in front of you should be simple.
But as is the case with pieces I have below, it was not. Thus, I'm providing information on those
pieces and the current state of identification on this site.
As is the style of the U.S. Glass Co. catalog, take two existing item, in this case
'Cheese Stand' (#4016-58) and
'Plate, 14 1/2in' (#4016-15),
then combine them to make a new catalog listing. In this instance, however, there is a discrepancy on
what exactly the 'Cheese Stand' was.
Both clearly show the plate and its scale in relationship to the stand, verifying that it is indeed the
14 1/2in plate. But the image to the left also shows a center piece with a curved lip, whereas the other
shows a flat piece. Review the 'Sm. Flat Compote' section to see how the catalogs further confuse the
issue by identifying these two possible cheese stands as the Small Flat Compote. Now review the
'Cheese Stand' section to see yet a completely different item.
So the question remains, which was the piece combination to maek this catalog entry?
U.S. Glass Co. used catalog numbers as identifiers when you ordered,
but also to identify the mould itself (See our
U.S. Glass Co. page for more information). A great example of this is
'3 Pc. Mayonnaise Set'
(#4016-41A). In that catalog item, the number represented all three pieces when used within the
catalogs, but only the spoon itself when identifying the mould.
A third possibility is that the catalog number referenced the lipped object, and an artistic mistake
drew the set with the flat compote. If you take the catalog at it's word for the Cheese Stand being
the V shaped piece, and that the Small Flat Compote is actually 'flat', then that leaves the lipped
object orphaned. As it does appears in the left-hand Cheese And Cracker Set image, that makes it
possible that the color image is wrong. And that is what we have decided for now based on our
review of the catalogs and possession of the three objects in question. So when you visit the
'Cheese And Cracker Set' page, you'll see we've posted images reflecting that piece as the center
object. Keep in mind that I have no proof of that, so its just a guess.
This should not have been a mystery at all. But there is only one stand-alone catalog image of
the Cheese Stand that I could find, and that image clearly shows a V shape to the glass, which
would make perfect sense for holding and serving a soft cheese.
But review the 'Cheese & Crackers' section, and you'll notice that the images there aren't the
Cheese Stand, as defined by the stand-alone image. Was this truely a unique item and not used with
the Cheese And Cracker Set? Or was there an artistic mistake in the drawings of both
Cheese And Cracker Set images?
We have the V shaped Cheese Stand
in our collection, so we know that drawing itself was accurate, but with the other mistakes in
the catalog, there is always the possibility that the object drawn was mismatched when the caption
was added to the page and wasn't really the actual Cheese Stand.
(It's a great piece for soft cheese, by the way. I used it at one of my smaller dinner parties
recently. It was a great conversation piece as well as being very functional.)
Are we a flat serving surface, or a lipped compote? Do we ignore the descriptor 'Flat' or ignore
the descriptor 'Compote' when trying to figure it out?
To make matters worse, review the 'Cheese & Crackers' section and you'll see that both styles
seem to make an appearance for that mystery combination - but in the guise of the Cheese Stand!
(Review the 'Cheese Stand' section to see that convoluted issue!).
We have both of these objects in our collection, so we know they exist. So the mystery remains as
to which is the real
Small Flat Compote. We've made an executive decision in our pages that the flat object was
the actual 'Small Flat Compote', and not the lipped one. Which, of course, leaves a bit of a
mystery as to what the lipped item was. You'll notice that we've assigned it as the true center
object for the Cheese And Cracker Set, but that is just a guess.