Phillips/DeGrafft Flip-Top Collection

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I feel like a failure just beginning this page because I know it eventually will be very long (once I've documented all my pieces) and will be an accurate reflection of my ignorance of glass patterns and manufacturers. If anyone can add an ID to any of these bowls, I would be very appreciative!

This flip with its hook for holding the spoon away from the contents of the bowl is one of my all-time favorites because of its tall base, reminiscent of some of the extravagant flips shown in the weird 1955 movie "The Night of the Hunter," that I would recommend only to flip freaks. Though the cinematography was certainly fine, the acting not so much.

It is 8 1/4" in diameter and I think would stand close to 7" tall if its base hadn't been crumpled in transit, rendering it perfectly modified for the Mad Hatter's tea party. I'm hoping to get the based repaired one day (does anyone know of a company that might be able to do it?) and would also love to find out the manufacturer.

Possible manufacturer: United States Glass Company

EAPG historian Paul Kirk on behalf of the Early American Pattern Glass Society shared the scan below from a 1904 United States Glass Company catalog that shows several flips labeled as Cracker or Cheese Bowls with Metal Covers. It is my experience that these larger flips labeled generally as cheese and cracker bowls had a vertical divider that separated the cheese from crackers on a hotel buffet table or in a bar. However, it does not appear that these bowls have the dividers and could be why the company preferred to use the terminology Cracker or Cheese Bowls.

Apparently more than one company made bowls similar to these, so I cannot make the claim that the bowls that look like these on this page were made by U.S. Glass. In particular, the one on the left with the polka dots shows a distinctive starburst-type base, while my bowl with polka dots has a plain base impressed with patent info. It is also a larger size than shown.

Pictured above, this unmarked bowl is 9 5/8" wide by 5" high. As shown below, its heavy lid has been reinforced.

Pictured above, this polka dot bowl is 9 5/8" wide by about 4 1/2" high. Embossed into the bottom of the bowl is: No. 359,533 Patented Mar. 15, 1887. This indicated the patent obtained by Albert E. Convers of Taunton, Mass., for a "Machine for Grinding the Scores in Tack Dies."

This apparently was the machine that scribed the bowl's dots. Convers went on to become the first president of Dow Chemical Co. when it was formed on May 18, 1897. Click here to see the patent.

The bowl, or one like it, was pictured in Albert Pick and Co.'s 1913 catalog, excerpt shown above.

This footed compote is made of heavy glass. It is 8 1/2 wide by 4 3/4 high. It is interesting that the flip part of its lid is recessed almost an inch from its cover, seemingly giving it more strength but a little more difficult access to the crushed fruit it would have been made to hold. It is also very similar to the one in the fourth row from the top on the left as far as design of bowl and even the shape of the knob, but that one's flip component is not recessed as much. Both are unmarked.

Humble!

By comparison to so many of the flips on this site, this one doesn't have too much to recommend it aesthetically. But I like its plain rectangular shape that is so no-nonsense, so utilitarian. It has no maker's marks and stands approximately 6" x 3" by 2 1/4" high, not including the hinge. I think it was probably made late 20th century.