Motor Press Guild's April Meeting - Edsel Ford wants this bowl!
At the just concluded April luncheon of the Motor Press Guild, Edsel Ford, one of the great-grandchildren generation of the founding family of the Ford Motor Company, asked everyone in the room full of writers and broadcasters to find this punch bowl!
This punch bowl was the trophy that Alexander Winton had hand-picked for his participation in a race won by Henry Ford. This was the first race Henry Ford had won and started Ford Racing 110 years ago. The race originally was scheduled to be a 25 lap race but was scaled down to a 10 lap race due to the fact that only seven teams were able to make it to the starting line. Henry Ford built a car that featured a 2 cylinder, 538 cubic inch displacement engine that developed 26 HP, named "Sweepstakes" ... custom made for the race.
This bowl was sold at auction by the predecessor house to Sotheby's on October 17, 1951 without knowing its historic value to the Ford Racing legacy as the very first trophy won by Ford Racing and Edsel would like to bring it back home to display at The Henry Ford Museum.
After some research, it is a guess by this author that this was a punchbowl made by Libbey Glass of Toledo, Ohio. Libbey had made a name for themselves by winning the Gold Medal for Brilliant Cut Glass at the Columbia Exposition.
Model #211 15" Punchbowl, "Princess" ... sold for $40 in the June 1, 1896 catalog. A cut glass stand could be purchased separately.
The glasses were called "Lemonades" of the Princess design and sold for $24.00 per dozen Model #213.
... notes from The EDJE
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