When I was a kid, Granny had a punch bowl in the middle of her dining room table. She was an old lady, with feet in the Victorian era. So the punch bowl is flowery and Victorian.
It probably had belonged to her mother, a high-society lady for the small town of Carrollton, Illinois, wife of the bank president. It’s probably over 100 years old.
But my Granny, Jennie, wasn’t married to a bank president. She was married to a guy who struggled to make a living, struggled with life. So her punchbowl didn’t get used for fancy parties.
She used it as an inbox for the mail. Never let it get too full. I wonder if she thought it was ugly. I do.
Facebook commenters tell me it’s most likely a wash basin, not a punch bowl, based on the way it looks. Also, it’s two feet across, massive for a punch bowl.
It’s been in my attic for a long time now. First a punch bowl or wash basin, then an inbox, next what?
I think my daughter plans to keep watermelons in it. It’s big enough.
