L E Smith 57014P Punch Bowl set

This punch bowl is 8.5" high and 13" in diameter. The glass is about 1/2" thick and it weighs 13.6 pounds. It is heavy. It may not be quite the proper L E Smith mate for the 15 lb underplate that I posted on CW a few months ago, but it is probably as close as I am going to get. Together, they are an impressive set.

This punch bowl set was sold through Bergner's Department Store in downtown Peoria, IL. This store was a six story store with escalators, a tea room and lounges in the same spot from 1889-1985. You could literally spend all day there and eat breakfast, lunch and supper while you shopped and took lounge breaks. You could have your items held and brought to you when you were ready to leave. It was very high end and the largest department store in Illinois outside of Chicago. I dreaded when my mother took us shopping there when I was young as I knew we were going to be there for hours.

My parents came from two poor families and were married during the Great Depression and, when I was growing up, going to the grocery store was like going to Disney Land for them. They got all dressed up in their Sunday Clothes to go to the grocery store and were there for hours. Argh! Sorry, just had a flashback to my childhood.

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/254484-l-e-smith-large-daisy-and-button-platt

It was a GW find and was in the original box with all of the components, bowl, ladle and 12 glass cups. The shipping label was printed right on the box. The UPC label on the box is the GW price tag. A warning tag came with it which claims it is "one of the largest pieces of Handmade glassware made in the world for consumer use" and lists several caveats for using it. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't, but it is a big hunk of glass.