Question:
I have a gentleman who wants to sell me what he say’s is a 5" spongeware mixing bowl. I have looked at it and I’m not sure if it is really a Red Wing piece. There are no markings on the bottom and the outside of the bowl has a shiney glaze finish and is smooth, no ridges. The red and blue sponging color is more vibrant than some of my other pieces of spongeware. Is there any real way to tell if this is truley a Red Wing piece. Thank you for your help. Julie

Answer: Julie, without finding the bowl in a Red Wing Stoneware book, comparing it to other Red Wing bowls in your collection, having another good Red Wing collector verifying the bowl or sending someone like myself a photo, then no there is no way to tell for sure if it indeed is Red Wing(that was a mouth full). Most of the sponge-ware Red Wing bowls were not signed, and therefore you need to either know for sure or have some other method to identify it. Al Kohlman