Volcano Bowl Mystery

I needed a volcano bowl for a party recently, and found an Orchids volcano bowl on Ebay. The seller posted a photo and description of the bowl, stating that the bowl (from a defunct Asian restaurant) was in good shape, but had an off center volcano.

I bid on the bowl, but lost. A couple of days later, I got an Ebay Second Chance email, and bought it. The bowl arrived and had that oily grime that suggested it had been stored for a long time. A thorough cleanup, and it was just what I was looking for.

I figured that the original winner defaulted on the auction, but I found out that he/she had posted feedback for this auction to the seller. A couple of months later, I found out that the seller was selling another Orchids volcano bowl... with the exact same photo and description!

I am trying to figure out if this guy has a crate of old volcano bowls (all with the off center volcano), or if he is manufacturing these himself.

I am happy with the bowl and am not complaining, but found this to be curious.

Tikipedia

tikipedia~

is there any way you could post a picture of your bowl? i find it strange that the volcano is off-centered. it would be great to get a picture or a link to the auction so it can be more closely inspected by our slueths here.

mahalo!

Here are some pix of the bowl in question. Sorry, I couldn't get the photos to embed in the post.

The bowl is hefty... a few pounds in weight, and the construction is solid. The center of the volcano crater is about 1/4 inch off center. It may be difficult to see in the photos. The first photo shows this the best.

If this is a counterfeit, it is sure a good copy. And since these bowls are not particularly rare, why would anybody bother?

Cheers,
Tikipedia

http://www.tikipedia.com/images/VolcanoBowl1.jpg
http://www.tikipedia.com/images/VolcanoBowl2.jpg
http://www.tikipedia.com/images/VolcanoBowl3.jpg

[ Edited by: tikipedia on 2005-05-22 14:33 ]

[ Edited by: tikipedia on 2005-05-22 14:34 ]

It's the real thing. I would assume the seeler just has a bunch of them. He auctions them off and offers a second chance offer to the second and third high bidders. There is nothing wrong with that. Ebay encourages it these days.

If that were a copy, it would not be so crisp in the lettering on the bottom.