iittala Ulltima Thule??? Large Bowl but no feet...

Hello - my first time posting on the forum - thanks for a vibrant and useful resource...

My first question may be rather mundane I'm afraid... (Not promising anything better with subsequent questions. I don't want to raise expectations!)

I have acquired a bowl that for all money looks like the sister of the Ultima Thule plates. Unlike the bowls (and glasses) I'm familiar with, it is not "footed", but compared side by side with plates that I would put a 99.5% probability of being geniune (they are in an iittala UT box), it seems the real deal. Photos show the bowl with the UT plate https://2img.net/h/i5.photobucket.com/albums/y173/fianelly/P1010651.jpg, and the bowl itself https://2img.net/h/i5.photobucket.com/albums/y173/fianelly/P1010652.jpg...


Has anyone seen this style bowl before? Is it Ultima Thule?

Cheers
Fi

(PS. Fingers crossed that this is OK!)

Hi fianelly and welcome to the forum. I've just had quick look on this site that Nic recommended http://www.designlasi.com/en, its a very good resource for Finnish glass, though I can't see your bowl. Nic is probably the best to advise you on Finnish glass so hopefully he or someone else will help you further. As for uploading pictures there is a useful guide here _ https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/how-to-use-this-forum-please-read-before-posting-f11/how-to-upload-images-to-your-posts-t3970.htm

The bowl doesn't crop up in the Iittala: 125 Years of Finnish Glass book, nor is it listed in Iittala's 2003 or 2005 - 2007 catalogues (unfortunately I've only got these later catalogues in my collection).

Whilst I'm not aware of any UT copies by other manufacturers, the shape doesn't look to tie in with the rest of the series. But it could easily have been a short-lived addition - Iittala did (do) have a habit of throwing in new shapes to see if they could boost sales of well-established sets.

In short, I've no idea about the bowl.

I just found these on one of my favourite Finnish glass sites - the proportions look different to yours, but they do have the same rounded shape that differentiates them from the rest of the UT series. But UT they are, it seems...

http://www.laatutavara.com/eng/index.php?page=product&id=6632&ryhma=0&aliryhma=1

Unfortunately they don't give an age or pattern number, but I've found their attributions to be fairly flawless in the past.

Hi Nic - yes, the proportions are different; mine is more of a large salad bowl size. Confirms my suspicions that it is UT, although why they moved away from the gorgeous footed bowls is a bit of a mystery (although perhaps it was a folly as they don't seem to have succeeded all that well). Anyway, here's a photo of the base as Pip requested, and a photo of the box for the UT plates, which this bowl much more closely resembles than the footed bowls or glasses. Also reposting the original photos, hosted here.



Base:

Box:

Thanks again!
Fi

Thanks for the base pics - it could just be my eyes but on your bowl the pattern on the sides seems to run underneath the icy drip design on the base whereas on my Ultima Thule pieces this doesn't happen. The drippy base on my pieces is much more dense and the design on the sides stops where the drippy pattern starts.

Hi Pip - no, not your eyes. But if you look at the photo on the UT box, it's the same there?

Fi

Maybe its a slight variation for those particular shapes then perhaps. I have some UT large bowls but they're much straighter sided - nothing like yours and, like all my other UT pieces, the base drips are more densely concentrated.

Hi Pip - I agree - and exactly the crux of the question. :)

These are quite unlike the more familiar "footed" bowls, but close enough to the plates to entice me to think that they are still UT. I think Nic's link provides more examples of the same style, attributed as UT by a respected Finnish glass site. Food for hope in my mind!!

Would love to find an example with a label, or a box!!

Fi