Fenton Peacock & Urn Moonstone Bowl

The Peacock & Urn Moonstone bowl was keeping its secret hidden from potential buyers sitting in a mixed lot of various non-carnival glass items in a online auction. At first glance, I just assumed it was a marigold bowl as the Peacock pattern was all that was showing, so I just kept on viewing the other lots in this general auction. Just as I was going to leave the auction website, I decided to take one last look at the Fenton Peacock & Urn bowl as that was the only item of Carnival glass listed in the auction. I noticed the tips looked opal in parts of the picture. I zoomed in and could see white around a lot of the detail which got me thinking.  

The next day, I rang the auction house to ask a little about the bowl and postage costs if I was to have a bid. They connected me to the auction room floor where I was asked what I wanted to know. I didn't want to sound excited when asking about the bowl so I just asked if he could check the base and tips for damage. His reply was "Yes, it all looks good to me". I then asked him to describe the colour of the back as I told him they had not got a picture on the auction's website. His reply was, "It's a golden colour with a creamy centre.." My heart raced! Although I still didn't know what it was for sure, it wasn't marigold. That I did know!

On the day of the auction which started mid-morning I connected up ready for my lot and patiently waited. It was three hours in total but it seemed like a weekend. A few numbers before my lot I could feel my heart racing faster and then the moment came for bidding and at this point it was beating out of my chest! Lol! (It happens to us all, go on admit it). My competition was in the room and not online like myself. I know the room bidder didn't know about the Peacock & Urn secret as the price was brilliant. It made my weekend.

I had to wait until Monday to try and make payment as the auction ran for most the day. Saturday and Sunday they were closed, so Monday I rang it and found it was a mobile number I was calling, which I thought was a little odd, and I wasn't getting any reply, just kept being cut off. Ten times I tried and two emails. Tuesday the same thing happened and Wednesday also. Buy now, my mind was going into overdrive. Maybe they have gone out of business, or they have been broken into and it's all been stolen, or even worse a fire and I'm not going to get my bowl after all. After three nights of very little sleep, contact was made. I explained what had happened and was told that their phone (the mobile number which I still think is a bit odd for an auction house) had gone down and they didn't know about it. Three days without anyone ringing them should have made them think....would of set some alarm bells ringing. But after that, they were brilliant and delivered the bowl within two days. That was excellent.

On opening, I had the same feeling as when I bid; a pounding heart while praying it survived, the excitement of seeing it for myself, and finding out what its secret was. Lee had a different opinion on the base colour. I said it was Moonstone but the odd blue tint and swirl got Lee wondering.