Yale Bowl Jr.

Mark Morosse

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When the Yale Bowl first opened, for the 1914 Harvard football game, the New York Times called it “the vastest amphitheatre of ancient or modern times.” The huge new stadium was an East Coast sensation; 9,000 extra seats were added to accommodate the demand for tickets, and nearly 71,000 people attended the game.

All the brouhaha may explain why Lenox and F. J. Cuthbertson, a New Haven china shop, produced a limited edition of miniature Yale Bowls in bisque. (The one shown here belongs to Lloyd Suttle ’69, ’75PhD, deputy provost for academic resources and a Yaleiana collector.) The seven-inch replicas, based on the original architectural plans, included a large entrance on the northeast that was never built.

The mini-Bowls evidently didn’t sell out right away, because in 1915 Cuthbertson was still advertising them in student publications. If you want one of your own, keep an eye on eBay. Cuthbertson said it would make a fine “gentleman’s ash receiver, or ladies’ trinket tray.”