Edsel Ford II seeks missing punch bowl
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The Ford family has not seen the cut-glass bowl in more than 50 years. It was a trophy won by the auto pioneer in a 1901 race in which Henry Ford was the underdog to noted racer and manufacturer Alexander Winton.
Henry Ford treasured the punch bowl, which had been specially selected for Winton.
“So instead of Mrs. Winton getting a punch bowl, Clara Ford got a punch bowl,”
Ford great-grandson Edsel Ford II says.
“But it got lost.”
The punch bowl was lost after Clara Ford died in 1950. It may have been sold inadvertently at a 1951 New York auction.
Dealer Jim Burke decided to pony up an SUV worth $35,000 to $40,000 to celebrate his connection to Ford Motor Co. on Ford’s 100th anniversary and his dealership’s 90th anniversary. The offer is open-ended.
If any punch bowl passes a first round of validation at the dealership, it will be sent to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., for authentication.
“Edsel said, ‘I want to get my great-grandmother’s punch bowl back,’” Burke says. “So we’re trying to do something about it.”
You can reach Amy Wilson at awilson@crain.com.
