Featured Hard plastic large light brown oval bowl/dish w/ Caduceus symbol on bottom

I picked this up the other day at the GW.

It is 14" by 10" across & is 2" to the side edge.

It has strange notches on all 4 sides as if it is made to sit in some type of holder.

I am thinking it might have been for the Army Medical Corps possibly to be used in the OR.

It is marked on the bottom with the Caduceus symbol along with the date 1953.

I tried using Google photo search but it only gave me pottery serving pieces.

Does anyone have any ideas on this one??



Thanks for any & all advice or opinions!!!

 

https://2024onlineshop.ru/product/126257476975

https://www.ebay.com/itm/194060247565

 

It has strange notches on all 4 sides as if it is made to sit in some type of holder.


that seems reasonable.......but I doubt the OR, where stuff has to be sterile...

The Korean War ended in July 53.....so I don't think a battlefield item..

 

& now you know why I call upon you when we need a mighty search engine !!!

good find !!

 

Dunno what their technical name is, komo...but they are placed so the bowl will stack without wobbling on each other.

 

Wonder if it was in a MASH group?

 

Your first link took me to a "dangerous website".

The material in the second item looks similar but it is so shallow that I wonder about it being a serving dish for a table full of soldiers & they usually got served from the chow line.

Back in 1953, they did not have the large disposable packs that are used today. The items that got put on back tables in the OR were washed, dried & then wrapped in specially designed cloth drapes. They were then placed in a gas or steam autoclave depending on the material to be sterilized. When you were ready to use them in the OR they were unwrapped & handed to the scrub tech or placed on the back table. Yes, this can be done without ever contaminating the object .

There are also items that fit into elevated stands so they would get unwrapped on those stands.

Actually, there are many items including 99% of the instrumentation that are still done today as I described above.

Just because the Korean War ended that doesn't mean that surgical procedures were no longer done by Army doctors.

 

I found this listing just now on eBay. The mark is a little different as is the bottom but the dimensions are the same as mine.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/225725347521

 

I have found more items marked in a similar manner. I guess I am going to go with a mess item likely used at an Army Medical facility.

Thanks to everyone for replying!!!

 

I did not get a warning on my computer.
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Thanks!!