Wooden Bowl from Romania, 1979

After our return from Romania, a few days ago, Marylee brought out this lovely small bowl (5.5 inches/14 cm diameter) which she bought on her trip there in 1979. In that era, the state stores--open only to tourists--had high quality items made by craftspeople. We saw virtually nothing of this quality on our recent trip, except at one or two small shops dedicated to craft items. Everywhere there were dozens of stalls and booths offering souvenirs of all sorts, but everything seemed to be made in China (which our guide greatly lamented).