Little Orange Bell

by Rachel C. Kirby

Sitting at five inches tall with a spherical base and a vertical appendage, the object in questions visually references the colors, shape, and form of the citrus fruit known commonly as an orange. It also takes on elements associated with a standard hand bell. It has one side that is embellished with three dimensional features are arranged to suggest a face, leaves and a stem placed on the top, and the word “FLORIDA” written across what would be the forehead. The lower half of this item is dominated by a bright orange color, not quite as vibrant as a traffic cone but similar. The second most prominent color is green, a shade somewhere between a Kelly green and a forest green. This color is found exclusively on the top three-dimensional protrusions. Four other colors can be found on the exterior: white, black, light blue, and reddish-orange. The white is not a pure white but has a creamy-tint, possibly due not just to original pigment but also to age or to having been layered overtop of the orange below.

A Florida orange bell. Photo by Rachel C. Kirby.

The ceramic itself, visible on the inside, is off-white. It appears that the orange was painted on first and over the entire exterior of the bell. It overlaps with the bottom edge of the form where it has begun to chip away from the surface, and is faintly visible underneath the green areas at the top. The layered colors were possibly hand-painted; there are spaces in the black paint that suggest the variability that results from the human hand.

The base of this object measures roughly three inches across and is semi-spherical but not perfectly round. The bottom is flat, allowing the object to sit on a level surface. Multiple green elements stick out from the spherical form, the largest of which is a “handle,” over two inches long. Sitting to the right and left of the tall, green, vertical handle/stem are two leaf-shaped forms. Both of the “leaves” come to points on the ends that fall away from the stem. The leaf on the right of the stem is the larger of the two in size, but both leaves have ridges that mimic the veins in naturally-occurring leaves. A small, centimeter-wide, smooth projection sticks out in the middle of the form. This is the orange’s “nose.”

From top to bottom, additional features include the word “FLORIDA” raised above the surface and painted black, two ovals (taller than they are wide) painted with the colors black, light blue, and white, and a slightly redder-orange line below the “nose.” Unlike the letters, the ovals and line are slight indentations into the general surface of the form. The colors are layered to give the appearance of left-looking eyes, with the light-blue functioning as an iris that surrounds the black pupils. The line below the nose is shaped like a closed-mouth smirk, creating a pleasant but possibly shy facial expression.

When picked up by the handle and shaken, the object makes noise (play the video below to hear). This noise is created by an unpainted ceramic bead that hangs from a semi-translucent nylon string on the interior of the spherical shape. A single knot keeps the string from sliding through a hole in the bell. A ceramic bead has been strung along the cord, tied below with a second knot. The lower knot appears to have been tied two or three times, more secure than the top knot. This ceramic clapper generally functions as a bell but does not produce a particularly melodic noise. It creates at least two different sounds that could be matched to various notes or pitches, but neither sound reverberates with the echo normally associated with a bell’s ring. Instead, the item creates a rather hollow, rattling sound. There is a thin crack running along the back of the bell below the hole for the string. I take this to mean that the bell has been rung in the past (assuming the crack is the result of the clapper hitting the ceramic repeatedly), and/or that there was a flaw in the design that created a weak spot. The sound is audible but not particularly musical. Perhaps the bell sounded nicer before the crack appeared, but the unappealing sound also suggests that this item is meant to reference the form of a bell but that it is not intended to be played.

Despite visually evoking oranges, this item does not have a distinct smell. It lacks the sweet light fruity scent associated with the citrus. Should the bottom of an edible orange be open and exposed in a similar manner to the bottom of this bell, the fruit would drip with a sticky liquid that contrasted to the chalky-dry textured peel that surrounded the body of the fruit. The object is hard with a cratered yet smooth texture. Lastly, this item does not taste like an orange, but is fairly neutral in taste, even if somewhat dusty.

When thinking about this object, I’m curious about why it looks like both an orange and a bell. Why not just a ceramic orange or a bell that says “Florida” on the front? Furthermore, if it must be an orange-shaped bell, why would it then also have to be anthropomorphized? The face on the front serves no purpose in enhancing the auditory aspects of the bell or replicating a naturally grown citrus fruit. So, what is the point? As it is, the object both is and isn’t an orange and is and isn’t a bell. It visually looks like an orange (at least, in a cartoon-way), but you can’t eat it. It functions like a bell, but it doesn’t sound pleasant. What is the purpose, then? Assuming this is a souvenir, I’m wondering if other souvenirs for Florida take on the appearance of an orange and, if so, why. Perhaps, as we’ve discussed with terroir, it’s an object of nostalgia or memory. Also, in thinking about the way that terroir is based on locally produced foods, I’m curious if this is a locally-produced object. Was it made in Florida? I assume it was at least sold in Florida, but that’s merely speculation. In building on this description, I hope to explore the relationship between oranges and Florida, with particular attention to tourism and souvenirs.