A hunch about singing bowl shape leads to new scientific inquiry

Recently I had a new idea about measuring the singing bowls. It may seem obvious to those more visually inclined but it just occurred to me to measure the curve on the bottom of the bowls. 

Since the bowls were hammered into a stone mold, bowls made in the same mold will have the same curve. It is therefore easy for me to see which bowls were made by the same workshop. If the bowl has the same curve, it was made by the same workshop. 

However, I am not a scientist and I know that logical sounding ideas are often completely incorrect. So I first tested my hypothesis with several types of bowls. I found that, yes - multiple examples of the same type of bowl seem to share the same curve. Each type of bowl has a curve distinctly different from another type.  Some different types share the same curve, seemingly at different time periods.

After checking dozens of bowls in museum collection, I was satisfied that I saw consistent patterns in the curve. This seems to be a very reliable way to group bowls by maker.

However, I still had a doubt because it is still just a round shape, from the flat bottom to the vertical side. So perhaps it is just a curve and I am fooling myself. This is when I decided to consult the experts. 

I found a mathematician at our local university who confirmed that the curvature does indeed look different. He has invited some graduate students in calculus to look into it further. We will be taking some measurements and looking at the curvature of the bowls to see what determinations they can make. 

I'm always grateful to get expert opinions on the singing bowls. I have had antique experts, metallurgists, archaeological metallurgists and now mathematicians looking at the bowls. Stay tuned here to find out what they discover!