Meritorious Notables

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Meritorious Notables - Part 2

MERITORIOUS NOTABLES - Part II


SMOOTH PANELS in Pearl finish	Imperial Iron Cross base mark on white SMOOTH PANELS vase	This unusual SMOOTH PANELS 5 in. vase sold for more than $400 Ebay-4-04.

SMOOTH PANELS: Vases in this well-known Imperial pattern are popular and the array of colors is extensive. Marigold, purple, clambroth, smoke, marigold over milk and moonstone, teal, red, smoke over milk glass are well known. Sizes extend from 5”-12” in height.

Having said all this, we find the recent “flurry” of 5” WHITE vases, one advertised and displayed as having the “old iron cross” in the bottom, to be a complete mystery! At the time Carl O. Burns published his book on Imperial Glass patterns in 1996, he commented that he would not be surprised to have some helios examples show up. The list of known colors above, is taken from that book.

You will note that white is not mentioned?

POINT OF FACT: Molds from the old Imperial Glass Co. have been sold, with some of those going to foreign countries where use of toxic iridescent sprays is not prohibited. Clear glass with light iridescent overspray is the EASIEST to make. Question is: With THREE of these short little “dudes” appearing in Ebay sales within a period of a month - (May, 2004) -do you believe we should all approach this activity with precisioned caution?? We believe this to be one of those times when the skeptical approach taken by “seasoned collectors” of long standing, becomes more valuable than the sudden rush to “something different” utilized by many newer and unfamiliar buyers. Big bucks for something fresh out of a mold makes for later disillusionment. A very evident fact: newer carnival glass never attains the value or desirability of the Carnival Glass made before 1940.

Fenton Grape & Cable

GRAPE & CABLE: Fenton produced these smooth ball-footed 8-9” bowls in a wide variety of colors. They all have the saw tooth edge as do the Northwood bowls in this pattern. However, the arrangement of grapes and leaves on each company's production are different. Along with red collar base bowls, and blue opal in this footed type, which will bring in the thousand dollar range, this celeste color will do so as well. The ice cream shape makes it even more attractive. There are marigold, cobalt, green, amethyst, red slag, teal, vaseline, light blue, and aqua to look for in this design, but there are fewer of these footed types than the collar base bowls having a smooth irregularly scalloped edge. Achieving this piece for his collection recently, made Dennis Sutton a happy man!

CONE & TIE tumbler

CONE & TIE TUMBLER: Only two of these rare Imperial tumblers have sold at auction since 1999. One sold in VA during an estate sale in June 2004. Only purple examples have ever been found in the pattern, leading to mystery as to the reason no matching pitcher was ever made? Iridescence and color quality is the usual fine result we see in other Imperial purple. The only appearance of the pattern in any of the wholesale catalogs was in a Spring 1908 issue displaying Cone & Tie in crystal, along with an assortment of other tumblers. It is shown on page 82 of the January 1909 Imperial Glass Co. Catalog as #382 ½, a 10 ½ oz. tumbler, packed 18 dozen in barrel @ $.18 per dozen. Examples in purple carnival glass have sold for as much as $4500.

FLUTED SCROLL Spittoon type vase- fewer than six known

FLUTED SCROLLS: Whether you choose to call this a rosebowl or a spittoon, it is a rarity of the highest order. Harry Northwood named it Klondike when he introduced it in 1898, along with a complete line of non-iridized colors of blue, yellow, and clear to white opalescent. The shapes included a berry set, water set, table set, cruets and salt and pepper shakers. None of these shapes have ever surfaced in carnival. This footed piece seems to have obviously been shaped from the spooner mold. Seems obvious as well, that this was a mold left behind when Northwood moved to Wheeling, WV, in 1901. In 1999, Carl O. Burns candidly states that Fluted Scrolls is one of the rarest of Dugan patterns. He mentions only one in amethyst and another known in marigold. Perhaps some of the other shapes are yet to surface in carnival glass, but then on the other hand, these molds may well have been lost in the 1912 fire. When we came to carnival glass in the late `70s, some of the “oldtimers” were still calling this pattern by the name Jackson.

BUTTERFLY & BERRY Spittoon

BUTTERFLY & BERRY SPITTOON: This amethyst one-of-a-kind whimsey is shaped from a small berry bowl. There is a blue spittoon known, which was shaped from the spooner. These are “whims” created when the glass is too hot to hold its intended shape. Rather than “lose” all effort to that point, imagination on the part of the glassmaker provides the unusual result seen here. A Fenton pattern.

HEAVY IRIS JIP hat shape

HEAVY IRIS WHIMSEY (HAT): A Dugan white Heavy Iris water set is extremely difficult to “get a handle on”, and one of these hats whimsied into the jack-in-the-pulpit shape from a tumbler could be considered even moreso! This example was sold by Burns Auctions at the June 2004 ACGA Convention for $400. The pattern was made in marigold and purple water sets as well, along with a known tankard with ruffled top in peach opal. A white tankard having a straight top is known. These hat shapes are found in purple.

DUGAN HEAVY GRAPE

HEAVY GRAPE: Few of these Dugan bowls reveal themselves on any regular basis. Numerous auctions come and go, without an example of either the 10”-11” ruffled or ice cream shape, or the 5”-6” ruffled accompanying bowl offered! Marigold, amethyst and peach opal colors are known. While a large size ruffled in marigold is said to bring big bucks, along with an ice cream shape large in amethyst, it is the peach opal in that size, which is seen least often.

At one time, this elusive pattern was thought to be of Millersburg origin. When the shards from the Helman diggings were examined, Dugan became the qualified manufacturer.

(Peach Opal) brings up a point of conversation which we must accept; that being: the color is not generally as desirable and perhaps as collectible as some other colors. We believe the reason for that is this: When placing six or eight or more of that general color together in display, there seems to be little consistency in the amount of opal present, along with varying degrees of “peach”. It was made when no quality control was available as we know it today. Prices on many peach opal patterns have remained more or less flat for a great many years, bearing in mind, all the stated reasons given here.

Having SAID all that: When a super-duper example of any Dugan pattern available in peach opal presents itself, stand-by! The entire crowd at any auction will decide to “bid to buy”!

COMPASS

COMPASS: This exterior design used on the handsome Heavy Grape bowls was the determining factor. During the Helman diggings in Indiana, PA, several fragments of Ski-Star bowls turned up in the shards. Definitive proof finally placed this Compass pattern squarely in the Dugan/Diamond realm, eliminating the possibility, at long last, of Millersburg origin.

Dean & Diane Fry~~~8/04