Carnival Glass 101 | home Quick Reference to Carnival Glass Patterns on This Site
Imperial Glass - Part 5
IMPERIAL GLASS - Part 5
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BALLOONS Vase - 10 in. tall
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BALLOONS Vase - Marigold
Courtesy Ardonna Bucher
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BALLOONS as seen in Mid-Winter
1927 Butler Bros. ad
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BALLOONS Tall Vase: Stands 10” high and would be suitable for long stemmed flowers. Entirely hand-blown and hand-cut, these are a departure from the usual Imperial type glass. Few have survived the years; delicate and thin as they are. These corset - shape vases are found much less often than the shorter counterparts. Found in smoke and marigold. Marigold compote shape and a perfume atomizer are other reported shapes in this pattern.
BALLOONS Bulbous Vase: To find this vase in smoke is especially nice! Marigold examples are difficult enough to find. The design is wheel etched. It is a blown piece with pontil on the base. It is 6 3/8” tall x 3” base x 3 1/8 ” top opening. The bulge measures 8 ¼” across, and there are 16 panels tapering up from the base. The glass is extremely thin and rather fragile. In all our years of collecting, we have only seen and handled one marigold vase in this pattern. A much overlooked and very rare commodity, these ovoid, squatty vases make lovely additions to any collection!
Mid Winter 1927 Butler Bros. Ad: Displays two sizes in the Balloons vase. They are seldom seen in either size. We have not seen more than two or three in the short version and they were in marigold. We have not seen any of the taller variety for sale at carnival glass auctions in our more than 30 years of collecting. They are certainly something to be alert for. If one could be found in a shop or mall, the price might be very reasonable.
Balloons - Imperial Bargain Book Ad
NOTE: Balloons is part of the Lustre Iridescent line. This line is closely related to the Lead Lustre line, meaning the vases are the same shape, same paste molds and same concept. The difference is the Lead Lustre line used opal or non-transparent lead base glass. The Lead Lustre line was made to resemble fine porcelain, the base glass was white and the etching or cuttings showed through as white. Balloons is a transparent crystal base glass. In Volume II of the Imperial Glass Encyclopedia, it further explains the difference, "Unlike Lead Lustre which usually begins as opal glass blown in a paste mould, the Lustre Iridescent ware is a bright iridescent transparent glass."
Imperial created an assortment of some 13 shape variations within this Etched Lustre line of vases. These thirteen different vase shapes are illustrated in old Imperial factory catalogs. There are urn shapes, ovoid shapes, bud vases and some corset-shaped vases, ranging in height from 6” to 12”. All of them are delicately hand-blown vases which were hand cut or wheel etched in a variety of floral and stylized designs. The old catalogs named the colors available: Nuruby, Sapphire, and Peacock. We know these colors today as marigold, smoke, and clambroth. As a result of their delicate nature, relatively few examples have survived the years since manufacture. They are not often found.
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BALLOONS Handled Server-10-11 in. Pressed glass. In smoke and marigold only.
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BALLOONS Server - Marigold.
Courtesy Ardonna Bucher
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Balloons Handled Servers - Imperial Bargain Book Ad
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BALLOONS Handled Server: This center-handled server is a pressed piece. Marigold and Smoke are the only colors reported. The onion-skin, stretch effect (not found on the blown vases in this pattern) is reminiscent of the same effect found on some of the marigold and smoke chop plates in the Heavy Grape pattern from Imperial. The edge of these servers is found perfectly flat, or on occasion, turned up slightly. The tray turns up 1 ½” from tabletop to tray edge. There are six panels in the centerpiece, with an indentation in the collar base of 3 ¼”. Width of tray is 9 ¾” and it stands 4 ½” to the tip of the handle.
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DIAMOND LACE
8.75 in. diam. Bowl
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Reproduced Diamond Lace
9 in. Berry Bowl.
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DIAMOND LACE 8”- 9” Berry Bowl: (marigold) This lovely pattern is displayed in Imperial catalogs with a designation of Imperial's #434 ½ . A water set, a rare whimsey rose bowl, and a berry set are the only carnival shapes known. Iridescence on any of the shapes is usually indescribably beautiful. There seem to be more water sets than berry sets. The purple water sets are not very expensive, as compared to some other Imperial purple examples. This makes them attractive to most collectors. No other manufacturer came close to the magnificence of the iridescence found on these pitchers!
The little rose bowl is quite rare, and known only in marigold. It must have been fashioned from a tumbler. The 7”-8” larger rose bowl was reproduced in the `60s and early `70s. The colors known are red and green. There may be other colors, as well. They were marked with the IG at time of manufacture.
These larger berry bowls are only known in marigold. However, the 5” size is also found in purple.
DIAMOND LACE 9” Berry Bowl: (blue) This is a reproduction. Blue vintage pieces are not known to have been made in this pattern.
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FASHION Rosebowl in Glowing Marigold.
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FASHION Rosebowl in Purple - Rare item.
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FASHION Rosebowl: These are rather large rosebowls shaped from the 9” berry bowl and found in marigold, purple and helios. If indeed any of the colors are more prevalently found, it would be marigold, but all three colors should be considered quite scarce! In fact, the purple rosebowls are indeed rare. Helios examples are not widely admired, but that color is more rare than purple.
FASHION IC Shaped 9 in. Bowl
Clambroth is a RARE color as is the shape for this bowl.
FASHION Ice Cream Shape Bowl: Ruffled marigold 9” bowls are quite readily available. Smoke is a difficult color to obtain in these collar based bowls. The shallow ice cream-shaped bowls are more difficult to locate and are known in marigold, a scarce clambroth and very scarce smoke color. Seems a bit strange that no purple 9” bowls in Fashion pattern have been found.
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FASHION Compote in Smoke -
6 in. tall
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Shown in Imperial Catalog 104A
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FASHION COMPOTE: A large compote, having a bowl of some 6” in diameter, rarely found in marigold and extremely rare in smoke color. Possibly fewer than six examples are known. One of these lovely compotes sold for $350. in Aug. 2006, when Mickey Reichel auctioned the collection of Winnie Brim in Boonville, MO. This is the first example found in a public sale in several years! Perhaps because there is no interior pattern, collectors do not give this rarity the recognition it deserves?
Dean & Diane Fry - 10/06
C.S. Lewis in his The Abolition of Man, cited a wide range of civilizations whose core beliefs
are in agreement with the Ten Commandments.
“When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law,
these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness,
and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them” (Romans 14-15).
Those who oppose the self-evident moral guidance provided by the Ten Commandments
do so in opposition to the law of God written in their hearts.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). The word all can also be translated “every”.
This means that Scripture is inspired “in the whole and in the part”. Whether it be the laws of Leviticus or the Acts of the Apostles, all of it is inerrant and given by inspiration of God.
The Greek word we translate as “inspired” is theopnuestos-literally, “God-breathed.” All of it is profitable to the believer.
Should you care to contact the Frys, their email address is:
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