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Imperial Grape
IMPERIAL GRAPE

This familiar pattern certainly competes with Grape and Cable design from Northwood. Any collector becomes familiar with the two designs on impact with the decision to accumulate iridized glass. Availability of colors and shapes provide variety enough to satisfy those who enjoy having everything known within those spectrums.

 
IMP. GRAPE - Amber.
IMP. GRAPE - Emerald Green.
 IMP. GRAPE - Amber.
IMP. GRAPE - Emerald Green.
IMP. GRAPE - Lavender.
IMP. GRAPE - Olive.
IMP. GRAPE - Lavender. 
IMP. GRAPE - Olive.
IMP. GRAPE - White.
IMPERIAL GRAPE Compote in Smoke - 5 in. tall.
IMP. GRAPE - White.
IMP. GRAPE Compote
in Smoke - 5 in. tall.



STEMMED COMPOTE:  These are fairly easy to find in marigold and a goodly number of helios examples turn up. Intensity of the search develops when looking for amber. They are very rare in purple and extremely so in smoke and olive. Until now, we were not aware that any white compotes were produced in the vintage examples. It is a shame that Imperial manufactured so little white. The few pieces known exhibit lovely frost and colorful iridescence.
All of the photos displaying the compote in this segment were provided by Bob Preseau. His efforts are appreciated! Bob assures us that none of the compotes are reproductions, finding no IG marks and no ground/sanded areas where the mark might have been.
The April 1915 Butler Brothers Catalog featured an assortment of Imperial Grape to include: water set, berry set, compote and punch cup.

Imperial Graope Update - December 26, 2015
 
Imperial Grape Compote in Purple!
Photo provided by Gary Patterson


 
Imperial GRAPE Water Goblet- Marigold.
Blue Imperial WINE GOBLETsold for $650 at  Sept. 2004 Reichel Auction. Some questioned whether the piece is actually OLD.(Note) Base lacks rings
Imperial GRAPE
 Water Goblet- Marigold.
Blue Imperial WINE GOBLETsold for $650 at  Sept. 2004 Reichel Auction. Some questioned whether the piece is actually OLD.(Note) Base lacks rings

STEMMED GOBLET:  Although marigold examples do turn up, any color in this shape is rather scarce. Helios, clambroth and amber are difficult colors to find. It is rare in purple and very much so in smoke and aqua.
This is the basic mould shape from which the compotes are flared.

STEMMED WINE:  Marigold and helios are pretty standard, with examples in purple, emerald, and clambroth becoming hard to locate. Olive and smoke are very rare. Cobalt blue is an extremely rare color, with only a couple known. No matching decanter has yet surfaced for olive or cobalt.

 
IMPERIAL GRAPE Whimsey made from Tumbler.
 IMPERIAL GRAPE Whimsey made from Tumbler.
IMP.GRAPE- Mgld. and Aqa
IMPERIAL GRAPE - Mgld. and Aqua compotes

TUMBLER WHIMSEY:  We display this piece for your appraisal. It is not listed among the shapes known to be of vintage variety. Whether it is the result of “tinkering” with a marigold tumbler, or a shape derived from some “reproduction” process, we cannot ascertain.
Imperial reproduced this design extensively during the 1960s and 1970s. A variety of shapes, including many not produced in “old carnival”, were made. Colors made include marigold, smoke, purple, helios, aurora jewels and amber.
Imperial Grape molds are now in the hands of other glass companies, including Wetzel Glass and Summit Art Glass Company. New carnival examples have been made in electric blue, vaseline, red and an iridized opaque custard color. Possibly there are other colors as well, and perhaps in the flow of time, molds have passed into the hands of some unknown producers.

 
Spectacular interior of Imperial GRAPE Nutbowl in Purple.
9 in. IMPERIAL GRAPE Nut Bowl in Purple. Electric  interior.
Spectacular interior of Imperial GRAPE Nutbowl in Purple.
9 in. IMPERIAL GRAPE Nut Bowl in Purple. Electric  interior.

NUT BOWL, collar base:  4 ½”-5” deep, having a diameter of about 6”, this round bowl is very rare; previously reported only in marigold, yet this beautiful purple example turned up at a prominent auction in 2005. Old or newer? It's anyone's guess since there are clever ones who grind and polish the IG marks; or for that matter, any mark which may have been applied by manufacturers. It behooves every collector to become familiar with the appearance of “re-worked” carnival glass.

Dean & Diane Fry   6/09
If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name,
THE LORD YOUR GOD, then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues-great and prolonged plagues---and serious and prolonged sicknesses.  Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed.
You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess. -- Deuteronomy 28:58-63
Should you care to contact the Frys, their email address is:

dndn74@embarqmail.com



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