Carnival Glass Patterns on our website

This is a very large website with over 2000 patterns and pattern references! We have put together several ways to look up any of the patterns we show - they are indexed Alphabetically and by Pattern Design / Motif.

Also, there is a "Magic Box!" - the Search box shown at the top right of every page. It provides a very powerful search engine for everything on our website: just enter a few key words and hit the magnifying glass symbol.

Pattern Index: Alphabetical (click on any image below)

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Pattern Index: Pattern Design / Motif

We first started looking at the design of Carnival Glass pattern when we started our NetworK Journal in 1994. Then, when we wrote "Carnival Glass, the Magic and the Mystery" in 1998 (the first of our trilogy of Schiffer Books on Carnival Glass), we pulled all our information together, devoting a whole section of the book to "Pattern Themes in Classic Carnival Glass". We looked specifically at the designs created by the Carnival Glass makers, and how their design and their development were related to the social and cultural influences of the times.

From this, we developed a new way of categorising Carnival Glass patterns  - by pattern design or design motif. It's a natural way to helps collectors identify the myriad of Carnival Glass patterns, of which there are probably around two thousand and still counting as new ones are discovered (this excludes contemporary and modern carnival!).

Whilst an alphabetical index is extremely useful, it has the inherent disadvantage that you almost need to know, or take an educated guess at the pattern name before you can look it up. Whilst some patterns have intuitive names, like Peacock and Grape, or Butterfly and Berry, many others them are not so easy to determine. 

This index should help collectors identify their glass by looking at the pattern element, the design and/or motif. The patterns are listed according to their main pattern element, that is, the most obvious part of the pattern that strikes you when you look at it.

Click on any image below.
The design index is still under development! Lots of work still to be done - including Fruit, Berries and Grapes, Buildings, People, Lettered pieces, Symbols and Geometrics.