A Small Country Store with a Big Story
With grateful thanks to Sam Miller for his family story and all these wonderful photos.
Sam Miller’s great grandparents – William Jefferson Flynn and Maggie Mae King – had a small country store near Wagersville, Kentucky that was in business from around 1911 until 1955. That’s the store in the amazing photo above, taken c. 1915, featuring the family grouped together in front of it.
And here’s the fascinating part – Carnival Glass was sold there! Sam takes up the amazing story for us, explaining that “members of the extended family have several pieces of Carnival Glass that were sold in the store during the Classic era. I have examples of Fenton Butterfly & Berry, Imperial Fashion and Fenton vases that were given as Christmas presents”. Sam adds an interesting observation for us, regarding the family members in the photo: “by the way, the two small children standing in the front, they are twins. My grandfather is on the right and his twin sister on the left. It was common for the boys of this era to have gowns just like the girls.”
Thanks to Sam, we can show you his photographs of these actual, iconic pieces that all came from the family store, almost a century ago.
And here’s the fascinating part – Carnival Glass was sold there! Sam takes up the amazing story for us, explaining that “members of the extended family have several pieces of Carnival Glass that were sold in the store during the Classic era. I have examples of Fenton Butterfly & Berry, Imperial Fashion and Fenton vases that were given as Christmas presents”. Sam adds an interesting observation for us, regarding the family members in the photo: “by the way, the two small children standing in the front, they are twins. My grandfather is on the right and his twin sister on the left. It was common for the boys of this era to have gowns just like the girls.”
Thanks to Sam, we can show you his photographs of these actual, iconic pieces that all came from the family store, almost a century ago.
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Sam adds this fascinating information for us: “I inherited these pieces about 15 years ago. I knew absolutely nothing about Carnival Glass. But these pieces caught my eye. I appreciated their beauty, but also valued the family connection. I displayed them prominently, but knew very little about the maker, pattern, color, etc. Then last year, I decided to research the pieces and discovered what so many others have found - the fascinating story of the Classic era of Carnival Glass. I have learned so much in the last year. Much of it from your excellent Facebook Group and the many well written articles in your Network ezine. Marigold remains my favorite color. Maybe because of that first Fashion bowl that belonged to my great grandmother.” 
Above: a pair of marigold Fenton Fine Rib vases, from the family store. Photo courtesy Sam Miller.
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Above: Fenton Butterfly and Berry table set items in marigold – covered sugar,
creamer and open spooner – all from the family store. Below: the marigold Imperial Fashion bowl that Sam inherited. Both photos courtesy Sam Miller. 
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Below: this February 1924, Butler Brothers’ wholesale ad shows the marigold water sets, berry sets and table sets being sold as a "Golden Glow" special assortment - 6 sets to a barrel! 
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The actual Butterfly & Berry water set purchased at Sam’s great grandmother’s store c. 1924. Sam told us that iconic water set is “still in the family and has passed down to the third generation”. Photo courtesy Sam Miller.
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Our sincere thanks to Sam Miller for this unique look at the precious history of the family store and the Carnival Glass sold there. We are privileged to be able to see this legacy, and to know that it is in safe hands for the future.
Our sincere thanks to Sam Miller for this unique look at the precious history of the family store and the Carnival Glass sold there. We are privileged to be able to see this legacy, and to know that it is in safe hands for the future.
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As we have explored elsewhere in "Sell it to me!", the glass companies used many different devices, including premiums and promotions, to sell their Carnival Glass to the buying public. One popular method was mail order, selling a vast array of goods, including Carnival Glass, through a network of local agents. Undoubtedly, those agents would have seen local stores like the one run by Sam Miller’s great grandparents, as important customers. Quite likely, many of the smaller stores could have found it difficult to buy glass in the large quantities being advertised by the wholesalers, and the mail order companies played a key role, providing items in smaller amounts to local retailers. Is there a clue in Sam Miller's picture at the top of the page? As you can see, the front of the store carried various product adverts, including one for "Arbuckles' Coffee" (on the right of the doorway as you look at the picture). It caught our attention, and prompted us the investigate. Arbuckles was a major supplier of coffee, describing itself in 1916, as "the biggest selling, most popular coffee in the United States"... but lo and behold ... the same 1916 ad also said that "Arbuckles' premiums are as famous as Arbuckles' Coffee", offering a "special premium catalog". So, Sam's family would have been very tuned into the value of premiums. Now, at this time we don't know for certain that Arbuckles included Carnival Glass in their premium catalogs, but it is very possible, given the popularity of premiums at that time. However, we do know from another ad, in 1914, that Arbuckles was into premiums in a big way, and given the range of goodies that they listed, it would be surprising if glass in general, and maybe even Carnival Glass did not appear in the catalog. Although not specifically featuring Carnival Glass, we consider that the Arbuckles' ads provide a fascinating look at life back then. We have included a number of them on a separate page for our readers who want to see them in more detail. Here they are: Arbuckles' Coffee. |
A 1914 ad for Arbuckles' Premiums.
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We know of various other businesses that offered premiums and similar incentives, and shown below is a typical example - an ad from the mail order company, Perry G Mason Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was in their 1925 “Book of Easy Selling Goods and Premiums”, and in it we can see Butterfly & Berry items, as well as the Fine Rib vase - the same as the Fenton items being sold in Sam Miller's family store.
We know of various other businesses that offered premiums and similar incentives, and shown below is a typical example - an ad from the mail order company, Perry G Mason Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was in their 1925 “Book of Easy Selling Goods and Premiums”, and in it we can see Butterfly & Berry items, as well as the Fine Rib vase - the same as the Fenton items being sold in Sam Miller's family store.
