Isaac Benesch & Sons - The Story Behind The Glass
Based on our original article published in August 2015.
The Great (yet Puzzling) House of Isaac Benesch & Sons
The Great (yet Puzzling) House of Isaac Benesch & Sons
Isaac Benesch bowl, amethyst.
Seeck Auctions |
Holly Sprig bonbon, green. Isaac Benesch is moulded
on the underside of the base. Seeck Auctions |
There are two Carnival Glass items that were made for Isaac Benesch & Sons, as shown above. On the left is the well known amethyst “lettered” bowl that features a beautiful advertising design, and on the right is a handled bonbon in the Holly Sprig (aka Holly Whirl) pattern that has lettering on its base.
It seems straightforward, yet once we started to delve deeper into these two items, a host of puzzling contradictions emerged. To get to the heart of the mysteries let’s begin by “meeting” Mr Isaac Benesch and see some of his amazing stores.
There are two Carnival Glass items that were made for Isaac Benesch & Sons, as shown above. On the left is the well known amethyst “lettered” bowl that features a beautiful advertising design, and on the right is a handled bonbon in the Holly Sprig (aka Holly Whirl) pattern that has lettering on its base.
It seems straightforward, yet once we started to delve deeper into these two items, a host of puzzling contradictions emerged. To get to the heart of the mysteries let’s begin by “meeting” Mr Isaac Benesch and see some of his amazing stores.
Detail from ad for The Great House of Isaac Benesch in The Wilkes-Barre Record, 1910
|
Payment by instalment was accepted!
|
Isaac Benesch was just eight when he and his family arrived in the USA from Prague. His furniture store empire was to begin some years later, in 1852, when he opened the first one at 285 North Gay Street in Baltimore, Maryland. The company themselves called it “a little place” that measured just 18x25. Employing just one clerk, their promotional material described Benesch as “a born merchant, one who knew how to buy what the public wanted”.
Other stores followed, as listed on the Carnival Glass bowl: Wilkes Barre PA., Pottsville PA, Baltimore MD, and Annapolis MD.
The main commodity sold was furniture, but Benesch diversified his offerings to include furnishing fabrics, heaters and stoves, carpets and rugs, china, kitchen utensils and glassware. In common with other stores of the era, promotions, premiums (free gifts) and a variety of special offers were all vital sales aids employed by the Great House of Isaac Benesch. Payment by instalment (above, right, from a 1903 Benesch ad) was somewhat ahead of its time.
Another favourite Benesch ploy was to offer coupons in the store’s newspaper ads, to be presented in exchange for a souvenir or gift in store. We reveal many of these sales techniques in our "Sell it to me!" feature - Mail Order, Premiums, even Green Stamps. They are not as modern as you might think.
Puzzle #1
Other stores followed, as listed on the Carnival Glass bowl: Wilkes Barre PA., Pottsville PA, Baltimore MD, and Annapolis MD.
The main commodity sold was furniture, but Benesch diversified his offerings to include furnishing fabrics, heaters and stoves, carpets and rugs, china, kitchen utensils and glassware. In common with other stores of the era, promotions, premiums (free gifts) and a variety of special offers were all vital sales aids employed by the Great House of Isaac Benesch. Payment by instalment (above, right, from a 1903 Benesch ad) was somewhat ahead of its time.
Another favourite Benesch ploy was to offer coupons in the store’s newspaper ads, to be presented in exchange for a souvenir or gift in store. We reveal many of these sales techniques in our "Sell it to me!" feature - Mail Order, Premiums, even Green Stamps. They are not as modern as you might think.
Puzzle #1
|
|
The ads above were for Benesch's 50th. Anniversary in 1902, and their 54th. Anniversary in 1906 (the 1906 ad was in The Pittston Gazette).
|
But ... here is the puzzle and the contradiction:
Benesch celebrated their Golden (50th.) Anniversary in 1902 and their 54th. Anniversary in 1906, as the newspaper ads confirm. However, the Holly Sprig bonbon is known in a version that has lettering on the marie, promoting Isaac Benesch - shown far right, courtesy of Seeck Auctions. The words read: “THE GREAT HOUSE OF ISAAC BENESCH & SONS” and in large numerals in the centre, "54TH ANNIVERSARY”. We know Millersburg was in business only from 1909 to 1911, so the piece had to have been made between those dates. But ... Benesch's 54th Anniversary was in 1906 - that’s around three years before Carnival was being made at Millersburg. It is also a year before Fenton, considered to be the first maker of Carnival Glass, started production in 1907. |
|
|
What was going on?
Look at the newspaper clip below from The Pittston Gazette in 1910. Another 54th Anniversary? Four years later than the original 54th Anniversary? It doesn’t add up, does it? But possibly this is part of the answer to the puzzle of the Holly Sprig bonbon?
1910 is surely the correct timeline for the production of that piece at Millersburg. But without a doubt, 1910 was not the 54th Anniversary of the Great House of Isaac Benesch (the correct date was 1906). Did someone slip up? Was there a typo in the clerk’s office in 1910, and 58 years accidentally came out as 54?
Is it possible … is it just possible … that the mistake lay with the lettering on the bonbon? Could it be that either poor communication between Benesch and Millersburg was the cause, or perhaps the mould shop at the glass works got it wrong? And once the glass souvenir was made with 54 on the marie they were stuck with it! So maybe they just hoped nobody would notice they had already celebrated their 54th four years earlier.
|
The Pittston Gazette, 1910
|
And look closely at the newspaper ad above—there’s a coupon to clip (we’ve enlarged it on the left). On offer, if you produced your coupon, was an Anniversary Souvenir Absolutely Free! It seems likely that the souvenir was the Holly Sprig bonbon with the 54th Anniversary lettering on the base.
It’s not possible to know for certain why this anomaly of the dates actually occurred. Without a doubt The Great House of Isaac Benesch was founded in 1852, and their 54th Anniversary year was 1906. Equally without a doubt, the Millersburg Holly Sprig bonbon was not made in 1906. The fact that the newspapers were proclaiming two separate 54th Anniversary years (in 1906 and 1910) is paradoxical and inexplicable. But it does give us the rationale behind the later production date of the bonbon.
Puzzle #2
It’s not possible to know for certain why this anomaly of the dates actually occurred. Without a doubt The Great House of Isaac Benesch was founded in 1852, and their 54th Anniversary year was 1906. Equally without a doubt, the Millersburg Holly Sprig bonbon was not made in 1906. The fact that the newspapers were proclaiming two separate 54th Anniversary years (in 1906 and 1910) is paradoxical and inexplicable. But it does give us the rationale behind the later production date of the bonbon.
Puzzle #2
|
The other puzzle centres on the 6 inch ruffled bowl (only known in amethyst). Who made it? There are two schools of thought that support two different makers—Fenton and Millersburg. In support of Fenton The main support here is from the late John Resnick, author of The Encyclopedia of Carnival Glass Lettered Pieces, 1989. In it, John wrote: “I confess that this item caused me considerable consternation when it came to identify the maker. Everything about this piece screams Fenton; everything except that it has the same many-rayed base as known Millersburg pieces. Although I have no explanation for this anomaly, all the other evidence points so strongly at Fenton that I felt no other call could be made”. In support of Millersburg Several supporters, including Jack Adams who wrote: “I have no doubt that it was made by Millersburg, even |
The Wilkes-Barre Record, 1910
|
Detail of the lettered design. Seeck Auctions
|
though John Resnik calls it Fenton. The exterior pattern including the rayed base plus the quality of the amethyst glass screams Millersburg, not Fenton.”
The late Marie McGee in “Millersburg As I Know It” also called it for Millersburg, supporting her claim with a note about “fragments found at Millersburg”.
Conclusion: we are unable to verify either view. We have only seen these bowls in photos, and we have not been able to find out more about the “fragments found at Millersburg”. All and any comments—and especially firm and hard evidence to support either view—are most welcome. Do you have the shards or “fragments”? Have you seen them or can you let us have photos? Another puzzle that surrounds this already enigmatic piece is the existence of a single known example that is misspelled Benech instead of Benesch. A costly mistake for someone, surely?
The late Marie McGee in “Millersburg As I Know It” also called it for Millersburg, supporting her claim with a note about “fragments found at Millersburg”.
Conclusion: we are unable to verify either view. We have only seen these bowls in photos, and we have not been able to find out more about the “fragments found at Millersburg”. All and any comments—and especially firm and hard evidence to support either view—are most welcome. Do you have the shards or “fragments”? Have you seen them or can you let us have photos? Another puzzle that surrounds this already enigmatic piece is the existence of a single known example that is misspelled Benech instead of Benesch. A costly mistake for someone, surely?
|
Before we leave The Great House of Isaac Benesch, we thought it would be interesting to share with you this image of a typical page that advertised some of the range of goods that were on offer to the public.
The ad was in the Pittston Gazette, 1911. It is very blurred, but you get the general idea: carpets, rugs, furniture, stoves and "Go-Carts" (sic), that is, pushchairs/strollers. Eagle-eyed Carnival Glassaholics will spot a familiar item in the very centre. Here it is enlarged: 
Yes - a Northwood Tornado Vase, described as "opalescent"(which was a common mis-description for "iridescent"), with a rose decoration.
Benesch used the tried and tested temptation "buy one now, because we don't have many available at this special price" of 12 cents! 
Tornado Vase, green
Read more about the Tornado vase: Eye of the Storm
|
|
Read more of The Stories Behind The Glass in Carnival Glass Times