NetworK ezine Issue 110. July 2024
Totally Devoted to Carnival Glass
Doesn’t time fly? It hardly seems a moment since we were writing the June NetworK issue, and here we are again in July. In this issue we go back some twelve centuries to reveal a fascinating discovery. We trace the history of an intriguing bell revealing more than expected, and go gazooks with Imperial.
But first, let’s see what’s on the grapevine … grapes were a hugely popular motif in Carnival - but why do you think that was? We uncover a most interesting trend (perhaps even a craze) that surely helped to motivate it.
On The Grapevine
Fruits were a popular choice for Carnival Glass designs. Plump peaches, grapes and cherries adorn bowls and plates, each waiting to be piled high with a selection of tempting fruits. Decanters decorated with luscious bunches of grapes would be filled with wine. The pattern suggested the purpose. Glowing iridescence completed the picture and provided the household with a tempting display. But undoubtedly, the fruit that claimed the greatest popularity in Carnival Glass was the grape.
Above: a purple Imperial Grape decanter and stopper,
courtesy Seeck Auctions. |
|
Most Classic Carnival makers in the USA had popular grape designs. Imperial Grape, Grape & Cable, Concorde, Vintage, Floral & Grape and Palm Beach are just a representative selection of them. The motif was used on Carnival in Europe, although not so much, and it was also used on some Indian and South American Carnival patterns.
Grape designs were undoubtedly fashionable and desirable when Carnival was first made – and they certainly had their day in the sun in iridescent glass.
|
But there’s a question to be asked. Why was the grape motif so popular? Of course, it’s decorative, it looks good in Carnival and it’s a perfect match for food usage. But was there more to it than that? Was there an inspiration, a popular stimulus around the time that the Carnival makers were considering new patterns, that made the Carnival makers aim for the market niche?
We think so … and we believe it was wallpaper! |
|
Off The Wall.
Grapes have been a popular design motif for many centuries, from ancient civilizations onward. The influential designers, William Morris and L.C. Tiffany also used the grape and its vine in their work. But it was when the motif entered the homes of the less-well-off, that its popularity rose even higher. In the late 1800s, handmade, classy wallpaper was in fashionable, expensive homes. But soon, the furnishing and wallpaper industries became more efficient, their goods were mass produced and cheaper, and more people were able to afford things that once were luxuries for just a few.
Above left: a 1908 dining room decorated with the popular grape trellis wallpaper, 1908 “Wall-Paper News”; right: a green Northwood Grape and Cable candle lamp – how lovely it would be in that room!
|
Above: Expensive Sanderson Grape wallpaper, 1873. Public domain.
|
Below (left) is another 1908 ad from "Wallpaper News". Perhaps it was a sign of the times, but the style of the ad was very self-opinionated! "You can choose your papers - you cannot always choose your acquaintances." Wow!
Ad from 1908 “Wall-Paper News” showing the 0791 Grape Pattern
made by the Allen-Higgins Wall-Paper Co. |
Left: a more modest home in 1909 with a cheaper design option, a stencilled grape frieze, and right, a grape design on a doily.
Both images from “Home Needlework Magazine” 1909. If cheaper wallpaper was your desire, the solution was a grape stencil to make your own grape frieze: "As a motif for dining room decoration there is nothing more desirable than the grape, and just now it is quite the fad" claimed the “Home Needlework Magazine” in 1909, with this image (above) to show how to decorate your dining room with a stencilled grape frieze. Still too expensive? Grape stencils were also designed to be used for table runners and a wide range of home accents. Or - simply embroider a doily! |
All extracts from the Imperial "Gazooks" catalogue are courtesy of, and with grateful thanks for the hard work of, Glass Paper Fanatics.
It is hard to establish the actual date of this catalogue as many of the Carnival pieces in it were introduced into the line by Imperial before 1915, but they then had long production runs into the 1920s (especially in "Rubigold" / marigold, the Carnival colour being offered in the Gazooks catalogue). Our "educated guess" is that the Gazooks catalogue dated from the c. early 1920s. Why? In NetworK #109 we showed Imperial's Second Bargain Book which was issued in c. 1924, which also had Carnival Glass "Special Lots" offers. They included two of the items we now see in Gazooks - an Imperial Rose 9" bowl and an 8½” Double Dutch footed bowl - and the offer price was exactly the same, $1.65 per dozen. Furthermore, Imperial added a "per barrel" charge on its sales; in 1915 this was $0.50 per barrel, increasing to $1.00 in Imperial's First Bargain Book. In the c. 1924 Second Bargain Book it was $1.25 per barrel, which was exactly the same per barrel cost charged here in the Gazooks catalogue! So, unless and until we get any better information, our belief is that the date of Gazooks was around the same time as the Second Bargain Book, c. 1924. What are (or is) gazooks and what is the connection with Imperial Glass and Carnival? The banner heading above is a detail from the cover of a small Imperial catalogue offering “Special Lots for Special Sales” – in other words, a sales promo catalogue with reduced prices for combined lots. The full cover is shown on the right. |
Cover page of an Imperial Glass Co. catalogue.
|
|
Imperial often used catchy words and phrases in their advertising, obviously intended to be attention-grabbing and memorable. So, for this sales promo catalogue, they introduced the word “Gazooks” and this is how they explained it. We have tried to verify if there actually was the “Order of the Gazooks” as a fraternal organisation of glass workers, but we have not yet found anything. Perhaps it was simply part of the “wholesome fun” that Imperial were offering? Their low prices were evidently part of the “fun”, and they even called it a “radical Imperial experiment” (sales and marketing speak in full flow). Our main interest, of course, is in the items they were offering, and this Gazook catalogue had plenty of Carnival on offer. Nine pages of the little catalogue had cut price crystal (clear glass) items and four pages featured their Iridescent lines in Rubigold (marigold Carnival), printed in pink. 
Above: "Rubigold Iridescent" - Gazook Lot No. 16 (first page).
The pieces on offer in the first page of the No. 16 Gazook Lot, Iridescent, (above) were Double Dutch bowl, Star and File footed bowl, Eastern Star comport (with Scroll Embossed interior pattern) and Imperial Rose (American Beauty Rose/Open Rose) bowl. Note the No. M612C footed bowl that collectors call Star and File. This pattern is often reported as being introduced in the early 1920s or perhaps 1918. However, we have a Lee Manufacturing catalogue dated 1915-16, featuring this very pattern, indicating an earlier production date than many formal sources suggest. Right:"Rubigold Iridescent" - Gazook Lot No. 16 (second page).
The vase No. M505 and the bowl with the same number are both Imperial’s Octagon (OMN The Bellaire). The pitcher is Fieldflower and the vase is Ripple. |
|
|
The Gazook Lot No. 16 was 8 barrels of Carnival Glass!
That’s 462 items in total (described as 38½ dozen in the catalogue). Seven different patterns and 5 different shapes (vase, pitcher, bowl, short-stemmed comport and long-stemmed footed bowl). The total cost of all this was $73.52 back then. That would have meant the items were around 16 cents apiece at that time*. To put these 8 barrels into context, elsewhere in this catalogue, Imperial stated that they had a weekly production capacity of "Over 5,000 Barrels of Glass"! * Using internet inflation calculators, $73.52 equates to just over $1,400 today – around about $3 per item. Smart Marketing A clever sales ploy was used by Imperial – they illustrated water pitchers in the Gazook Lots without tumblers, and then offered the matching tumblers separately, as you can see in the catalogue extracts below. The price of the tumblers was not indicated, so the buyer would have had to contact Imperial or their agent. |
|
|
And also a clever marketing strategy, showing that pitchers and tumblers were frequently sold separately, and were not always parcelled up as full water sets.
It's interesting to appreciate the skill in the packing: they could get 15 dozen Tiger Lily tumblers in a barrel, but for Fieldflower, they could get 17 dozen. Presumably it was the flared shape of Tiger Lily that restricted the number that could be packed into a barrel. 
And who could resist adding marigold (Rubigold) tumblers like these to their order from Imperial! On the left, Fieldflower, and on its right, Tiger Lily (courtesy Seeck Auctions).
|
|
|
The Alchemist’s Iridescence
In 2017 we published a research feature on our website on the early developmental use of iridescence on glass c. 1856, by Leo Valentin Pantocsek in Bohemia. But now we ask, was this really the very first, deliberate, experimental use of iridescence on glass? Or do we need to go even further back in time? The evidence suggests we do. Documents in a series of books written by “The Father of Chemistry” (the noted alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan aka Geber) appear to show that he intentionally created iridescence on glass in the 8th century in Mesopotamia. That’s quite a claim – was it possible and what do those documents indicate? He listed various iron compounds that were used in solution, mixed with cullet, and then heated. (Note that iron salts such as ferric chloride were used to make marigold Carnival). These iron compounds were also used on ceramics to produce lustre, and rare iridescent examples of ancient objects made from glass and pottery in Mesopotamia, are said to exist. We are not qualified to comment in depth on this, but it is food for thought and does seem highly possible. Our 2017 feature article on Pantocsek has been updated to add this information in greater detail. Right: Jabir ibn Hayyan Geber, Arabian alchemist.
Courtesy and source Wellcome Collection. Public Domain. |
|
|
Collectibells! (No - it's not a typo.)
A delightful Carnival bell was shown by John Paine in our Facebook group in June – you can see his photo of the lovely bell below, along with an inset image that shows the label indicating it was purchased from the Fenton Gift Shop. We hadn’t seen this intriguing item before, and so we set about digging into our files and catalogues to see what we might discover. The story that emerged was fascinating … The bell is part of a group of five named by Fenton as “Collectibells” and first made by them in the bell form in 1980. The bell shown to us by John, was called “Whitton”, while the other four were named “Sydenham”, “Knobby Bull’s Eye”, “Grape” and “Sable Arche”. Initially the bells were not made in Carnival, although eventually all five were offered in iridescent glass at various times. 
The new Fenton bells – now called “Collectibells” – were marketed by A.L. Randall and Co. (also of Chicago) who sold to florists and similar outlets. Randall enjoyed a long and mutually supportive relationship with Fenton from the late 1940s through to c. late 1980s. The ad shows the 5 “Collectibells” in a 1980 Randall catalogue Fenton supplement (the first selection were not Carnival).
|
Above: Whitton Bell. Photo courtesy John Paine
These patterns were initially made by Fenton as goblets and comports, in coloured and clear glass (not iridised) in the 1960s, for the Chicago based, Red-Cliff Company. 
Above: Red-Cliff catalogue ad, c. 1960s
Red-Cliff was a pottery decorating and distributing company, known for its decorated ironstone. The goblets and comports were marketed by Red-Cliff as “Early American Hand-Moulded Pattern Glass”. When Red-Cliff folded in the late 1970s, Fenton took the opportunity to use the goblet moulds to make them in Carnival as bells (by modifying the stem into a handle).
In 1983, the Whitton Bell was made by Fenton in purple Carnival (colour code "CN"). The bell appeared in the catalogue (#9066), is shown here (far left). The entire page on which the bell is featured, is on our website. Go here, to view full page: Fenton 1983-84 catalogue In 1991, Fenton made the Sable Arche bell in a limited edition in Light Amethyst, colour code "DT". They re-named it Sables Arch (#9065), although it was originally made as a goblet by the French company, Baccarat, in c. 1840. Here is the full page: Fenton Light Amethyst |
* Catalogue extracts above are courtesy of the Fenton Family and Fenton Art Glass Company. Click on the images to see the full catalogue pages.
|
Courtesy of Glass Paper Fanatics, we have added another Imperial Revival catalogue page to the Sunset Ruby selection on our website. It is from 1973 and there were some wonderful pieces on offer. Click on the thumbnail (right) to see the full catalogue selection. |
|
Privacy and the use of your information: we only use your name and email address to send you your Carnival Glass NetworK ezine. We will not share your name or email address with anyone else, or use it for any other purpose. You can change your mind about receiving your NetworK ezine at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the foot of every issue, or by emailing us at [email protected]
Join us on Facebook
We invite you and your friends to join us all on NetworK's fast growing and very active Facebook Group (link is below), and if you have missed any of the previous issues of NetworK and NetworK Specials, they are all here: Back Issues.
We invite you and your friends to join us all on NetworK's fast growing and very active Facebook Group (link is below), and if you have missed any of the previous issues of NetworK and NetworK Specials, they are all here: Back Issues.
