NetworK ezine Issue 116. January 2025
Totally Devoted to Carnival Glass
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Welcome to NetworK #116 - the first Issue of 2025. We wish all our NetworK ezine readers, members of our Carnival Glass NetworK Group on Facebook, and their families all around the World, a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! Happy New Year, Bonne Année, Feliz Ano Novo, Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku, Godt Nytår, šťastný nový rok, Hyvää uutta vuotta, Gott nytt år, Farsælt komandi ár, Gelukkig Nieuwjaar, Frohes Neues Jahr, Godt nytt år. It seems like no time at all since we were anticipating the new millennium in 2000. Remember all those horror stories about the Y2K computer bug, when devices and services were predicted to stop because computer programs could not handle the date change from 31 December 1999 to 01 January 2000! Just about everything was rumoured to crash – computers, telephones, refrigerators, cookers, aircraft, power supplies, stock markets, money, and even Carnival Glass could revert to its original constituents of silica sand, lime and soda plus an assortment of chemicals. (OK we made up that last bit!) NetworK enters 2025 in robust and active good health. This issue is being sent out to a record number of readers, while our Facebook Group (now over 17,000 members) continues to attract more and more new members worldwide each day. Many of them are new to the world of Carnival Glass, having seen examples of this amazing glass and wanting to know more about it, its history and the skilled workers who made it, and many who have inherited Carnival from parents and grandparents. A big “Thank You” to everyone for their massive interest and support. |
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January is named after Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions in Roman mythology, which is one reason why we are all urged to make New Year Resolutions (but how long we actually stick with them is a well-kept secret). With January signifying a “new beginning”, perhaps this is also is why we have seen many Carnival Glass activities happening in this very month over the years, and we thought it would be fitting to highlight a few of them, and add some personal "January Reminiscences". One reason why January seemed to be popular in the calendar for glassmakers in the USA was that every year in January, Pittsburgh held its annual Glass Exposition. It was an important occasion where several of the city's prestigious hotels hosted the event, and all the glass firms showcased and promoted their new lines. 
Above: Harry Northwood had always had a major display at the Pittsburgh Glass Expo and in January 1910, Carnival Glass (described at the time as the “Iris iridescent line”) was on show at his exhibition stand at the Fort Pitt Hotel. The extract above is from from the “Crockery and Glass Journal”, January 1910.
Another reason why January was popular in the glassmakers calendar was because it often signalled the issuing of a new catalogue (and new lines) for the New Year. Here on the right is the impressive, full colour cover of Imperial’s January 1912 General catalogue. |
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January 1904: a glassworks in Germany poured its first glass – Brockwitz. Even then it employed some 300 workers. It was to become a major maker of some of the finest quality Carnival Glass in Europe, with production quite likely to have started as early as 1905, yet the significance of this factory was not truly realised until the 1980s – 1990s.
We worked with researchers in the UK, Germany and the USA to publish a vast range of Carnival Glass patterns and shapes from this maker (and indeed, new ones continue to be discovered even today).
We worked with researchers in the UK, Germany and the USA to publish a vast range of Carnival Glass patterns and shapes from this maker (and indeed, new ones continue to be discovered even today).
Above: in 2006 we organised what was surely the largest display of Brockwitz Carnival Glass that has been shown, or is likely to be seen again, except online.
Here is a section of the display. |
Right: one of the rarest Brockwitz items.
A spectacular Square Diamond vase in blue. |
This is the link to our Brockwitz Homepage: Brockwitz Carnival
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January 1910 - The Rise of Millersburg: the Indiana Evening Gazette reported:
"This factory was considered one of the best equipped glass factories in the country … but it seems that he (John Fenton – the founder of Millersburg Glass) was not satisfied, however, and is now adding nearly $20,000 worth more of equipment and is getting ready to operate the plant with two shifts of workmen which virtually means day and night service." The dawning of 1910 also brought the glitter of Millersburg’s signature Radium glass, and the trade press was full of positive reviews. The January 1910, Crockery & Glass Journal reported: "Radium, the very latest colored glass made, is the creation of J. W. Fenton of the Millersburg Glass Co. and is now being shown after several years of costly experiments. It is almost impossible to describe. "Prismatic" is hardly the word to designate its brilliancy, for it has all the soft colors of changeable silk." John Fenton was also at the Fort Pitt Hotel for the 1910 Pittsburgh Exposition we mentioned earlier. The press reported that: "Radium" glass of the Millersburg Glass Co. is proving a great attraction for buyers. Everyone who has looked at the line has ordered." Right: a Millersburg Grape Wreath bowl, in amethyst with radium iridescence. Here is a link to read more about Millersburg's (short-lived) production of amazing Carnival Glass: Magnificent Millersburg |
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January 1911 – Imperial Glass “Helios” ware: the ad on the right from Cox & Lafferty, Imperial’s New York Representative, showed a range of items in Imperial’s “All New “Helios” Ware at Special Prices”.
The items were described as having “beautiful green and silver tints” and that they “equal the gloriously radiant hue of our well-known “AZUR” glass” (AZUR being Imperial’s purple Carnival). The items in the 1911 ad were Imperial Grape "blown vase" (now generally referred to as a carafe shape), Four Seventy Four punch set, and Imperial Grape pitcher and tumblers or "Lemonade Set" (which today is generally called a water set). Below: an Imperial Grape carafe in helios, courtesy Seeck Auctions. 
We show a series of 1910-11 Cox and Lafferty ads on our website, here: Cox & Lafferty
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January 1923 and January 1924 - Crown Crystal Australian Registered Designs: it is an intriguing characteristic, and part of their charm, that the Registered Design Number ("RD") is prominently displayed on the pattern of some of their Carnival. Their first design to be registered was the Kingfisher, registered in January 1923 with the number 4184.
Two other well known design registrations followed in January 1924 - Kangaroo (RD 4696) and Swan (RD 4697).
Two other well known design registrations followed in January 1924 - Kangaroo (RD 4696) and Swan (RD 4697).
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There have been questions about why their other designs do not have an RD, and the answer is that they changed their choice of which Australian legal regulations to use to protect their designs, from the Australian Design Act (which required an RD to be on the item) to the stronger protection afforded by the Australian Trade Mark Act (with no RD number required. 
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Above: a Crown Crystal Kingfisher large bowl in "dark" (purple) Carnival.
The RD 4184 is on the bottom right of the design. Left: a Crown Crystal Swan large bowl also in "dark" (purple) Carnival. The RD 4697 is below the swan. |
It is all here: Crown Crystal: Protect my Design
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January 1970 – Fenton’s Revival Carnival: of great significance in the world of Carnival Glass collecting, was the recognition by many modern day USA glassmakers that old, Classic Carnival Glass was highly popular with collectors. This led to their decision to revive the techniques, processes and skills and recommence production of Revival / Contemporary Carnival Glass from c. 1970. In January 1970, Fenton issued their first catalogue supplement for their Revival Carnival Glass, shown here on the right. It offered an assortment of ten Revival Carnival pieces in amethyst (colour code CN). Fenton described it as "the closest thing to the antique iridescent formula ever produced", which was a clever marketing move, recognising the huge popularity of their Classic Carnival. A copy of the Supplement was given to us by the late Frank Fenton during our visit to the Fenton glass factory in the mid-1990s. We were researching for our first Schiffer book at that time, and Frank generously shared his vast knowledge, information and archive material about Fenton's Classic and Revival Carnival with us. We were also privileged to be given a personal factory and museum tour, and even to be allowed access to his famous "cage" of samples, design ideas, and one-of-a-kind pieces. A very memorable event! Here is a link to the full sized version of the Supplement and many other Fenton Revival catalogues that we have on our website: Fenton’s Revival Carnival |
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January 1984 – Fenton’s Revival Cobalt Marigold (colour code “NK”): Fenton introduced their beautiful Cobalt Marigold Revival Carnival colour in January 1984. The iridescent effect has a rich, multi-coloured iridescence achieved by applying marigold (ferric chloride) iridescent spray onto cobalt blue base glass.
Right: one of the items offered in the Cobalt Marigold catalogue selection was this superb Garden of Eden 8 inch plate (#9614). It was produced in limited numbers and is a rare find. The name of the design artist is Hal Reed and his name is moulded in the design near the edge of the plate, between the legs of the deer - see below. 
We show several catalogue pages on our website courtesy of the late Frank Fenton who gave us some beautiful extracts during the time we were researching in the Fenton archives.
Here is the Cobalt Marigold link: Fenton’s Cobalt Marigold |
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January 1995: our NetworK #5 marked the first New Year of our original printed NetworK journals, that we had started in the spring of 1994. We had the NetworK journals printed in black and white back then (colour printing was expensive) and so there was a drawing on the front cover that echoed the main story inside – in this case it was “Fruits of the Earth”. We chose to portray our Fenton Orange Tree Orchard water pitcher in a drawing, on the front cover.
The fruit theme continued on the back cover, and the illustration there was the product of months of hard work (truly a labour of love). It all started in 1993-1994; we were researching in the British Library in London, trawling through huge, dusty volumes of the Pottery Gazette covering the years of Carnival production. It was a laborious task. To access each of the massive volumes, a paper request had to be submitted to the staff who then had to locate them in their archives. Typically, it meant a 20 or 30 minute wait before the item appeared, pushed into the reading room on a trolley. We tried to alternate our requests so that one of us always had a huge tome to be trawling through. The next problem was what to do if you spotted something of interest? No mobile phones back then, for a quick photo! We made copious written notes, and if something was really special, like an ad, we submitted another written request (and cash) to get a photocopy done! |
Above, left, is Glen's drawing of Fenton's Orange Tree Orchard pitcher,
and on the right is a blue example (courtesy Seeck Auctions). |
As we worked on the 1923 edition of the British Pottery Gazette and Glass Trade Review our hearts skipped a beat as we turned the page and saw an ad for Carnival in colour. There, in glowing shades of gold and orange, was an ad for Imperial’s Rubigold Glassware! It was the first colour ad we had seen in the Gazette: it must have cost the advertiser (the London agent, Johnsen & Jorgensen) a high fee. Clearly, they felt it was worth it.
It showed a marigold Heavy Grape bowl. Of course, we had to get this one photocopied, and we had to pay even more to get a colour copy! Sadly though, when we used it on the back cover of NetworK #5, we could only have it printed in black and white - as shown below, left.
However, we can now shown the full colour ad that we found all those years ago: the 1923 Pottery Gazette ad for Rubigold (marigold) Carnival by Imperial's UK agent, Johnsen & Jorgensen - below, right.
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Left: the 1923 Pottery Gazette and Glass Trade Review ad for Rubigold, used in black and white in NetworK #5.
Right, the same ad as originally presented in full colour in the Gazette.
Right, the same ad as originally presented in full colour in the Gazette.
It was frustrating, though, when two years later, we saw our research “find” (the colour ad) shown in full glory in a book on glass. We feel it is likely that the source data we gave in NetworK for our “find” was used – but as often happens, no acknowledgement for originally locating it was given to us.
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January 2005 – research in Finland: in 2005 we made one of several trips to Finland as part of our ongoing research into Carnival Glass made in Scandinavia. It was the middle of winter, and naturally the snow was piled up everywhere. Driving was “fun”, especially on the main roads. The main hazard was not snow or ice on the road (they were cleared extremely well), but from the large trucks: ice had built up on the tops of many of the trucks and as they sped down the road, it loosened and fell off in massive chunks onto any traffic following behind. The clear lesson was – keep well back when following behind a truck! On this particular trip, we went to the Riihimaki Glass Museum – actually the old glassworks that had been converted – and we gained a lot of valuable information about the company, and their wonderful Carnival Glass production. Right: a picture of the Riihimake Glass Museum.
The chimney on the rightwas also part of the old glassworks. |
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January 2016: this was the first New Year issue of our free NetworK ezine that was sent out, worldwide, by email. We had started the ezine back in June, 2015, so the first New Year issue we sent out was Issue #8 in which we focussed on our research into the “Golden Patterns” from Poland’s Zabkowice glass works, and we took an in-depth look at the role of January Sales and Bargain Basements, that sold a lot of Carnival.
One such Bargain Basement was in Australia, and the ad we showed in this issue was one of the loveliest we have seen. As we are reminiscing, we’d like to share the image with you again. The artist’s rendition of the three Imperial vases is stunning and possibly one of the best we have yet seen in an old ad.
However, the ad is transformed into shimmering Carnival Glass by Joan Doty’s exquisite photograph of the same three vases. Her re-creation brings them to life in front of our eyes - from a black and white line drawing to shimmering colour. Imperial at its stunning best.
One such Bargain Basement was in Australia, and the ad we showed in this issue was one of the loveliest we have seen. As we are reminiscing, we’d like to share the image with you again. The artist’s rendition of the three Imperial vases is stunning and possibly one of the best we have yet seen in an old ad.
However, the ad is transformed into shimmering Carnival Glass by Joan Doty’s exquisite photograph of the same three vases. Her re-creation brings them to life in front of our eyes - from a black and white line drawing to shimmering colour. Imperial at its stunning best.
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Above left is the ad for the Brightlights Bargain Basement store in Sydney, from the “Hebrew Standard of Australasia”, 1925 (courtesy National Library of Australian Digitised Newspapers), and on the right, courtesy and copyright of Joan Doty, is her amazing recreation!
The vases are, from left to right: purple Beaded Bullseye, purple Ripple and marigold Parlour Panels – all by Imperial.
The vases are, from left to right: purple Beaded Bullseye, purple Ripple and marigold Parlour Panels – all by Imperial.
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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.
