NetworK ezine Issue 120. May 2025
Totally Devoted to Carnival Glass
A stunning arrangement of Imperial Morning Glory vases. Courtesy Mary Kaiser.
Morning Glory
Vases! All the major Carnival Glass makers produced them and homes all over the world have been (and still are) graced with floral displays in them. Huge vases, wide vases and teeny tiny vases. There can’t be many collectors who don’t have at least one vase (and probably rather a lot of vases)!
Vases! All the major Carnival Glass makers produced them and homes all over the world have been (and still are) graced with floral displays in them. Huge vases, wide vases and teeny tiny vases. There can’t be many collectors who don’t have at least one vase (and probably rather a lot of vases)!
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Imperial excelled at vases, creating them in a wide range of sizes to suit all occasions and floral requirements. Shown in this wonderful picture above, courtesy of Mary Kaiser, is a super display of Imperial’s Morning Glory vases, in two (of the three) base sizes in which it was made. (Note that Carnival collectors categorise swung vases by base diameter instead of height – that’s because the height can vary such a lot). The smallest Morning Glory vases have a base diameter of 2½ inches and 6 ribs. The midsize Morning Glory vases have a base diameter of around 4 inches and 8 ribs. The largest (called funeral vases) have a base diameter of approximately 5 inches (in fact, a shade under) and 8 ribs. The vases were swung out to different heights which alters the width/girth of the vase, but not the base diameter. How tall were these huge vases? What would you put in them? Delphiniums, iris, lilac or long fronds of fern perhaps? We refer to them as funeral vases, but you can see that they are simply called “Tall” vases in the Imperial catalogue. In that Imperial 1912 catalogue image shown (immediate right) it states they are “about 17½ inches” tall. Examples are known that were swung up to around 19 inches. How tiny did they make them? The 1912 Imperial catalogue (far right) shows them as “Sweet Pea” vases with a height “about 5 inches” and “tall” rising to around 7½ inches”. In fact, they can be found as tiny as 3½ inches! These sizes are indeed perfect for sweet peas, rosebuds and any short-stemmed flowers |
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Bottoms! Have any of our eagle-eyed readers spotted something interesting about these different sizes of Morning Glory vase? Hint … look at the bottom. On the marie (underside, bottom, collar base) of the large funeral vase there is an intricate design. It’s known as the “snowflake” base and the moulded design is of a central star surrounded by twelve “snowflakes”. It’s very detailed and somewhat unusual in that it is hidden away, under the vase. This snowflake base is only found on the large (funeral) size Morning Glory Carnival vases, and indeed, it is only found on some, but not all, of them! |
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Above: the snowflake pattern on the underside (marie) of a purple Morning Glory funeral vase.
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Below: an extract from Imperial’s catalogue 103B c. 1917 (courtesy Glass Paper Fanatics). It seems to show the snowflake pattern on the exterior, but it is on the underside (marie) of the Morning Glory funeral vase. 
Right: extract from Imperial’s catalogue 103B c. 1917 (courtesy Glass Paper Fanatics). It shows the Morning Glory funeral vase with a snowflake base, alongside two Ripple vases.
Further reading:
Imperial’s Morning Glory and Curled Rib vases are often confused with each other, especially when the mouth shape is the Jack-in-the-Pulpit (JIP) form. So we decided to clear up the confusion with this article: NetworK #86 Imperial's New York Representative, Cox & Lafferty regularly placed press ads for Imperial Carnival Glass during 1910-1911. We show a series of them here: Sell Me Some Imperial Glass |
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April Showers
A favourite – yet frequently misidentified vase – is Fenton’s April Showers, their #412. It was in production for at least two decades, from around 1910. It was made in just one base size, 3½ inches, unlike the Imperial Morning Glory that came in three base sizes. Most April Showers vases were swung out to achieve a height of around 12 inches or so, but there are smaller (and taller) versions, including some stubby, slightly swung examples at 5 inches or less. Right: Fenton catalogue, c. 1913.
Courtesy Glass Paper Fanatics. The April Showers vase is #412, second in from the right on the bottom row. |
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April Showers is frequently mixed-up with Fenton’s Rustic and Northwood’s Tree Trunk vases. An excellent physical identifier for April Showers was described by vase expert Joan Doty: "April Showers vases have nine vertical panels, each ending with a subtle scallop at the bottom of the vase. These nine panels are filled with “streams of raindrops,” actually small hobs".
Above: On the left is a blue Fenton April Showers vase, and on the right, Glen's "easy identification" sheet for this vase.
This peacock tail scalloped pattern referred to above, right, can also sometimes be seen on the base of the vase; it was shown very clearly in our NetworK Facebook Group by Kyle Richmond, and is pictured below. On the base, you can see the moulded motif formed by the scalloped peacock-tail design (it also looks like a multi-petalled flower). |
Above: a further, helpful characteristic found on many (but not all) April Showers vases is a scalloped, peacock tail pattern effect on the interior of the vase that can often be spotted at the top/mouth - as shown above.
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Above: amethyst April Showers vase, courtesy Kyle Richmond.
The moral of our story is – it is always worth looking at the base of your Carnival Glass, as it just might have an extra secret.
Further reading: A “Brief Tutorial on Carnival Vases”: NetworK Issue #52 Our Feature Article on April Showers: April Showers Vases How to identify Carnival vases with bumps and swirls: Rocky Road |
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United States Glass Co. (U.S. Glass) No. 8301 - Split Diamond.
Hold on to your hats! We are about to take a trip back in time of almost 30 years. We are going to visit our original, printed NetworK Journal in 1996. We have been contacted by fellow readers of our early NetworKs to say they have recently seen a marigold footed bowl that we originally reported in our Journal all that time ago. Right: U.S. Glass No. 8301 – marigold Split Diamond footed bowl.
Courtesy the late Dave Doty. So, let’s dive into the history of this piece and add the knowledge we can bring now. The easiest way to set the scene is, of course, to view the actual piece we published in our printed NetworK Journal way back in 1996. So, here it is, along with the cover illustration from our Journal. |
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Above, left: extract from NetworK 11, 1996; and right, the Cover of this issue. Both © G and S Thistlewood.
Although it was presented to us as a mystery back in 1996, our research then, correctly led us to conclude that this unusual bowl was likely to be a U.S. Glass item. In those days, we didn’t have access to many U.S. Glass catalogues (in the way that we do now), but for us it was the “Colorado” style feet on the bowl – a recognised U.S. Glass characteristic which we illustrated in our 1996 Journal - that indicated this maker.
In 2000 (NetworK Journal #26) we re-visited and illustrated the “Split Diamond” bowl as part of a major, investigative feature on United States Glass Co.
Now however, we can show and confirm the attribution of this “Split Diamond” bowl as being from United States Glass Co. - it appeared in their c.1900 and also the c.1904 catalogues (not in Carnival), depicted below, as their No. 8301.
Above: U.S. Glass No. 8301 aka Split Diamond, in their c.1900 catalogue. Courtesy (and with many thanks to) Sid Lethbridge.
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Above: U.S. Glass No. 8301 aka Split Diamond, in their c.1904 catalogue. Note this is a composite image.
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It's hard to know just how many of these items exist in collections or "in the wild", and examples are believed to have turned up in South America, where U.S. Glass is known to have exported glass.
Our published research findings in our NetworK Journal #26 (2000) and our book “A Century of Carnival Glass” (2001) further explained our understanding that some U.S. Glass moulds were sold to Indiana Glass and subsequently went from there to Argentina. Were some U.S. Glass moulds used to produce Carnival in Argentina? Possibly.
In summary, this interesting bowl made its first widespread appearance among Carnival collectors in 1995 when it was named “Split Diamond” in an April, 1995 Seeck Auction. In 1996, we published the information about the “Split Diamond” bowl in our international NetworK Journal. In 1998, the bowl was published in the Doty Field Guides, listed under “Split Diamond”. In 2000, we featured it in our NetworK 26. And now in 2025, here it is again.
Now we can pay full homage and respect to its origin and history, with its U.S. Glass pattern number; Split Diamond No. 8301.
(Note: there is also another pattern known as Split Diamond, which is often wrongly attributed to Sowerby – and yes, we also made that mistake. Currently, nothing more is known about the maker of that particular pattern).
Little Beads
Don Ruppel contacted us after reading NetworK 117 in which we had a short feature on opalescent glass. Don sent us this image of his Pink Opalescent Little Beads comport, that he found many years ago. Don told us that “the color was verified by Tom Burns”.
Don Ruppel contacted us after reading NetworK 117 in which we had a short feature on opalescent glass. Don sent us this image of his Pink Opalescent Little Beads comport, that he found many years ago. Don told us that “the color was verified by Tom Burns”.
Above: Westmoreland Little Beads comport in pink opal, courtesy Don Ruppel. An exquisite little piece, and the pink base glass can be seen clearly on the stem.
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Above: the original item (No. 254. 4 in. Comport) in
Westmoreland’s 1905 catalogue. It is believed that the item was in production through to c. 1910. Other Carnival colours known include amethyst, peach opal, blue opal, marigold and teal. |
Revival Carnival from Imperial
Two splendid catalogue extracts, courtesy of the Glass Paper Fanatics, have been add to the growing number of Revival items from Imperial Glass, here on our website. Here we show extracts from a wide range of white Carnival from 1973, and some delightful items in Pastel Pink and Meadow Green Carnival from 1980. The full catalogue pages are elsewhere on our website where you can see them in detail - links on the images, or at the end of this section.
Two splendid catalogue extracts, courtesy of the Glass Paper Fanatics, have been add to the growing number of Revival items from Imperial Glass, here on our website. Here we show extracts from a wide range of white Carnival from 1973, and some delightful items in Pastel Pink and Meadow Green Carnival from 1980. The full catalogue pages are elsewhere on our website where you can see them in detail - links on the images, or at the end of this section.
Above: extract from Imperial’s 1973 catalogue.
Courtesy Glass Paper Fanatics. These three patterns - Robin (tumbler and pitcher), Imperial Grape (pitcher) and Loganberry Vase, are all patterns that were originally made by Imperial in Classic Carnival, but not in white. Note that the small 1 pint Imperial Grape pitcher was not a size made in Classic Carnival. |
Mid Year 1980 “New From Imperial Glass” by Lenox Imperial Glass.
Courtesy Glass Paper Fanatics. Featured here are Elephant, Duck-on-Nest and Bunny-on-Nest in Pastel Pink Carnival. |
Here are links to the full catalogue pages (and all the other Imperial Revival catalogues on our website):
Imperial: White Revival Carnival
Lenox Imperial: Pastel Pink and Meadow Green Revival Carnival
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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.
