NetworK ezine Issue 31. December 2017
Totally Devoted to Carnival Glass
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Recording History in “Howard Seufer presents …”
In November 2017, we launched another video made by the late Howard Seufer. Howard’s son, Marty, (who owns and digitised the videos) explained that: “everything dad did in the creation of these videos … were with the sole purpose of education. More than once he stressed to me the importance of recording history correctly”. We are all the beneficiaries of Howard’s foresight. In this latest, wonderful video Howard interviews the late Frank Fenton in the Fenton Museum (which is no longer in existence). Frank reveals fascinating insights into the Orange Tree pattern, and displays the mould used. Here’s the link to "Howard Seufer presents ..." from where you can watch the Frank Fenton video. The second one in the series will be released soon. |
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Anyone for Dessert?
The black and white ad shown on the immediate right, was in “The Winnipeg Tribune” around Christmas, 1913. It was for T. Eaton Co. Ltd., a Canadian retailer (once Canada's largest department store chain): it promised “Lovely Iridescent Glassware at Remarkably Low Prices”. The rest of the Carnival items shown in the ad were mainly bowls and compotes, but this particular grouping caught our eye for the excellent detail in the drawings that enables the pieces to be clearly identified. The tall vase on the right appears to be Fenton’s April Showers, while the smaller vase is Panelled Diamond and Bows. The vase photos are courtesy of Seeck Auctions. Shown to the left of the vases in the ad was a Wreath of Roses punch cup, and behind it, a Pinecone plate - like the ones shown below that were in a Butler Brothers ad in 1911. That took us back a few years! 
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Roll the clock back to 1995 to find out the back story of this duo combination. In our printed NetworK #7 journal (1995) we had a “Collectors Facts” article on Fenton's Pinecone pattern. In it we featured a 1911 Butler Brothers catalogue ad - the one shown above. It had this exact pairing – a Wreath of Roses cup on a Pinecone plate, which was apparently used as a saucer. They were described in the ad as a “Sherbet set, 6¼” plate, handled cup”. Here’s what we wrote in our 1995 article: “The un-patterned centre of the Pine Cone plate allows the cup to sit neatly in the middle. Does this combination suggest that other small plates with un-patterned centres, such as Mirrored Lotus and Sailboats, were also utilised in this manner? It certainly fits in with the commercial aspect of Carnival – utilitarian shapes that will serve many purposes.” Why such a wide underplate? Wafers were often served with the sherbet desserts back then (see the ad on the right), so the Pinecone plate would have held them perfectly, with room for a spoon and napkin too. 
Fenton's Wreath of Roses cup (with Persian Medallion
interior pattern) fits perfectly on a Pinecone plate. |
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Grape & Cable and more …
Tony De Michael was prompted to write in, by the incredible array of Northwood Grape & Cable Carnival at the hotel in Maine (1911) that we featured in the previous issue of NetworK (issue #30). Tony told us about his master Grape and Cable punch set … and how he finally matched up the stunning base with a perfect top, and he sent us this wonderful picture (right) to prove it! We couldn’t help noticing glimpses of other splendid items in Tony’s photo – on the shelf above is a Peacock at the Fountain aqua opal fruit bowl while on either side of the bowl are Illinois Soldiers and Sailors, Quincy Illinois plates, in marigold and blue. Tony told us that this plate started them collecting Carnival, as Mary Jo (Tony’s wife) was born and raised in Quincy. Tony told us that “Mary Jo visited that site many times as they had many different kinds of animals roaming the grounds. Among them were peacocks, of all things. She still remembers the sounds of the peacocks as they got ready to roost in the evenings. Furthermore, her first cousin Rick Gengenbacher manages the home.” 
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Tony added some fascinating information about the Contemporary Carnival shown in the photos. On either side of the Grape and Cable punch bowl are what Tony describes as “probably my favorite piece of Contemporary Carnival – Grape and Cable funeral vases in aqua opal made by Fenton for Levay. We have four of them - fifty were made and I just can't resist when I come across one.” In another cabinet alongside there’s yet more Contemporary beauty. Tony takes up the story: “there are six Poppy Show vases [pictured, left] from the top, left to right: smoke, pastel marigold, amber, bottom row: Imperial/Levay whimsey top, purple, and another Imperial/Levay whimsey. We love Poppy Show vases and have somewhere in the neighborhood of forty five to fifty different colors and variations from old to the most recent.” |
Many grateful thanks to Tony de Michael for the photos and fascinating information.
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In the Lap of the Gods
There’s a celestial ring to the names of the little vases shown here; on the left is a blue Starburst and Crown, while in the middle and on the right, are two Jupiter vases (marigold on pink glass and blue). They were all made by Riihimaki (Finland), and these diminutive beauties were shown in their early (c.1920s) catalogue. The middle one is 3½ inches high while the other two are a teeny bit taller. The neck shaping is known as a cuspidor or spittoon top. Our focus here is Jupiter – named after the king of the gods, and himself the deity responsible for the skies and thunder. There’s something rather special about the two Jupiter vases shown here … something that makes them very different from all other examples of the pattern known in Carnival. Find out what it is in our “Story Behind the Glass” feature here. |
Three tinyRiihimaki vases: a blue Starburst and Crown (left), and
two Jupiter vases in marigold on pink glass (centre) and blue (right). |
My Little Secret #5
It's hard to keep a secret when it's right there for all to see, not even hidden "in plain sight"! This wonderful (and scarce) Beetle Ashtray is a case in point - on the front it says Cristalerias Rigolleau, Buenos Aires, and in smaller letters, “Sociedad Anonima Usinas En Berazategui F.C.S.” (meaning “Limited Liability Company of Berazategui”), the location of Rigolleau’s factory.
It's hard to keep a secret when it's right there for all to see, not even hidden "in plain sight"! This wonderful (and scarce) Beetle Ashtray is a case in point - on the front it says Cristalerias Rigolleau, Buenos Aires, and in smaller letters, “Sociedad Anonima Usinas En Berazategui F.C.S.” (meaning “Limited Liability Company of Berazategui”), the location of Rigolleau’s factory.
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In the very centre of the ashtray is a triangle, enclosing a circle that features a pair of goblets flanking a carafe, no doubt intended to be indicative of the goods produced by the factory. The Beetle Ashtray was produced as a “souvenir piece that was given to special customers”, made in “metallic” (Carnival), plain blue, clear and opal glass, and milk glass (where the beetles were picked out in decorative paintwork). The piece shown above does in fact have a little secret, that is only apparent when you hold it up to the light. Although it looks blue, the startling thing about it is that the base colour is - amber! 
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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.
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.
