NetworK ezine Issue 56. January 2020
Totally Devoted to Carnival Glass
Welcome to the first issue of our Carnival Network ezine for 2020. A new decade!
|
We wish all our readers, all over the world, a Happy New Year, as we go into the new Roaring Twenties. It’s often traditional at New Year, to share tales of mystery and romance and so that’s what we are offering you in this edition. We have an intriguing enigma, and an amazing story of flirtation and courtship – all associated with Carnival Glass – plus fascinating revelations and insights. It’s all in our biggest issue of NetworK yet – a “bumper” ezine that you can enjoy dipping into over the New Year holidays. 
Our first story is the mystery. The time was New Year 1913. The event was a banquet at the Fort Pitt Hotel in Pittsburgh. The principal "actor" was Tom Dugan. Although it’s well known that Tom left the Dugan Glass Co. in early 1913, but for the first time we reveal the mystery and the drama of that event!
|
|
Dugan and Diamond
But first, let’s begin the story in 1865, in the renowned glass-making area of Stourbridge, Worcestershire, England, when Thomas Ernest Albert Duggan (better known to Carnival collectors as Tom Dugan) was born. His cousin, Harry Northwood, was just five years old at the time: little did they know that sixteen years later, both cousins would emigrate to the USA, their futures to be inter-twined within the world of glass for many years to come.
Fast forward to 1904, and the Dugan Glass Company was established in Indiana, PA. Tom Dugan was General Manager (Superintendent) and soon afterwards, Treasurer; his brother Alfred was factory manager while Walter Minnemeyer handled the sales side. The plant itself had previously been occupied by Northwood, and Tom used a few of Harry’s old moulds (which caused some confusion in later years) – but that’s a story for another day.
Dugan began making Carnival at roughly the same time as Northwood and Imperial, and in fact Tom had been experimenting with iridescence for several years previously.
Shown above is a 1910 Butler Brothers ad for Dugan’s decorated peach opal bowls. The floral patterns were hand-painted in enamel. The designs are (left to right): Lily of the Valley on a Stippled Flower bowl, Forget-Me-Not on a Stippled Petals bowl, and Roses on a Cherries bowl.
On the right is an example of the peach opal Forget-Me-Not on a Stippled Petals bowl. |
|
|
More amazing Carnival patterns emerged from the Dugan glassworks, and alongside the beautiful peach opal offerings, were those in “dark metallic iridescence”. Maple Leaf, the Fishnet epergne, Wreathed Cherry, Wishbone & Spades and Four Flowers were all advertised in Butler Brothers between 1910 and 1912. Contemporary reports stated that Dugan had “many new effects in iridescent ware” and described the output as “a fine line of iridescent glassware, the colourings of which are superb”. Shown below is a 1911 photo from the “Crockery & Glass Journal”: it featured the Showrooms of Tom Dugan's agent, William Dealing. It’s impossible to make out the individual pieces in this century-old image, but what we can see is that the shelves at the back are lined with gleaming, iridescent water pitchers in a variety of shapes. |
Left: Four Flowers small plate in peach opal.
Right: a Wishbone and Spades small plate in purple. |
As in all good mystery stories, everything appears to be going well .... Tom Dugan's business was thriving. The 1911 “Crockery & Glass Journal” reported: “many improvements are being made by the Dugan Glass Co. A new blower system is being installed; also a new engine, dynamos and pumping apparatus”.
As in all good mystery stories, everything appears to be going well .... Tom Dugan's business was thriving. The 1911 “Crockery & Glass Journal” reported: “many improvements are being made by the Dugan Glass Co. A new blower system is being installed; also a new engine, dynamos and pumping apparatus”.
|
Then tragedy struck!
A serious fire in the machine shop resulted in the loss of many moulds in February 1912, but the “Crockery & Glass Journal” reported that “the management state that they will be able to continue operating at full capacity owing to their having duplicate moulds, and do not anticipate any serious delay in shipments”. They were back on their feet quickly, even announcing plans to increase capacity. Seemingly, business was good and Carnival Glass was in full swing. |
January 1913 is when our Mystery Drama is enacted. New Year, 1913, and Thomas Dugan was on the list of banquet attendees at the Glass & Pottery Expo, held at the Fort Pitt Hotel in Pittsburgh. It was a prestige event for all the “great and the good” of the glass industry. It was also a glamorous event with women present for the very first time! As the “Crockery & Glass Journal” reported it: “The Ladies – it was the first time the gentler sex had been privileged to spend the evenings with their husbands, brothers, fathers and sweethearts, at the Western Salesmen’s Banquet - were more than welcome and indeed, they added beauty to the scene.” We even have this picture of the banquet attendees.
Somewhere in this crowd was Tom Dugan! (January 1913 “Crockery and Glass Journal”).
|
What happened next was unpredicted and enigmatic. Three of Dugan Glass’ key people were at the Pittsburgh Expo – Tom Dugan, Walter Minnemeyer (Dugan’s Head of Sales for around a decade) and William Dealing (Dugan’s Agent and showroom manager). In fact, Minnemeyer was an ex-employee: in what must have been a shock for Tom, his long-time associate had resigned on January 1st 1913, to work for Hocking Glass in Ohio. To add to the intrigue, William Dealing had hurriedly left the Expo, having been "called by the President of the [Dugan Glass] company to consult on important matters of business” (quoted from Jan 1913 “Crockery and Glass Journal”). |
Clip from the “Crockery and Glass Journal”.
|
The next move was the crucial one. Thomas Dugan was ordered to return home from Pittsburgh in the last week of January 1913!
A boardroom coup whilst Tom Dugan was away?
Piecing the puzzle together, it appears that a coup had taken place. Just a few days after Dugan had rushed back home, a new General Manager was already in place. The “Glass & Crockery Journal” reported that the Dugan Glass Co. company secretary “announced a change in the management, stating that Mr Edward Rowland had been elected general manager of the company in place of Thomas Dugan and assumed charge of the plant February 3rd.”
Of course, it’s impossible to know why Tom Dugan was ousted, but clearly, he was not aware of what was going on while he was away promoting the firm at the Pittsburgh Expo. The resignation of Walter Minnemeyer and the dramatic, urgent call for William Dealing to consult with the President of the Dugan Glass Co. were all surely connected.
Another shock move followed! Tom Dugan’s brother, Alfred, resigned from the Dugan Glass Co., “to go in the automobile business in Buffalo, N.Y.” (“American Flint” February 1913).
So, what really happened to Tom Dugan? Was he fired? Did he resign? Was he pushed? The truth is not known. Two months later it was rumoured in the glass trade press that “Thomas Dugan, formerly connected with the Dugan Glass Co., will be in New York shortly representing a crystal glass manufacturing concern”. He became involved with Cambridge Glass for a while, and then in 1914, Tom Dugan started up a new glass works, the Dugan Flint Glass Company, of Lonaconing, MD. making a general line of pressed crystal. Later he moved again, to the Hocking Glass Co., in Lancaster, Ohio. His brother, Alfred, had joined him for a while at Lonaconing, but then in 1915 he returned to Indiana, PA to work at the Diamond Glass Co.
Naturally, in such stories of intrigue, there is ... a Mysterious Figure in the Background pulling the strings. Take a closer look at the President of the Dugan Glass Co., at Indiana: the seldom-mentioned figure was the Hon. John P. Elkin, Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He was a lawyer, judge, businessman and government leader (from 1899 to 1903, Elkin was Attorney General of the state of Pennsylvania). He was also a neighbour of Tom Dugan’s, and an investor in the Dugan Glass Co., from its inception, when he also took on the role of President of the company.
It seems that he was also controversial, as the entry on Wikipedia suggests, stating that “he was a central figure in a scandal concerning influence buying on the Supreme Court.” However, he was undeniably popular, as it was reported that 5,000 people lined the roadway as his funeral cortege passed by in 1915. His obituary noted that “business houses, schools and industries in this place (Indiana, PA) will be closed as a tribute of respect to Justice Elkin”. Even special trains were laid on to ferry all the people who wanted to pay tribute to him. Interestingly, his role as President of the Dugan Glass Co., is not mentioned in any of the fulsome tributes, obituaries or biographies of him that we have read. Yet when he died, he was still in position as President of the company. He was succeeded in that post by J.R.R. Richards.
A boardroom coup whilst Tom Dugan was away?
Piecing the puzzle together, it appears that a coup had taken place. Just a few days after Dugan had rushed back home, a new General Manager was already in place. The “Glass & Crockery Journal” reported that the Dugan Glass Co. company secretary “announced a change in the management, stating that Mr Edward Rowland had been elected general manager of the company in place of Thomas Dugan and assumed charge of the plant February 3rd.”
Of course, it’s impossible to know why Tom Dugan was ousted, but clearly, he was not aware of what was going on while he was away promoting the firm at the Pittsburgh Expo. The resignation of Walter Minnemeyer and the dramatic, urgent call for William Dealing to consult with the President of the Dugan Glass Co. were all surely connected.
Another shock move followed! Tom Dugan’s brother, Alfred, resigned from the Dugan Glass Co., “to go in the automobile business in Buffalo, N.Y.” (“American Flint” February 1913).
So, what really happened to Tom Dugan? Was he fired? Did he resign? Was he pushed? The truth is not known. Two months later it was rumoured in the glass trade press that “Thomas Dugan, formerly connected with the Dugan Glass Co., will be in New York shortly representing a crystal glass manufacturing concern”. He became involved with Cambridge Glass for a while, and then in 1914, Tom Dugan started up a new glass works, the Dugan Flint Glass Company, of Lonaconing, MD. making a general line of pressed crystal. Later he moved again, to the Hocking Glass Co., in Lancaster, Ohio. His brother, Alfred, had joined him for a while at Lonaconing, but then in 1915 he returned to Indiana, PA to work at the Diamond Glass Co.
Naturally, in such stories of intrigue, there is ... a Mysterious Figure in the Background pulling the strings. Take a closer look at the President of the Dugan Glass Co., at Indiana: the seldom-mentioned figure was the Hon. John P. Elkin, Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He was a lawyer, judge, businessman and government leader (from 1899 to 1903, Elkin was Attorney General of the state of Pennsylvania). He was also a neighbour of Tom Dugan’s, and an investor in the Dugan Glass Co., from its inception, when he also took on the role of President of the company.
It seems that he was also controversial, as the entry on Wikipedia suggests, stating that “he was a central figure in a scandal concerning influence buying on the Supreme Court.” However, he was undeniably popular, as it was reported that 5,000 people lined the roadway as his funeral cortege passed by in 1915. His obituary noted that “business houses, schools and industries in this place (Indiana, PA) will be closed as a tribute of respect to Justice Elkin”. Even special trains were laid on to ferry all the people who wanted to pay tribute to him. Interestingly, his role as President of the Dugan Glass Co., is not mentioned in any of the fulsome tributes, obituaries or biographies of him that we have read. Yet when he died, he was still in position as President of the company. He was succeeded in that post by J.R.R. Richards.
|
The Moral of the Story The significance of the tale for Carnival Glass collectors is this … early Carnival made before July, 1913 was produced by the Dugan Glass Company. After June 1913, the glass works was no longer known by that name. It became the Diamond Glass Company (and subsequently the Diamond Glassware Company). Here on the right is the notice that appeared in the “Crockery and Glass Journal”. Of course, many of the old Dugan moulds were still used beyond 1913, which makes it difficult to distinguish between Dugan or Diamond production. So we feel the best way to attribute the glass is to use the all-embracing term Dugan-Diamond (unless it is absolutely certain that it was specifically made by one or the other). |
|
In a delightful twist of fate, it turned out to be impossible to take the Dugan element out of the Diamond Glass Company! Brother Alfred Dugan returned in 1915 and took up his old position of factory manager.
Who knew that today’s dating services had a connection to Carnival Glass tumblers and pitchers?
While studying the January 1913 “Crockery & Glass Journal” we stumbled across an astonishing article (reproduced in full on the right). It seems that the glass agent, William Dealing, who represented Dugan and Cambridge, had found hand-written notes inside tumblers and pitchers, from young women looking for romance and marriage! And on the far right, we offer a selection of tumblers - we can only imagine what amazing notes might have been hidden in them over the years, or the stories they have to tell! The tumblers are (clockwise from top left): purple Dugan-Diamond Maple Leaf, marigold Dugan-Diamond Wreathed Cherry, purple Cambridge Inverted Thistle, and a marigold Dugan-Diamond Jewelled Heart. |
|
|
Surely the Jewelled Heart tumbler would have been a perfect choice? Such perfect timing for Valentine’s Day next month.
Thanks to the superb, scholarly work of Claudio Deveikis, Carnival Glass researcher from Brazil, we share with you all his detailed investigation into the history, background and production of the Glass & Crystal Company of Brazil - Esberard.
Claudio’s fascinating work includes much archive newspaper and other documentation, as well as images from a lost era. The full gallery of amazing Esberard catalogue images in Part Two, is breath-taking. This immense feature is a work in progress, as we will soon be adding a wonderful gallery of images of the Carnival Glass itself in Part Three. It was decided to release the first two parts of the major feature early, so that the readers all over the world can enjoy this ground-breaking work from the very start. As soon as the next stage of the photo gallery is completed, we will let you all know. Thanks and many congratulations to Claudio on this ground-breaking work. Here is the link to Claudio's work: Esberard |
|
Over the last year or so, we have been adding Contemporary Fenton Carnival catalogues to our website (and more are to follow).
For this “bumper” New Year’s edition, we felt you might enjoy looking at our latest addition - some iconic pages from a 1972 Fenton catalogue, featuring some of their earliest re-issues in Carnival Glass. It includes some old favourites such as Persian Medallion and Orange Tree, and there’s an intriguing design called “Daisy Pinwheels & Cable”. What do you think that could be? We’ll give you a clue … it is a familiar Classic Fenton pattern but it’s known by an entirely different name that was given to it by Marion Hartung. It begins with the letter “L”. Click on the thumbnail on the right, or click here: Fenton Contemporary Carnival 1972 On that page, there are links to all the other Fenton catalogues on our website. |
|
We started this Issue with the boardroom manoeuvrings at Dugan, but let's finish with a tribute. Whatever was going on with the management, the workers over the years at Dugan-Diamond were going about their business making some truly great Carnival Glass.
Above: a Wreathed Cherry water pitcher in white with red cherries and gilded decoration, and a peach opal Raindrops bowl.
Below: a Farmyard bowl in purple, and a Persian Garden large ice cream shaped bowl in white.
Below: a Farmyard bowl in purple, and a Persian Garden large ice cream shaped bowl in white.
Privacy and the use of your information: we only use your name and email address to send you your FREE 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.
