NetworK ezine Issue 60. May 2020
Totally Devoted to Carnival Glass
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Welcome to the 60th. Issue of our Carnival Glass NetworK ezine - another bumper edition!
We are all in challenging times at the moment, and we hope that this issue will enable you to take time out to enjoy reading about our favourite subject – Carnival Glass. Since we launched our free NetworK ezine five years ago, there have been 60 monthly issues, plus 9 extra “Special” supplements. For anyone who has missed one, they are all posted on our website for you to read at your leisure. The link to the Back Issues page is shown at the end of this issue. |
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In this edition we introduce a selection of revealing stories about covered pieces, beginning with a fascinating old 1911 ad from the United States Glass Company that we discovered in an old Pottery Gazette. We are also proud to announce a “first” – an entire, full Gallery of photos and catalogue images of the Carnival Glass made by Esberard in Brazil. This is ground-breaking research on behalf of Claudio Deveikis, and we are honoured to be able to host this hugely important work on our website ... more below.
Anyone for Tea?
The above ad was in a catalogue, c.1915, from The Lee Manufacturing Company of Chicago, Illinois. There was a full page showing Imperial's Lustre Rose Carnival, including this "Six Piece" set (so they were counting the two lids!), which they described as a "Tea Set".
It sets the opening theme for this edition - covered (or lidded) pieces.
It sets the opening theme for this edition - covered (or lidded) pieces.
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We’ve Got You Covered There’s a charm about covered pieces. In Classic American Carnival there are the familiar shapes of covered butters and sugars, with the occasional delights of the sweetmeat, humidor, cookie jar and dressing table item. In European Carnival too, we see all sorts of covered shapes such as bonbon dishes, butters, sugars, pickle dishes, covered honeys, powder jars and some intriguing pieces that initially defy identification of their function! This fascinating 1913 ad shown here was in the British Pottery Gazette. It promoted the United States Glass Co. – and the unique selling point being the protection offered by covered pieces against the dreaded House Fly! It may not be Carnival Glass* in the ad but you sure do get the message: buy US Glass lidded pieces or risk the "indescribable filth" transmitted by the dreaded House Fly. You can see the full ad at a larger, more readable size so that you can study it for yourself, by clicking the link here: US Glass ad * In the 1913 ad shown above, we see a Sheraton pitcher on the right (United States Glass Co. No. 15144) – but the cover is unusual and wasn’t made “in the line” in glass. It appears to be a metal lid. US Glass did make some Sheraton pieces in Carnival (as we show here: The Story Behind the Glass: Sheraton). US Glass lidded pieces in Carnival were predominantly Palm Beach, and Cosmos and Cane, plus some scarcer examples of their States pattern. More fascinating US Glass ads followed in the Pottery Gazette in subsequent years, promoting covered items, and we feature some of them in our two-page website article: "Butter Me Up!" - Classic Carnival Butter Dishes around the World. |
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Covered Pieces with a Story
Peacock at the Fountain, Northwood Peacocks have been both a favourite symbol and design motif for millennia. Northwood's Peacock at the Fountain is one of the iconic Carnival designs of the Classic era – and below, we show it with a cover, in the form of a purple covered sugar. What is delightfully evident in Northwood’s design, is the Oriental inspiration, shown particularly on the blossom tree branches. Clearly proud of the design, Harry Northwood patented his “new, original, and ornamental Design” in July, 1914. 
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Above: Northwood's Patent for his Peacock at the Fountain Design.
Earlier, in the 1880s, Harry’s father, John Northwood (Artistic Director at the prestigious glassworks, Stevens & Williams) had created a sketchbook of his design ideas. It’s interesting to compare one of his small sketches, featuring Orientally inspired blossom branches, with the detail from Harry Northwood’s Peacock at the Fountain design. 
Left, detail from Harry Northwood’s 1914 patented Peacock at the Fountain design. Right, detail from John Northwood’s 1880s design.
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Singing Birds, Northwood
The Oriental inspiration also shows itself in this pattern, especially in the blossom branches, which look very similar to John Northwood’s sketch. Shown below is a close-up from Northwood’s Singing Birds pattern. 
Singing Birds was made in berry sets, water sets and table sets – and of course, it’s the latter that interests us as two of the shapes are covered.
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Singing Birds covered butter courtesy Seeck Auctions.
Singing Birds has not yet been found in any mail order or wholesaler’s catalogue. But we were thrilled to come across this 1911 ad (on the left): it was for a furniture store in a New York newspaper, and it provided us with a date for the Singing Birds pattern in Carnival. It’s interesting that (like the Lustre Rose ad we saw earlier), the ad described the table set as a “six-piece breakfast set” – they included both the lids of the covered sugar and butter as extra pieces. Note also that it was described as being “made of Florentine glass” – that was "ad speak" for iridescent (Carnival) glass! |
Laurel Band, Riihimaki
There’s double the surprise on this rare blue Laurel Band covered jar made by the Finnish glassmaker, Riihimaki. (The catalogue image on the right is from Riihimaki’s 1939 catalogue.)
Laurel Band, Riihimaki
There’s double the surprise on this rare blue Laurel Band covered jar made by the Finnish glassmaker, Riihimaki. (The catalogue image on the right is from Riihimaki’s 1939 catalogue.)
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Lift the lid and an exquisite laurel garland is revealed - a flower at its very centre. Then a “double-take”: turn the entire item upside down and you’ll see the laurel garland pattern revealed again on the base. 
Left, the design on the inside of the Laurel Band lid, and on the right, the underside of the base.
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Rindskopf Classic Arts
The story behind this pattern goes back two decades – to the late 1990s and early 2000 when we were working closely with the late Bob Smith, and making some ground-breaking discoveries along the way. Our joint research into European Carnival overturned many previously-held theories and established much new information. Our discovery of the Czech glass firm, Rindskopf, as a major maker of Carnival Glass was a game-changer. We were able to attribute so many previously unknown patterns and re-write an entire section of the history of Carnival.
One of the patterns that we were so excited to discover in the Rindskopf catalogues was “Classic Arts”.
The story behind this pattern goes back two decades – to the late 1990s and early 2000 when we were working closely with the late Bob Smith, and making some ground-breaking discoveries along the way. Our joint research into European Carnival overturned many previously-held theories and established much new information. Our discovery of the Czech glass firm, Rindskopf, as a major maker of Carnival Glass was a game-changer. We were able to attribute so many previously unknown patterns and re-write an entire section of the history of Carnival.
One of the patterns that we were so excited to discover in the Rindskopf catalogues was “Classic Arts”.
Left, a Classic Arts covered pot courtesy the late Michael O’Brien.
Right an extract from the Rindskopf Katalog 12a |
The piece shown on the left is a covered sugar (or jam/jelly) bowl - how do we know this? The answer lies in the Rindskopf catalogue page headed up as “Zucker-, Marmelade- und Senfdosen” (meaning “Sugar, Jam and Mustard pots”). There was also a page showing powder jars, and this wasn’t one of the items shown. There isn’t a matching creamer, so it was intended as a stand-alone item for the table. 
Classic Arts (like its sister pattern Egyptian Queen), has an encircling faux, metallic pattern band, with an apparent touch of verdigris. The figures in the Classic Arts design are playing instruments and dancing as Glen's drawing of the pattern shows, above.
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Fenton Dancing Ladies Urn
This beautiful piece of Favrene Carnival - the one on the left in the image below - was made by Fenton in 2005 as part of their 100th anniversary.
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On the base are all the signatures of the Fenton family, and the 100th year is noted. Surprisingly, the story of this exquisite piece of glass connects Fenton with Northwood! The first version of the Dancing Ladies pattern was actually made by Northwood c.1915-20, an example is shown far right, courtesy of Burns Auctions. Northwood made it in Luna glass (similar to ivory) and custard, sometimes featuring a nutmeg stain (neither of these were iridised), in the forms of both lamp and covered urn. In “Northwood the Wheeling Years” (Heacock, Measell, Wiggins) it is reported that “the mould for the Dancing Ladies urn was acquired by the Fenton Art Glass Company probably after the Northwood firm closed in late 1925, and Fenton made this piece in a color called Chinese Yellow in the early 1930s”. But then the story takes a twist. Shortly afterwards, Fenton then created a new mould for their own, slightly different and much shorter version of the urn, which they used for the favrene piece that we show on the immediate right. The Northwood version stands around 18 inches high, while the later Fenton version is a fraction under 10 inches. The Favrene one we show here has pure silver in the glass batch, and the process to create the astonishing iridescence involves a specific reheating technique. |
Dancing Ladies, on the left in Favrene (Fenton version) and
on the right in Luna glass (Northwood version). |
BRAZIL
As you will know from NetworK Issue 56, we have been proud to feature Claudio Deveikis' superb work and research into the Carnival Glass production of the Glass & Crystal Company of Brazil - Esberard.
The first two sections of Claudio’s immense work that we published included archive newspaper documentation and amazing images from a lost era. Now, we have been able to work with Claudio to add a wonderful gallery of images of Esberard's Carnival Glass in all its fascinating glory. The Gallery is spread out over two full pages, showing all the patterns currently attributed to Esberard - 29 in total. Shown below is a partial screenshot of one of the pages. Click on the image, or follow the link below it to see some truly unique Carnival Glass patterns!
As you will know from NetworK Issue 56, we have been proud to feature Claudio Deveikis' superb work and research into the Carnival Glass production of the Glass & Crystal Company of Brazil - Esberard.
The first two sections of Claudio’s immense work that we published included archive newspaper documentation and amazing images from a lost era. Now, we have been able to work with Claudio to add a wonderful gallery of images of Esberard's Carnival Glass in all its fascinating glory. The Gallery is spread out over two full pages, showing all the patterns currently attributed to Esberard - 29 in total. Shown below is a partial screenshot of one of the pages. Click on the image, or follow the link below it to see some truly unique Carnival Glass patterns!
Be sure to visit both pages: Claudio's Esberard Carnival Gallery.
Blow Moulds
A question that often crops up is “can Carnival be blow-moulded?”. Here’s the answer, as shown in one of our educational snippet features from our Carnival NetworK Facebook Group.
A question that often crops up is “can Carnival be blow-moulded?”. Here’s the answer, as shown in one of our educational snippet features from our Carnival NetworK Facebook Group.
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This very clever illustration (below) of a blow mould was drawn by (the late) Howard Seufer who was part of the Fenton Management Team for very many years.
Howard's knowledge of glass, its production and the context in which it was made, was extensive, and his many, wonderful educational presentations were legendary!
This straightforward drawing shows how an air-filled glass gob ("sack") was dropped into a mould, and then air pressure (either manual, or pneumatic) was used to expand the sac into the shape/pattern determined by the mould. The moulds were hinged vertically, so that they could be opened to allow the removal of the glass item. |
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WOW!
The members of our thriving Group on Facebook, Carnival Glass NetworK, are amazing! We are all enjoying a brilliant and unprecedented showcasing of everyone’s Carnival Glass. Currently, we are progressing through the alphabet of pattern names and we are seeing spectacular pieces of Carnival. Thanks to the truly astounding daily (even hourly!) engagement of our members all around the world, we are achieving record postings. The screen print above (taken today) shows the number of posts, comments and reactions that have been shared in the Group over the last 28 days alone. Yes, you are reading it correctly. 82, 900 - Eighty two thousand and nine hundred! We would love you to come and join in the fun, and we invite you and your friends to join us on Carnival Glass NetworK Facebook Group. |
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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.
