NetworK ezine Issue 94. March 2023
Totally Devoted to Carnival Glass
Solving the Elektra MysteryThanks to Joan Doty
There’s a special delight in seeing the emerging solution to a long-standing puzzle and it’s thanks to vase expert, Joan Doty, that we are able to share the answer to the mystery surrounding the Elektra vases - how to tell who made them?
There’s a special delight in seeing the emerging solution to a long-standing puzzle and it’s thanks to vase expert, Joan Doty, that we are able to share the answer to the mystery surrounding the Elektra vases - how to tell who made them?
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But first, for those unfamiliar with this beauty, let’s briefly re-wind and take a quick look at the back story. What’s the Elektra vase? It’s a statuesque, cylinder vase, around 10 inches high, comprised of four panels wrapped around the vase – two panels with one design alternating with two panels of a different design. The vase is shown in the catalogues of two makers – Brockwitz (Germany) and Riihimaki (Finland). Various top shapings are known on it. The Elektra pattern is shown in a wide range of shapes in Brockwitz catalogues from 1926 (only a few of which are known in Carnival). Now, don’t take that at face value to infer that’s the date that Brockwitz first made Elektra. We are not aware of any Brockwitz catalogues in collectors’ possession between the dates 1922 and 1925 – so it is entirely possible that Elektra was introduced by Brockwitz as early as 1922. The pattern was copied by Riihimaki in c. 1927 (using a mould made by Kutzscher – a German firm that specialised in creating moulds according to the customer’s requirements, which often involved a certain amount of plagiarism). We have previously studied Brockwitz and Riihimaki versions of the Elektra pattern in catalogues and we assumed they were pretty much identical. There was no apparent way of distinguishing between the Brockwitz and Riihimaki versions of the large cylinder vase, based on the catalogue information available. That is … until we heard from Joan Doty. Joan contacted us with the exciting news that she had just acquired a second Elektra vase – and it was slightly different than the one she already had. Joan’s excellent observations and her beautiful photos shown below, tell the fascinating and illuminating story. And note – there are two sides to this puzzle! Read on to find out how this important discovery was arrived at. Two Sides to Every Story |
Above: Elektra vases in blue and marigold featuring the familiar panel with whirling stars and a central band of vertical lines.
Photo courtesy Joan Doty. |
The Brockwitz catalogues that feature the Elektra vase show one side panel only – the whirling star side. Riihimaki catalogues, however, show both sides. We personally had three Elektra vases that we found in Finland several decades ago – and all three matched the Riihimaki catalogue drawings.
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So, we had no idea that one side panel of the vase was distinctly different in the two makers’ versions (Brockwitz and Riihimaki) until Joan acquired her recent example and immediately spotted the important distinctions between them. The Brockwitz and Riihimaki catalogue images of Elektra are shown below, side by side, for comparison. 
The Brockwitz catalogue illustration shows the Elektra vases with two different top treatments, BUT only the panel with the whirling stars and vertical lines is shown. However, in the the Riihimaki catalogue illustration of the Elektra vases, both side panels of the vase are depicted, showing both the whirling star panel and crucially, the sunburst panel.
Now look at Joan’s photos of the two vases featuring the sunburst sides (right). The central section on the vases is very different – the concept is the same but the interpretation and execution is very different. |
Above: Elektra vases in blue and marigold showing the less familiar panel that features sunburst designs. We now know that the one on the left (blue) is Riihimaki and the one on the right is Brockwitz. Photo courtesy Joan Doty.
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The close-up photo on the left clearly illustrates the differences, and Joan describes it perfectly: “Two rows of long, thin triangles on the Riihimaki, tiny squares bisected into tiny triangles on the Brockwitz.”
The close-up photo on the left clearly illustrates the differences, and Joan describes it perfectly: “Two rows of long, thin triangles on the Riihimaki, tiny squares bisected into tiny triangles on the Brockwitz.”
The blue vase is clearly the Riihimaki version as shown in their catalogue. The marigold vase is the Brockwitz version (showing the side panel that was not depicted in Brockwitz catalogues). The central diamond sections are very different indeed. Photo courtesy Joan Doty.
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Another difference that Joan has observed is on the base – the marie.
The Riihimaki marie (left) has a diameter of 3.25 inches, while the diameter of the Brockwitz marie is 3.5 inches.
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Joan describes the pattern differences in more detail for us: "The stars are very different sizes as well. The tips on the large blue Riihimaki star are a quarter of an inch from the edge of the marie, while the tips of the slender marigold are three quarters of an inch from the edge.” The sunbursts are not exactly the same – in fact, the more you look at them side by side, the more you see other subtle differences."
So, at long last, thanks to Joan, we can now distinguish between Brockwitz and Riihimaki versions of the Elektra vase. And don’t forget, there are two sides to this particular story. There is an extended version of this article here: Elektra Vases
Read more about mould maker Kutzscher and the Elektra pattern here: The Kutzscher Story
Handle with Care
Carnival Glass items with removable “silvered” wire handles are sometimes featured in our NetworK Facebook group so we felt it was a good time to revisit the subject. The purpose of the added handle was to convert a regular bowl or plate into a fancy basket for cakes or fruit. Several examples of these can be seen in wholesaler (“jobbers”) catalogues, such as Lee Manufacturing or Perry G Mason. As an aside, the addition of such removable metalware may explain some of the small rim nicks that are found - which could be called "original damage"!
Carnival Glass items with removable “silvered” wire handles are sometimes featured in our NetworK Facebook group so we felt it was a good time to revisit the subject. The purpose of the added handle was to convert a regular bowl or plate into a fancy basket for cakes or fruit. Several examples of these can be seen in wholesaler (“jobbers”) catalogues, such as Lee Manufacturing or Perry G Mason. As an aside, the addition of such removable metalware may explain some of the small rim nicks that are found - which could be called "original damage"!
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These glass and wire partnerships or pairings were carried out post-production, usually by the wholesalers or retailers. The metal was often silver plated on nickel (sometimes called "EPNS", which means electro-plated nickel silver). It wasn’t a short-lived fad – note that the ads shown below date from 1909 through to 1926.
The wonderful image on the far right was shown in the Lee Manufacturing 1912 catalogue of Premiums. The ad explained that the “twisted silvered metal wire handle … can be taken off or left on at your pleasure”. Note also that the glass was described as “Egyptian Art” – a perfect example of a promotional hype term with no basis in fact (the glass was of course, made in the USA by Northwood). |
Northwood Three Fruits plate with a
removable wire handle attached. Courtesy Seeck Auctions. |
This 1912 Lee Manufacturing ad featured a Northwood Three Fruits plate with a removable “silvered wire handle”. Lee’s Baking Powder, Stove Polish, Scouring Soap and Fresh Nutmegs were the four articles that had to be purchased (for 65 cents) to get this item free.
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This earlier Lee Manufacturing catalogue from 1909 (right) featured another Carnival item with an identical “silvered wire handle”. It was a Fenton Coin Dot bowl with a fancy three in one edge, Described as a “Rainbow Glass Cake Basket”.
Fenton’s Coin Dot bowl in green. Courtesy Burns Auctions.
Seventeen years later, the added wire handle concept was still very much "on trend", as this 1926 Perry Mason catalogue shows, featuring a Fenton Holly bowl, also with a three in one edge. 
This 1926 Perry G. Mason catalogue featured a Holly bowl
with a “silvered wire” handle. And finally, here on the right are two from Canada’s Eaton’s mail order catalogue – both feature Imperial Glass bowls, however it’s not possible to know if they were iridised. The ad on the left of the two offers an Imperial Three in One berry dishes. The 1913 ad lists them for sale in a fancy stand with the added bonus of two gold-plated spoons added into the deal. The ad to its right was also for an Imperial piece - a Fashion bowl that came with a silver-plated handle and stand in this Eaton’s 1916 mail order catalogue offering. The descriptive wording made us smile, calling it “not too ornamental, but just artistic enough to be pleasing”. |
Above: Lee Manufacturing ad. 1909.
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A Splendid Brockwitz Discovery
Thanks to Marianne Murray Summers, a wonderful recent discovery was made in the form of the first reported shape in the covered sugar, in Brockwitz Tartan pattern. Marianne showed this splendid item in our Carnival NetworK Facebook Group and we were able to identify it from the 1915 Brockwitz catalogue.
Thanks to Marianne Murray Summers, a wonderful recent discovery was made in the form of the first reported shape in the covered sugar, in Brockwitz Tartan pattern. Marianne showed this splendid item in our Carnival NetworK Facebook Group and we were able to identify it from the 1915 Brockwitz catalogue.
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It’s a lovely, pleasing shape, with a neat finial, and the characteristic that catches one’s attention is the fact that the lid has the moulded design on the inside. This was a feature of a number of tableware items from various European makers – our assumption is that it made the object easier to clean and wipe down. And of course, there’s also that magic moment when the lid is removed and the design is revealed.
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Tartan covered sugar ("Zuckerdose") in marigold.
Photo courtesy Marianne Murray Summers. |
Glass from China
No, we’re not attempting to turn porcelain into glass – this is, in fact, a cautionary observation regarding an interesting iridised item recently spotted in a garden centre store. The piece in question has a detailed Sandwich style design and a gentle pastel iridescence on clear glass. It’s a cake plate on a short pedestal foot, 8 inches wide and 4 inches tall. Closer inspection reveals a stuck-on label and the words “Made in China”. The photos below tell the story.
No, we’re not attempting to turn porcelain into glass – this is, in fact, a cautionary observation regarding an interesting iridised item recently spotted in a garden centre store. The piece in question has a detailed Sandwich style design and a gentle pastel iridescence on clear glass. It’s a cake plate on a short pedestal foot, 8 inches wide and 4 inches tall. Closer inspection reveals a stuck-on label and the words “Made in China”. The photos below tell the story.
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The left: the revealing sticker. Fortunately, it was still attached to the plate, otherwise it could have been misleading! Shown in detail, here on the right, the label provides washing details and shows the distributor to be in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The maker is Chinese.
Grateful thanks to Angie and Joan for their invaluable help with this piece. Don't be fooled by this one! |
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Another Cautionary Tale (size matters)!
Many of you will have seen reports in news or features items about buyers who have purchased an item believing it to be a regular size, and when it arrives, they discover it is much smaller than expected. Stories abound of people buying a dining table or sofa that turns out to be dolls’ furniture or a dress that turned out to be a miniature version of the full-size item.
Well, it can happen with Carnival Glass too. There are Revival (recent, contemporary) miniature versions of the full-sized version – and a good example are the Grape and Cable items shown below, left.
Many of you will have seen reports in news or features items about buyers who have purchased an item believing it to be a regular size, and when it arrives, they discover it is much smaller than expected. Stories abound of people buying a dining table or sofa that turns out to be dolls’ furniture or a dress that turned out to be a miniature version of the full-size item.
Well, it can happen with Carnival Glass too. There are Revival (recent, contemporary) miniature versions of the full-sized version – and a good example are the Grape and Cable items shown below, left.
A purple Revival Carnival Grape and Cable 3-piece miniature table set.
They were made by Mosser in the 1990s. The three items that comprised the miniature set are the open sugar or spooner, creamer and butter. They are less than half the size of the full-sized Classic originals (the regular originals stand around 6 inches high). Note that the base of the butter has a saw-tooth, jagged edge, exactly like the Northwood original full-size version. (It’s worth noting that Mosser also made a full-size reproduction Grape and Cable table set too – but on the large reproduction butter, the edge of the base is scalloped. See NetworK 85 for details). |
Classic Northwood Grape and Cable table set in purple.
This is the full-sized Grape and Cable table set by Northwood. It comprises an open spooner and creamer, plus a covered sugar and butter with saw-tooth edge. Courtesy Seeck Auctions. |
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