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Santa Claus tumblers - Jeannette Glass
by Bob Smith, December 2010.
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Three designs (left to right) : "Cheerio", " Hi ", and "Merry Christmas"
As December has rolled by again (writing in December 2010) when one was thinking Christmas and the pleasures associated with it, one could wish there were some carnival Christmas themed tumblers Luckily we do have some carnival glass tumblers that celebrate the season. Back in the Heart of America Carnival Glass Association (HOACGA) bulletin of December 2000 we had the Reindeer tumbler. Of course its duty was to pull Santa’s sleigh to deliver the presents, but now we have come across Santa Claus himself on carnival glass tumblers. I suppose it was inevitable that sooner or later Santa would turn up on a tumbler.
In this case he turns up on three tumblers. It surely was not donated into a Salvation Army Christmas kettle, but these three tumblers were found in a Salvation Army thrift store. The tumblers are definitely a Jeannette product, most probably made between the 1940’s and early 50’s.
It is questionable if the tumblers were done like other Jeannette enameled tumblers such as the Minuet, because on those type of tumblers the enameling was entirely done by machine. These appear to have been done by a skilled painter. The thickness of the enameling indicates this. Also here are there throughout the figure of Santa’s face there are a few chips missing indicating paint was used. These were most probably used by the children in the family and we are lucky these managed to survive intact today.
The plain tumbler itself is a quite common Jeannette product found in flea markets and on eBay and sells quite cheaply because of their abundance. Santa Claus is definitely not abundant so it is priced accordingly, but not at really high price. It’s their novelty that counts. The tumblers measure: 5” High; have a 2” Base; and a 2¾” Rim. The marigold coloring is very good.
The three tumblers have the same face of Santa, but painted on each is a greeting associated with Christmas. There is (left to right) "Cheerio", "Hi" and “Merry Christmas”. One cannot be sure that there were sets of six at one time. It would be great if there was a pitcher that matched them. Anyway, they were probably an item on the Christmas dinner table that pleased the children.
Happy Hunting!
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