A year later, in 1910, Imperial adverts started to appear, featuring their Rococo and Morning Glory vases, and then Ripple is shown from 1911, as part of a "Newest Art" Assortment - as shown on the right.

The ad clearly did not do justice to the real item - as shown by Joan Doty's picture of her fabulous selection of Ripple vases, below. Go here to see a larger picture of this impressive display.

Two adverts from Butler Brothers Mid-Spring 1911 catalog: above for an Imperial selection, and below for Millersburg, including a Rose Columns vase - $2.10 for a dozen pieces!

Another year on, 1911, and Millersburg also had an ad showing a vase: Rose Columns - as shown on the right. In the same year Imperial added the familiar Ripple vase to their repertoire. But it was 1913 before Dugan’s vases first appeared in Butler Brothers catalogues. The non-appearance before that date was most likely due to a marketing decision and shouldn’t be taken to mean they weren’t actually producing Carnival vases until then. When they did appear, they were shown in the colour we know as peach opal, and they featured three familiar patterns: Spiralex, Pulled Loop and Target. Europe was on the Carnival scene around the same time; we have catalogue proof that Brockwitz in Germany was making Rose Garden and Curved Star vases in Carnival Glass as early as 1915 and possibly even prior to that date. 

Not only were vases one of the earliest shapes to be made in Classic Carnival, they also feature among the final shapes to appear. In 1929 Imperial’s Ripple and Dugan-Diamond’s Pulled Loop vases were both included in Butler Brother’s catalogues. And to what maker do you think the prize for the very last Classic vase to appear in those catalogues might be awarded? Hands up those of you who guessed Dugan-Diamond. The date was 1931 and the vase was the Beauty Bud.

T here is a wonderful variety of swung vases, from tiny little bud vases right up to massive funerals. Some swung vases did not get swung and were instead squatty or just slightly swung.

A funeral vase that has not been swung is called a jardinière - an example can be seen in the centre of the display on the left. It is a purple Panelled Treetrunk jardiniere made by Dugan-Diamond. This is a rare vase, and this one is the only one we know of that has beenm found in the UK.

We were amazed to see the Fenton Flute vase in celeste, which is behind and to the right. It is the first reported example in that very rare colour and we have written about it here.

The patterns on most swung vases are necessarily abstract, as a figural pattern would be distorted by the swinging (for example, Fenton’s Butterfly & Berry vase, where the butterfly motif is often stretched beyond recognition). Thus we see hobs, bumps, lines, circles, diamonds, curves and loops all used in swung patterns. The design is on the outside of the vase, of course, although there are a couple of exceptions where interior patterns can also be found on swung vases. Imperial’s Ripple (which may have vertical ribs inside the vase) and Fenton’s April Showers (which sometimes has the pretty Peacock Tail pattern inside) are good examples of this anomaly. 

“As Moulded” vases were made by most makers in all the Carnival producing countries, with the possible exception of Australia. It’s worth pondering at this point why virtually no swung vases were made in Europe (with the exception of some from Eda Glasbruk in Sweden). It’s possible that practical considerations such as the cost of an extra process (the swinging), or something as fundamental as the thickness of much European glass, could have been behind it. Also note that the snap tool was not used as much in European Carnival production, the glass was “stuck up” instead (fixed to a punty by a dab of molten glass). It’s likely that the weight of the heavy glass vase stuck on a punty would, quite simply, mean that the vase would not be able to be “swung”. It would simply break off the punty.  

A selection of "as moulded" European vases is shown on the right. They are, from left to right:

Foreground: Starburst (Riihimaki, blue); Svea (Eda,blue and marigold); Rose Garden (Brockwitz, blue); 2 sizes of Fleur de Lis (Inwald, marigold).

Backgound: Bishop's Mitre (Riihimaki, marigold); Sunflower and Diamond (Eda version, blue); Balmoral or Heavy Vine (unknown Czech maker, marigold). 

Let’s turn our attention to more of the vases that were in the display.

There was such an amazing selection of quality vases and they represented virtually all Carnival makers from all over the world - as shown on the right.

Centre stage in this picture is an Australian Gum Tips vase in black amethyst from Crown Crystal. You can also see tantalising glimpses of a host of other lovely vases: Dugan’s Formal, Northwood’s Diamond point (in ice green), Fenton Flute (in celeste), Millersburg Hobnail Swirl (aka Swirled Hobnail), Brockwitz Tartan and a Brockwitz Bremen vase. If you are eagle-eyed you may be able to identify some other splendid pieces too!

We were lucky too, that we had a wide range of colours on show, including the Fenton Flute vase in celeste.

We also had red, aqua opal, ice green, white and lime green opal, to mention just a few of the unusual colours that were on display. It was very interesting to see them broadly grouped by maker and country: you could actually see the “family” resemblance and common signature characteristics.

We did a series of vase interviews for the CGS (see the Newsletter number 128, July 2009), and it was pretty clear that two groups of favourites kept cropping up. One was Imperial’s purple vases with that sizzling hot iridescence they often have that turns your knees to jelly, while the other broad group was European vases from makers like Brockwitz and Eda, plus those fabulous, Czech, bulbous vases like the Seagulls. We were especially lucky to have some breathtaking examples of both those groups on display and they certainly got plenty of admiring attention.

Czech Bulbous Vases

From left to right: Giant Lily, Inca, Pebble & Fan and Seagulls.

On show was what we believe is the full complement of the Czech bulbous vases, as pictured on the left . Grouped together like this, it was clear that they are all from the same maker as they all have a bold and sweeping Art Deco style and an identical (and very distinctive) neck and rim mould structure.

So who made them? We know they are Czech because of the etched CZECH mark on the base of the Giant Lily vase which also has a gold label that reads: ‘Trade Mark Coronet’. This was the mark of a major U. S. importer called George Borgfeldt and Co. of New York who imported a lot of ware from Czechoslovakia.  

So, which Czech maker made them? Our money is on Libochovice. You can read the full story of our analysis in the updated second edition of “Carnival Glass The Magic & The Mystery” but we’ll explain a few points here too. Before the Libochovice glass works closed (in the past decade) they confirmed to us that they used to iridise glass in the 1920s. Furthermore, they had not only the right designer, access to the right mould shop, the right colour match and the right house style. We don’t have full and final proof, but as we say, our money is on Libochovice! 

British Vases

There were some very unusual examples on display from Sowerby and Canning Town Glass Company. Through the late Bob Clements (a well known CGS member) we have an important link with Canning Town Glass, as Bob used to work there. Thanks to him, the mould for the Thistle vase, pictured on the right, now resides at Broadfield House Glass Museum.

Canning Town Glass Company was predominantly a bottle making works. Now stop a moment and look at the Thistle vase. Although it gives the impression of being press moulded, it couldn’t have been. Look at the shape! How was it made? There is no way a plunger could have been used as it couldn’t have been removed. The clue is in the fact that it was made by a bottle making works. Think of a milk bottle (its shape is narrower at the top). The entire process of bottle making is almost fully automated. A feeder separates a stream of molten glass into individual gobs which are then dropped through tubes in a moving track. The gob is shaped into what looks like a short bottle with thick walls and is called a parison. This is transferred to a final mould made of iron, which moves up and clamps around the glass. Air is blown into the glass till it acquires its final, moulded shape at which point the bottle is then released and annealed. 

We felt it would be interesting to take the opportunity to show these. They are not quite as old as the main bulk of European Carnival (which goes back to 1915 or possibly even earlier) and stretched to around the 1930s.

These more recent examples were made in the 1950s, 60s and into the early 70s. They are:

Foreground: Pastel soap bubble shades of lime, pink and marigold can be seen on the Cascades vases made by Oberglas of Austria.

Background: Behind them are the vivid and vibrant colours of fabulous vases made by Leinauer Glaswaren (LGW), while on the right is a delightful, marigold Luttich vase from August Walther and Sons.

Two vases from Sklo Union were also on display. The first was the Lily Of The Valley vase that was originally designed by Rudolf Schrotter (the famous Inwald designer). We are not certain when or where this was made and iridised, however we suspect it might have been made at Hermanova Hut. The other Sklo Union vase in the display was the Brick Vase designed by Jiři Zejmon and made at Rudolfova Hut in 1969.