Orphan Annie
The unusual marigold creamer
(below left) was found by Alan Henderson in the UK in 2008. Its distinctive
"Chippendale" style handle was immediately suggestive of Westmoreland: this attribution was subsequently borne out
by ads in the pages of Butler Brothers catalogs and Weatherman's "Colored Glassware of the Depression Era 2" (which
carried a 1925 Westmoreland ad that showed this item).
We were also sent a photo
of a most unusual teal creamer by Mike Clemens.Mike Clemens tells us
that he has been collecting this pattern for a while and besides the teal, marigold and purple examples of the
creamer he also has a sugar and creamer set with "Souvenier of Allentown Pa" lettering stencilled on it.
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Photo courtesy of Alan Henderson
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Photo courtesy of Mike Clemens
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The creamers were originally part of two piece breakfast sets comprising sugar and creamer, as shown in the above
Butler Brothers ad from 1980. The items are known in amethyst (or purple) base glass, marigold (clear base
glass) and teal.
So when was this unusual creamer (and its matching sugar) first reported by
collectors / writers? The 1908 ad above describes the breakfast set as Egyptian Iridescent with “a beautiful,
iridescent luster surface and gold lining”. This was undoubtedly Carnival Glass of course, and its “gold lining”
was the gold effect iridescence inside the items.
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Another ad from
1908 (on the right), shows the same breakfast set
(surrounded by known Westmoreland items including “Estate” pieces).
Again the description mentions a solid gold
lining. Chas West Wilson (“Westmoreland Glass” Collector
Books, 1996) explains that the gold and sometimes silver iridescent effect on these items was
caused by a temperature difference in the glass. In his book he shows an amethyst sugar and creamer
– the creamer has a silver iridescence inside while the sugar has a pinkish golden iridescence
inside. West Wilson explains: “while both the sugar and the creamer were about 1000 degrees F
when sprayed, the temperature of the gold sugar was slightly cooler than the silver
creamer”.
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And what of the pattern
name?
We have to trawl back through the books and journals to track it
down.
West Wilson reports that
the creamer had the Westmoreland number 295, the sugar was 294.
Then in 1974, Mrs Weatherman showed this 1925 ad for the
Westmoreland Specialty Glass Co., that illustrated a full breakfast set including the sugar and
creamer. She stated the pattern name was “Orphan Annie”. We can’t be certain if that name was given
by Weatherman or if she had seen it on a Westmoreland ad.
Then in 1982 in “The Glass Collector” William Heacock also showed
the breakfast set in amethyst Carnival. He acknowledged Weatherman’s name for the pattern as
“Orphan Annie”.
Finally, also in the 1980s, Ray Notley showed the sugar and
creamer (but did not note the color) and gave it the name “Cairo ”.
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So there we have the history, variations and the many names for Orphan Annie – rather a lot of both for such a
scarce item!
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