Carnival Glass
– what’s in a name?
Although Carnival Glass is now
the accepted name for this astonishingly beautiful, highly sought-after and internationally collected form of art
glass, it has not always been so. When it was originally advertised for sale in the early 1900s it was
variously called "Pompeiian Iridescent", "Venetian Art", and "Mexican Aurora", all terms that were intended to help
it sell.
Lee Manufacturing Catalog,
Chicago (c 1915)
Lee Manufacturing was a US mail
order company. Below are two of their advertisements that showed Carnival Glass.
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This
one was in a special loose-leaf colour supplement to their main catalogue.
The blue Fenton
Orange Tree shaving mug is delightfully presented amongst a group called a “6-piece Complete
Shaving Outfit”. The text at the bottom that refers to the Carnival mug is a little hard to read,
so is repeated here:
"Full size floral design Shaving Mug is
beautiful iridescent ware and reflects all the rich colours of the rainbow."
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Here is a
wonderful Lee ad for a Fashion punch set, made by Imperial.
The text reads: "This punch set
is another of our popular items in the famous "rainbow" tinted iridescent high-art
glassware, that is having such an enormous run with us, and proving so popular with our
large list of discriminating customers in all parts of the country. This punch set is being
turned out especially for us by one of the largest glass factories in the U.S. and we expect to
sell thousands of them within the next few months. The bowl to this set and the stand are made
in two separate pieces. Bowl measures 11 3/4" across the top; total height of stand and bowl, 9
3/4". The six cups which exactly match the bowl, are full size. The price for the seven pieces,
$2.00 (sic!).
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Subsequently names like "Nancy
glass", "Baking Powder glass" and "Poor Man's Tiffany" were used by collectors, and in parts of Scandinavia it was
(and sometimes still is) referred to as “poison glass” – a black humour reference to the toxic nature of the
chemicals used in its manufacture.
Here is an astonishing list of
names (compilation and copyright Jan. 2006) that Carnival has been known by, since its introduction in
1907.
| Acid glass |
African |
Amerikaner glass |
Aurora Golden Iridescent |
| Aurora Iris |
Baking Powder Glass |
Bohemian iridescent |
Byzantine iridescent |
| Canadian glass |
Carnaval glass |
Carnave glass |
Carnical glass |
| Carneval |
Carnival glass |
Carnivar glass |
Carniville glass |
| Carny glass |
Centennial glass |
Circus Glass |
Dope glass |
| Dopple glass |
Etruscan |
Exhibition glass |
Exposition Metallic |
| Fairground glass |
Fireglow |
Florentine iridescent |
Gas House glass |
| Golden Beauty |
Golden Glow |
Goldiris |
Golden Sunset |
| Gypsy glass |
Imitation
Tiffany |
Indiana glass |
Iridescent |
| Lovely coloured glass |
Lüster |
Lüsterdekor |
Lustre glass |
| Lustraglas |
Listerlasi |
Lysterglas |
Magnet
glassware |
| Marigold |
Marvel
iridescent |
Metallic
iridescent |
Mexican Aurora
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| Moonglow |
Monarch
glassware |
Myrkilasi |
Nancy
glass |
| Naples
glass |
National glass |
New Aurora |
New Etruscan |
| New Venetian
Art |
Northwood iridescent |
Norcross |
Opalescent |
| Oil
glass |
Oil
Lustre |
Old Jersey |
Orient iridescent |
| Oriental iridescent |
Oyster sheen glass |
Panther |
Parisian Art |
| Peacock color glass |
Peacock Lustre glass |
Pearl
iridescent |
Persian Pearl |
| Petro-glass |
Poison Glass |
Poor Man's
Tiffany |
Pompeiian Iridescent |
| Radiant Luster |
Radium |
Rainbo Lustre |
Regal iridescent |
| Royal iridescent |
Royal novelty |
Rubigold glassware |
Russian glass |
| Sandwich |
Spanish American glass |
Stuff they used to give away |
Sunglow |
| Taffeta Glass |
Venetian Art |
Venetian iridescent |
Victorian Art Glass |
| Woolworth glass |
Working Man's Tiffany |
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