Defining Carnival Glass By Scott

Description	:	Defining Carnival Glass Carnival glass was first produced around 1907 and lasted to about 1920. The definition of carnival glass is an iridized patterned glass. It possesses a sheen like gasoline on water look. The main companies that produced this glass were: Fenton Art Glass Co. Northwood Glass Dugan Glass Millersburg Imperial Glass Westmoreland These were the major producers of carnival glass and all had their own similarities and differences. No matter what company it was, it was all beautiful in its own right. Carnival glass was produced in many colors and treatments. There were what I call the “Primary” colors as well as “Pastels” and “Opalescent” colors. The main thing everyone must understand is for it to be carnival glass it must a patterned glass and it must be iridized! Color is defined by the base glass color of the piece not the color of the iridescence of the piece. With only one exception, that is the Marigold color. Marigold is described by the color of the iridescence. This is because the base glass is clear. However, some color identifications are know by the iridesence it has. Examples of this is Electric Blue and Emerald Green. Some of the other colors produced are Purple, Blue, and Green. Some of the pastel colors were Ice Blue, Ice Green, and White. The pastel colors all possess a multicolor clear iridescence that has no particular color to it like the primary colored carnival has. The main producer of pastel carnival was Northwood. Oddly enough, a lot of the pastel carnival was exported to Australia. I guess it was quite popular over there and to this day rarities still come from there that are quite hard to find in this country. Carnival glass was also produced with opalescent edges. This is a milky white treatment to the glass that when held to the light has a fiery look to it. This was produced by adding a second layer of glass to the piece with a bone ash added to it. When reheated, this layer would begin to turn a milky white color. The length of time the piece was heated, governed how much white appeared. Many manufacturers experimented with this treatment and some were quit successful while others were not. Again, Northwood did very well with this type of glass and produced more of it in more colors than anyone else. Dugan was a big producer of the color “Peach Opal” which is a marigold carnival glass with an opal edge. The thing about carnival glass is that it may show up in just about any color with an opal edge. Some are fairly common and others extremely rare! Some of the opalescent colors produced were Peach Opal, Aqua Opal, Lime Green Opal, Amethyst Opal, Blue Opal. One of the celebrated colors of carnival glass is RED. Red was almost exclusively produced by Fenton Art Glass Company. Red was a very hard color to produce due to the fact that it was extremely heat sensitive. The fact that carnival glass was a pressed glass rather than a blown glass the made it very difficult. Like I said, Fenton made most all the red produced at that time. However, there are a few examples of red produced by Imperial Glass Company. Millersburg Glass was probably made the least amount of carnival glass but it was very high quality. Today, its very desirable to collect and many examples will bring big money! Millersburg produced a finish to many of their pieces called a “Radium” finish. This was a mirror like finish rather than the typical “Satin” finish. Westmoreland Glass produced many odd color combinations such as Blue Opal, Marigold on Milk Glass. Some extremely rare colors are marigold on custard glass as well as iridized slag glass colors and even red opal colors. The beautiful colors and the variety makes this glass very popular to collect. Today rare to extremely rare colors and patterns sell for big money today. Carnival glass has enjoyed a strong market for many years. Its hard to believe that its was in reality, a very cheap glass and many pieces towards the end of its time was given away as prizes in carnivals. Followup... Like so many antiques and collectibles today, there are many reproductions and reissues. Its important to realize that and educate yourself as much as possible before you begin collecting. Carnival glass is not an exception. Carnival has been reproduced for many years. Not that is necessarily a bad thing. Some people prefer to collect the newer carnival glass. The point is to know what you are buying so you don't end up buying what you may think is old and it is not. Many sellers may not know what they have and offer something as old and in fact it is not. There are hundreds of patterns out there and it can get very confusing. Some patterns have been reissued and other pieces are patterns that were never original. Scott