Whimsical Carnival Glass Vase Brings $50,000
Nick Sabo | October 6th, 2012
Jim Wroda Auction Service, Millersburg, Ohio
by Nick Sabo
Photos by Sean Hoxworth
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A giant rosebowl in green sold for $32,000. It is prized for its outstanding green color and blue iridescence.
This Hobstar and Feather vase was a whimsy made from a giant green rosebowl. The only such whimsy known in green, it sold for $50,000.
Another rare whimsy, this Hobstar and Feather vase is one of three known in purple. Its value was hindered by a chip, but it still realized $14,500. |
Sometime in the brief production history of Millersburg Glass, workers took a whimsical notion to the company’s line of rosebowls. Fresh out of the mold, the heavy-footed decorative bowls were slipped back in the furnace, then stretched and flared to the glassmaker’s fancy.
Three examples of these very rare whimsies were offered at the Millersburg carnival art glass auction held October 6, 2012, on the courthouse lawn in Millersburg, Ohio. The rarest and most impressive piece, a green vase with flared rim, sold for $50,000 (no buyer’s premium charged). It was followed by a similar, smaller purple vase with a chip on the base that sold for $14,500. A ruffled compote with a crack in the base went at $3100. All were in the pattern of the original rosebowls, Hobstar and Feather.
The Millersburg rosebowls are often referred to as “giant” rosebowls, measuring almost 9" high. Their sturdy foot and thick, faceted stem support a globe-like bowl 6½" in diameter.
The vases, two of only three known, were offered for the first time at public auction in the 335-lot Millersburg-only sale. The whimsy vases were created using the “swung” treatment, which involved dangling the molded glass from the end of a rod in the furnace. The result is an elongated version of the original vase.
Swung vases were mostly offered as part of a glasshouse’s regular product line, and examples are abundant in the carnival market. More often than not, swung glass was made into whimsies.
The sale is the fourth of its kind to be held in downtown Millersburg, home to the eponymous glass plant operated by John Fenton from 1909 to 1911. The auction is already beginning to be known for featuring rare pieces and consistently offering up unusual treatments or variants in patterns.
According to auctioneer Jim Wroda of Jim Wroda Auction Service, the sale continued to show Millersburg’s strength in the carnival market. “Millersburg is sprinting past other carnival,” Wroda said. “It did have a little bit of a lull there, but it’s back.”
The sale also featured an intact Hobstar and Feather giant rosebowl, the genesis of the whimsies. With exceptional green color heightened by outstanding blue iridescence, the rosebowl sold for $32,000.
Among the lots of crystal was the colorful addition of a green Swirled Hobnail vase. In a fairly common pattern and color, the vase is unusual in that it is a colored piece that did not have the radium treatment applied, and therefore it does not have the iridescence that characterizes carnival. A rare mistake, or perhaps a survivor, it sold for $1900. A piece of crystal thought to be Millersburg but determined not to be on the day of the sale, in a fine Cuts and Oval pattern, sold for $15.
A humidor base and a punch bowl base were sold separately but brought high prices for their rarity. The humidor base, in marigold with a nice pastel iridescence, sold for $1100, despite lacking its lid. The blue punch bowl base, rare for its color, in the Multi-Fruits & Flowers pattern, brought $600.
As rare as Millersburg is, Wroda said, the pieces are often bought in the hopes of finding matching, or even mismatching, pieces. “They do it thinking, if they can just put those two parts together,” Wroda said. “If you can find the bowl to go with the punch bowl base, you’ve got thirty thousand dollars right there. Put a purple or a green lid on the mari[gold] humidor, and it can go for five thousand. Of course, a matching humidor is going to go for around eighteen thousand. It doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen.”
For more information, visit Wroda’s Web site (www.jimwrodaauction.com).
The purple Morning Glory tankard has plenty to back up its pattern’s surname. Exceptional radium and detail add to its desirability, as it is only one of three known. It sold for $25,000. Jim Wroda Auction Service photo.
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 This blue Rosalind pattern ruffled jelly compote has it all—rare color, great detail, and beautiful iridescence. It’s also the only one known and sold for $13,000. |
Possibly the most beautiful example of the Seaweed pattern, this blue ice cream-shape bowl has outstanding detail. Remarkable for its color and clear pressing, it sold for $5500. |
This purple Peacock at Urn ice cream-shape bowl had exceptional iridescence and sold for $4200. |
This scarce purple pitcher in the Perfection pattern sold for $4000. Jim Wroda Auction Service photo.
Where’s the iridescence on this green Swirled Hobnail vase? A rare piece of colored glass not exposed to the radium treatment, it sold for $1900.
The purple Hanging Cherries milk pitcher sold for $800. Jim Wroda Auction Service photo.Originally published in the January 2013 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2013 Maine Antique Digest
