Red Is For
Christmas!
Yes, I know. The auction isn’t until
April and that’s eight months before Christmas - Christmas
2007, that is! But hopefully most of you will be reading this
before the Christmas of 2006 and I thought Santa’s suit (and nose!)
color might just make those visions of sugar plum fairies warm your
cockles just a bit more. What the heck are cockles?
I count 14 pieces of this hard-to-find color being
sold in April. Without checking on it, I can tell you that again, I
have to thank my good friend Fr. Gabriel Talley, "Burney" to me, for
over half of them. If I remember correctly, Burney had a total of 31
red pieces! Obviously, for reasons of ‘space,’ I couldn’t keep them
all - space on our walls and space in our checkbook!
I don’t consider myself a ‘red collector’ because
as most of you know, good red, with good iridescence, is very hard
to come by. Oft times it’s silvery, or how shall I say? - "metallic
looking." But with 31 examples to choose from to add to the ones I
already owned from years of collecting, I naturally selected those
with the best combination of cherry-red base glass, iridescence, and
most important of all, an over-all ‘cherry-red’ appearance from
across the room. You are the beneficiaries, or hopefully will
be, come April!
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And where to begin? With a red Holly, of course!
What else? I’ve been most fortunate to be able to upgrade on this
item, although I must admit, it was a close call. In fact, I’m not
sure if Burney’s is the one I kept. Whatever - this is a good one!
It has a great cherry-red base glass and very pretty iridescence -
greens, blues and golds, although the picture really is overwhelmed
by the ‘cherry-ness’ of the bowl. |
| Really a show-stopper is the gorgeous red ‘set’
known by some as "Chesterfield," others by "Colonial," or just plain
"Flute." I’ve never seen these pieces before. The ‘lemonade pitcher’
and the two tumblers match perfectly in their cherry-red appearance
and stretchy iridescence. These three pieces will be sold
separately, as I have a feeling that there are some advanced tumbler
collectors out there who are dying to add one of these beauties to
their collection. Good luck on that! |
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Along with the aforementioned set, my favorite
single red piece has to be a truly outstanding Chrysanthemum (and
Windmills) ruffled bowl. When using the term "cherry red," this
particular bowl is the definitive example. Wow! Unfortunately, as
with just about all the photos of the red pieces being sold, this
bowl is very hard to photograph to show the killer iridescence it
has. Take my word for it, this will ‘call to you’ as soon as you
walk into the auction room! |
Let me pause here a moment to expand just a bit
more about the difficulties in obtaining great photographs of
exceptional red pieces of carnival glass. As I’ve said, most red
pieces of CG tend towards the silvery or metallic side. Not only is
good iridescence hard to obtain, but I’m told that the base glass
color itself is the absolute hardest color to manufacture. There was
a rumor when I started collecting that gold was a key ingredient in
the manufacture of red glass. I tended not to believe this because
of the costs involved using gold in the mass manufacture of a
commodity that was going to retailed for pennies. Although no one
can doubt that gold has appreciated in value since 1910, adding a
third variable, the ability (or in my case inability) to take really
great photographs, and the variables result in an almost impossible
task. So the photographs are the best we could do - please come and
judge for yourselves the beauty of these 14 pieces. I’ve been proud
to own them. I suspect YOU will be as well.
I have kept the two Fenton Vintage bowls being
sold through several upgrades. One is an 8-ruffled bowl and the
other a "3n1" edged example. Both are outstanding. They would make
great "one-for-you; one-for-me" Christmas presents for you and your
significant other. Ah, the crackling fire, the smell of cinnamon in
your hot apple cider, and
the surprise shown by your partner when he or she opens their
very-own red Vintage. And here you were thinking, "Why did he/she
buy himself/herself a great present like that? What do I get?"
| Again, the results of several upgrades through the
years, are the little ball-footed cherry-red Panther and Waterlily
sauces. These are really little killers and this time I think we did
a rather good job in showing you just that in the photograph. They
are even prettier ‘in person!’ |
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I must tell you about the outstanding red Orange Tree
ruffled bowl I brought back from Australia in late June of 2006. I
consider it my birthday gift from new friends Down Under. I was
sharing ‘tea’ with some folks in the Adelaide area and after the
obligatory strains of "Happy Birthday to youuu-hooo" had died down,
they informed of a red Orange Tree coming up for auction there in
Adelaide, the very next day. As lots of you skeptical old-timers
would have been, I was certain in my heart that it was going to be
either silvery, or cracked, or chipped, or a combination thereof.
Much to my delight, "E" was the correct answer - "None of the
above!" In buying it, I may have stepped lightly on a set of toes or
two (hope not), but gosh darn it! - I was returning it ‘home!’ You
be the judge. I think it’s outstanding. |
| One of the most ‘clear-across-the-room’
red pieces being sold is a truly outstanding 8-ruffled Coin
Dot bowl. I have seen some outstanding examples of these
bowls, but none better than this one. In case you are
wondering about this one, it really does look like the
picture, as do all the others in this article. |
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I know there are probably more red Dragon
& Lotus bowls out there than any other red Fenton piece, but
if you are looking for a beaut’, check this one out! Like
some other of you old-timers (be nice!) out there, I’ve had
chances to upgrade on this pattern, shape and color several
times -- and I have! Even if you have one of these, you’ll
want to check this one out to perhaps do the same. Simon sez,
"Upgrade!" You’ll love the combination of cherry-redness and
beautiful iridescence. Guaranteed! |
| An often over-looked red piece of Fenton
carnival glass is this little G&C ruffled bowl. Why? Two
reasons; 1) they are usually not cherry, more often
brick-red, and 2) they often have silvery iridescence. Then
too, it’s a smaller sized piece and therefore not as
‘showy.’ I'm not sure you would call this example "cherry
red," but the base-glass surely is! I’m sure you’ll agree that
it’s either the best one you’ve seen, or close to it. Put it
in your shopping cart April 28th! |
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In the spirit of the season, let me close with an
image-evoking holiday piece. A hard-to-find red piece is certainly a
good Stag & Holly. Jingle bells, jingle bells! The one being sold at
the 2007 HOACGA convention is as good as any I’ve seen, and better
than most! It has virtually no amberina and has blue and green
highlights in the iridescence. Again, we apologize for not being
able to show it’s full beauty in the photo of this rare and
desirable piece. |
Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays!
Return to
John's Collection |
