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What a Ride in Life Collecting Chop Plates
and Small Plates Our very first chop plate was the purple Chrysanthemum from the Thrashers’ who still have a shop in Tomball Texas. It is beautiful and one of my favorite patterns because it is heavy with blue iridescence and color all over the flower. I love this pattern because I love flowers. Come by our home sometimes when you are near Brenham and you would see my yard full of flowers. They were a diversion from my politics for the past 28 years. They never asked much of me, just water and some fertilizer. When we sold Randy and Jackie Poucher a beautiful pastel marigold Snowflake pitcher, we turned the money into this piece. At about the same time, we purchased the purple Garden Path Variant Chop plate from Richard Jarnig who also lived in Brenham. He was a great guy who also had a love for carnival, and was the one who actually got us into collecting carnival and told us about all the clubs we should join. Unfortunately he died way too early in life. I will never forget on our front lawn when he brought this plate and said,” We have come a long way, we had arrived and now knew what we were doing”. Of course he also sold us many pieces that we probably would not buy today. But we loved all pieces at the time regardless of the iridescence or condition.
Hattie is the name of our dog and she was named after the Hattie pattern because it is one of my favorite patterns. I do love that Imperial!!!!!!!!!!! We have a great purple Hattie but when Mordini sent this piece to us, I did not like it!!!! Of course, Emmett and Tom both thought I really had no taste in carnival”!!!! It has grown on me and now I see all its beauty. Before Tom actually sent the plate to us he sent a picture with him holding the plate outside with drifts of snow. I just knew it had a crack, but I was wrong. I thought Mordini of all people should know not to subject carnival to extreme temperature changes! We also have amber and marigold Hattie plates which we think have great color. I grew up on a farm, so the Homestead pattern is a great reminder of my youth. Emmett grew up in Memphis but now with my mother (88) who still lives on the farm, he is becoming a farm boy in blue jeans. He looks good on that Farmall tractor which maybe his age or a little older than him!!!!! The purple Nuart Homestead is phenomenal with heavy, even electric iridescence. This one came from Mordini and I hated to part with it because it will probably be hard to replace with that type of iridescence. We also have a blue, emerald green and amber Nuart Homestead in this auction. The green used to belong to Dave Cotton who has great taste in glass. The blue was bought from Mordini and the amber from the great estate sale that Emmett and the Curtis’s went to in Orange, Texas. The Heavy Grape plate is hard to explain because it has a great look with those great juicy blue grapes that look like you could eat them or drink as a wine. You know Mordini, we bought a lot of great glass from you!!!!! Thanks for those great memories. The exception is when you had Emmett hooked on a piece of glass I did not necessarily want!!!!!! The white Heavy Grape has stretchy iridescence and do not come up that often. This piece used to belong to John Muehlbauer and you know he has an eye for color.
Talking of Muehlbauer, we also were able to purchase the marigold Fantail chop plate at his and Jan’s auction at HOACGA. There are not many around and if you would like to own one, this one would be a great addition to your collection. I did keep the blue Fantail Chop plate because I was not ready to part with it. Madison, our granddaughter, loves the glass. Sitting above our TV was her favorite piece. She always said, “Grandpa, do not sell this piece because I want it”!!! Needless to say, Grandpa thought this was just a little too expensive to give to her, so instead he found a great small IC bowl to give to her. I am talking about the purple Four Flowers chop plate that used to belong to good friend, Rick Stockhill. It was hard to say no, but sometimes grandparents have to say that word!!! The last two chop plates in our auction is the Northwood Peacock at Urn and my memory has faded but I think we acquired it from Phil Hessenius who also has great taste in collecting carnival glass. The red Floral and Optic is a stretchy beautiful piece and looks great at Christmas time. It was purchased at one of our Texas auctions. Little is beautiful like big is beautiful. Our small plates are cute, full of iridescence and electric in color. The purple 7” Grapevine Lattice is in my opinion, one of the best ones made. Of course, Emmett got caught in the heat of an auction with Fred Stone, but Emmett was determined to bring it home to Texas!!!! The purple 6” Wishbone and Spades was bought in Lancaster County, PA and it is a killer. The purple 7” Fishscale and Beads was bought from John and Loretta Nielsen at one of their open houses in Florida. I will never forget when we saw their beautiful home with all that beautiful glass and John was selling that day!!!!!! What a thrilling experience that was for Emmett and I. We also brought home an electric Imperial Grape punch set. Thanks Nielsen’s!!!!!!! The last small plate is the purple 6” Persian Garden plate that was purchased at our Warrenton-Round Top antique shows from a good friend who deals in a lot of different types of glassware.
Well I think I covered them all!!! We had fun, we had thrills, we have made many friends and we have so many great memories collecting these pieces. I know whoever is successful at owning any of these; will also have those same feelings. I still have about three more articles to write, so they will be coming more quickly. Time is slipping by and before we know it, the brochures will be mailed, on the Seeck’s website and then the convention!!!! We hope you will make plans to be with us at HOACGA. Until the next article, which will be on bowls, have fun antiquing!!!! Dorothy and Emmett Morgan |
