Carnival Glass
Carnival
Glass is pressed glass which has an iridized surface
treatment. It is made by exposing the newly formed hot
pressed glass to sprays, fumes and vapours from heated
metallic oxides. These form a lustrous coating at the
surface of the glass. It looks as if it has rainbows
on it, like the coloured patterns sometimes seen when
petrol floats on water; like the rainbow colours on
the surface of a soap bubble. What you are actually
seeing are light intereference patterns produced by
constantly shifting wavelengths.
The
name "Carnival Glass" was not used originally
by the manufacturers, who had all kinds of names for
it like "Iridill" and "Rainbow Lustre".
When the market for carnival glass slumped in the twenties,
second-quality carnival glass was given away as prizes
at carnivals, hence the name.
It
was first produced on a large scale by the newly-established
Fenton Art Glass Company, of Williamstown, West Virginia,
in 1908. Carnival Glass was also made by several US
companies, including Fenton Art Glass, The Northwood
Glass Company in Wheeling, West Virginia, Imperial Glass
in Ohio; Westmoreland from Pennsylvania; Dugan(later
Diamond) in Indiana, Pennsylvania; and Millersburg,
in Ohio.
The
rage for Carnival Glass in the US continued for ten years
(1908 to about 1918), and the last of the original US
producers, Dugan/Diamond Glass Company of Indiana, Pennsylvania,
continued production until 1931. But the market for this
type of glass had already moved overseas, and US companies
were exporting Carnival glass to Europe, Canada, Australia,
and other countries during the 1920's. Carnival Glass
was not, so far as we know, produced in the USA between
1931 and the 1950's
It
continued to be made in Europe through the 1920's and
1930's; it was made in Australia in the 1930's; and
in South America (Argentina) in the 1930's. Very little
was made anywhere in the 1930's and 1940's.
During
the 1950's collectors became interested in Carnival Glass,
so much so that it became economically worthwhile for
glass manufacturers to start making it again, specifically
for collectors.
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What
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What
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What
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