Carnival glass

How to read it

Carnival glass is pressed glass sprayed with metallic salts while still very hot, which leaves a sheen of changing colors. The Kent State University Museum, whose exhibition Carnival Glass: The First Decade covered its beginnings, says the Fenton Art Glass Company introduced it in late 1907 as Iridescent Ware, pressed in highly patterned moulds. Trade papers that October described its brilliant prismatic effects and a metallic lustre much like Tiffany glass. Within months other firms followed, and the glass was immensely popular in the US from 1908 to about 1915, and exported. The Corning Museum of Glass defines it as inexpensive pressed glass with vivid gold, orange and purple iridescence, made in the US between about 1895 and 1924.

Also searched as: carnival glass, iridescent glass, marigold carnival glass, poor man’s tiffany.

Why it is called carnival glass

Nobody called it carnival glass when it was made. The Kent State University Museum says collectors were seeking it out eagerly in the 1950s, stories went around that some pieces had been prizes for midway games, and the name followed. The Corning Museum of Glass states the reason more firmly: it is so called because it was frequently offered as fairground prizes. Fenton’s own name was Iridescent Ware, and its letterhead called the firm the Originator of Iridescent Ware.

The five makers

Kent State names five major makers. Fenton, founded in Martins Ferry, Ohio, in 1905, began making glass at Williamstown, West Virginia, in January 1907 and brought out the iridescent line late that year. Northwood introduced its golden iris in 1908, a vivid orange now called marigold, and many Northwood pieces carry an underlined capital N in a circle. Imperial, of Bellaire, Ohio, launched rubigold and peacock in October 1909, now known as marigold and amethyst. Dugan’s pearl iris of 1909, now called peach opalescent, is its best-known color, and a few Dugan pieces carry a capital D in a diamond. Millersburg brought out its Radium line in early 1910.

Color names

Collectors’ names for the colors are mostly not the makers’. Kent State gives the original names beside today’s: Northwood’s golden iris is marigold, Imperial’s rubigold and peacock are marigold and amethyst, and Dugan’s pearl iris is peach opalescent. Northwood also sold Florentine, Pomona, azure, emerald and pearl, and Dugan used names such as alba lustre, aurora iris and neola.

When it was made

The two museums date it differently. Corning gives about 1895 to 1924 for American production; Kent State starts it with Fenton in late 1907 and puts its peak from 1908 to about 1915. Dugan’s firm, renamed Diamond Glass, kept making iridescent glass until its factory burned in 1931. Fenton revived carnival glass in 1970 and went on adding new pieces.