Marigold Carnival Glass and the One-Dollar Test

by Curculiosglass

photo courtesy of gmcarol

           Carnival glass, as the story goes, was supposed to be "the poor man's Tiffany". While Pennsylvania steel barons were installing stained-glass windows in their mansions, ordinary people were discovering a pretty iridescent glass first marketed by the Fenton Art Glass company in 1907.  The glass could be bought fairly inexpensively in wholesale catalogs and was even handed out for free at carnivals.  By far the most popular color in what became known as carnival glass was "marigold," a cheerful yellowish orange.

           The popularity of marigold carnival glass at the time of its manufacture has resulted in a kind of consumer's paradox for modern collectors:  because marigold was at one time a beloved color, it was manufactured the most, and so now, as an antique, it's the most plentiful.  As a result, marigold carnival glass pieces currently fetch the lowest prices of all the colors.  Rare sapphire and celeste, electric blues, ice greens, aqua opals and almost any other color of carnival, even a hideous electric green that looks like the armor of a beached sea monster -- all tend to be worth more than marigold. 

          Anything can look suddenly appealing when you learn it's worth a lot of money.  This is why, whenever I consider buying a valuable antique for resale or otherwise, I always put it through the one-dollar test -- which means I ask myself,  "If someone told you that this was worth a dollar, would you buy it for a dollar and take it home?"   Put through the one-dollar test, a lot of valuable things fail:  a lot of expensive things are just plain ugly.  Look at them for a moment as if they're worth a dollar, and you see them for what they are.  When I use the one-dollar test on carnival, I usually come out liking marigold the best.  This is because the flip side of the test is that there are some beautiful things out there that don't cost a lot of money.  

          The one-dollar test is especially useful when you're reselling carnival in an area where the glass is not well-known.  Kansas, Missouri, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and America's Heartland in general seem to be teeming with knowledgeable carnival glass appreciators.  Being a New Yorker, though, I've found that the farther you move from the Pennsylvania border and the closer you get to the Empire State Building, the less likely people are to have seen or ever heard about carnival glass.  If they buy it, this is because they like what they see, and not because they're aware of a particular piece's rarity or are accurately judging its condition.  (Try explaining away straw marks to someone who's never seen carnival glass, and you can just see him giving you a Bronx cheer in his head.)  What I've found is:  in a crowd of people who don't know carnival glass, there aren't many who are willing to shell out hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a rare ice-green or white plate; there are, however, a lot of buyers who are attracted to reasonably priced marigold pieces in fine condition.

          Marigold carnival glass makes a good present too, for many people who have never seen carnival before -- I recollect clearly that the first carnival piece I ever saw, the one that sucked me irretrievably into the carnival world, was a bright marigold Fenton Dragon & Lotus bowl.  Now, whenever I'm stumped for a necessary thank-you gift for a friend or a requisite present for an interesting relative, I consider wrapping up a beautiful marigold bowl sporting this pattern (one with great mold strike and no flaws).  It almost never goes wrong.  Who can resist those dragons?  And whoever thought of putting dragons and flowers together?

Detail of Fenton Dragon & Lotus marigold bowl
photo courtesy of curculiosglass

          As someone who sells locally but buys on E-Bay, I also find that E-Bay sellers' photographs of marigold pieces tend to be more reliable.  Photographing the iridescent effects of a dark blue or green or amethyst piece of carnival glass is tricky; sometimes, to prevent a darker-toned piece from looking drab or even grim on the screen, sellers resort to letting flash bulbs or strong sunlight light up their bowls and plates, or they saturate iridescent highlights through various computer graphics programs.  Such monkeying with the naked image is not always misrepresentative:  iridescence by its nature eludes the camera lens, and a manipulated photograph may come closer to representing an outstanding piece than a plain snapshot could.  Nevertheless, many buyers probably have a tale to tell about a piece advertised as "electric" that, upon arrival, looked about as bright and dazzling as a black hole. 

          Marigold carnival glass, by contrast, often has a richness of color underlying its iridescence that makes it photograph well.  Deep orange marigold tends to look spectacular even in an unmanipulated photograph.  I've been surprised by the high quality of marigold specimens I've purchased on E-bay.  I usually resell any  piece of carnival I buy, but I find that occasionally, I've held onto a marigold piece for my own pleasure -- my favorite is a small bowl in the most common of patterns, Vintage:
 

A marigold Fenton Vintage bowl
photo courtesy of joyced4548

This is a piece that passes the one-dollar test by far; richly colored, with rainbow iridescence, it's eye-catching, whether or not the viewer is familiar with carnival glass.  Somehow this unpretentious little bowl seems in keeping with the original qualities of carnival glass, too:  it's not fancy or pricey, but nevertheless, the bowl is nice to have around.

Variations in Marigold Coloring 

            True marigold carnival glass is unusual in one notable way:  the color of most carnival glass is determined by the color of a piece's base, but all marigold pieces, if held before a strong light, will reveal that they have a clear base.  This is because the metallic salts used to create the iridescent lustre of marigold carnival were sprayed over uncolored glass.  The Fenton Dragon & Lotus bowl below shows bright marigold coloring.  When the bowl lies flat on a table, the marie base at its center appears orange.  When the bowl is held up to direct sunlight, however, the base is revealed to be clear glass:

A Fenton Dragon & Lotus bowl
This bowl shows the typical yellow-orange of marigold.
Holding the bowl up against sunlight reveals its clear base.

photo courtesy of curculiosglass

         By far the best discussion of marigold carnival color is found  in David Doty's 1998 A Field Guide to Carnival Glass.  Doty notes that "Not all marigold was created equal.  Sometimes it is very pale, other times a darker color sprayed on  heavily" (pp. 163-164).   Thus, when purchasing marigold carnival, look for pieces that have good depth of color.  Look for strong iridescent highlights as well.  The highlights on marigold carnival are among the most beautiful in carnival glass:  the interplay of pinks and purples with the yellow-orange coloring creates a bright sunset iridescence rarely equaled by other carnival colors.

         Buyers might find it helpful to be familiar with various shades of marigold.  The Dragon & Lotus, Vintage, and Thistle & Lotus bowls shown above are all fine examples of  typical marigold -- the yellow-orange of a marigold flower.  Marigold carnival glass, however, exhibits a broad range of color.  Pumpkin is the name applied to a highly desireable shade of marigold that is brilliant dark orange, as shown on the Northwood vase below.

 

Northwood's Drapery Variant vase:
an example of pumpkin marigold
photo by curculiosglass

         Marigold also can look attractive on the other end of the spectrum, when it's a lighter, more golden color, such as that shown on the Northwood bowl below.  The bowl has rich golden-brown coloring, with orange, magenta and blue highlights, and a clear base when held up to the light.  The term honey amber is sometimes used to refer to marigold carnival pieces with yellow-brown coloring.  For example, Cosmos & Cane water sets manufactured by U.S. glass are described by this color term:  these pieces have clear base glass like the bowl below.  This variety of marigold coloring should not be confused with amber -- in carnival glass, true amber pieces have yellow-brown base glass.   

   

Northwood Strawberry bowl:
an example of marigold with a golden-orange tint
photo by curculios glass

          Finally, there's pastel marigold,  a much sought-after color.  Genuine pastel marigold pieces have a pale golden coloring and soft, satin finish.  The photograph of the plate below is an excellent example exhibiting the pastel aqua, pink and green highlights characteristic of this color:

  

Fenton Spector's Department Store plate:
an example of pastel marigold
photos by *treasurehunter*

When you see a bowl characterized as pastel marigold on E-Bay, be cautious:  check to see that the seller is a seasoned seller of carnival with good feedback.  "Pastel" is sometimes misapplied by sellers scrambling for a label that makes a washed-out piece with feeble marigold iridescence sound appealing.  A piece with weak coloring is not pastel -- it's just a piece with weak coloring.  True pastel pieces show depth of color and strong highlights, as seen on the above plate.

Collecting Marigold Carnival Glass

Marigold Fenton Lotus & Thistle bowl
photo courtesy of gmcarol

         For people seized by the collector's spirit, marigold carnival glass can be an engaging challenge to collect -- and much less draining of your bank account than, say, a glass cabinet full of aqua opal rose bowls and white Peacocks plates.  If you're focusing solely on the beauty of carnival glass pieces instead of their rarity, you're likely to assemble a deeply satisfying marigold collection. 

          It is worth noting, however, that some relatively inexpensive marigold carnival pieces are quite rare.  The Fenton Lotus & Thistle ruffled bowl shown above and at page top of this guide, for example, is very rare even in marigold.  David Doty notes on his website that he has records of only eight of these seven-inch bowls having sold over a ten-year period.  Lotus & Thistle Lotus bowls, which Doty notes sell from anywhere from $25 to $110 dollars, are also stunningly beautiful.

         Of course, there are rare marigold carnival pieces that are on the high end too.  These are found in patterns that are uncommon generally, or patterns in which marigold was uncharacteristically a scarce color even at the time of production.  Northwood's Knights Templar mugs and Corn vases, Millersburg's Trout & Fly,  Fenton's Stag & Holly rose bowls and Dugan's Elks plates and Jeweled Heart tumblers, are just a few examples of such hard-to-find marigold pieces.  And while these cost a lot more than a dollar, they'd probably pass the One-Dollar Test as well.

 

A Dugan Jeweled Heart Tumbler
photo courtesy of curculiosglass

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Many thanks to E-Bayers gmcarol,  joyced4548  and  *treasurehunter*  for generously contributing photographs to this guide.  Rights to photos belong to the photographers, and photos should not be used without their permission.  Text is (c) 2007 curculiosglass, all rights reserved.  To locate any E-Bay seller mentioned here,  just click on "Site Map" at the bottom of your E-Bay screen, and then click on "Feedback Forum" at the right top corner of the large menu that pops up.  Type or copy the seller's name into the Feedback Forum's search blank. 

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