Opalescent Fern Vase - Model Flint Vase - Celery Vase - Opalescent Vase
Wreath & Shell Celery Vase - Manila Vase - Coraline Vase - Opal Stripe Vase

Opalescent Celery Vases  of the
Model Flint Glass Works (1899-1902)

by curculiosglass

      
 
Model Flint's Fern celery vase
in canary opalescent glass, circa 1902

photo by curculiosglass

INTRODUCTION

        
            This guide is part of an ongoing series on early American opalescent vases (1880-1912).  The guide focuses on pressed-glass and mold-blown opalescent celery vases of the Model Flint Works of National Glass.  The celery vase patterns featured here are Fern, Wreath & Shell, Coraline and Opal Stripe.  If you're trying to identify an opalescent celery vase and don't see it here, check our guides listed in the Table of Contents at the bottom of this page. 

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History of  the Model Flint Glass Co.

Many Ribs and Spiral Rib standard-sized vases,
in canary and blue opalescent glass, issued by the
Model Flint Works of National Glass, circa 1900-1902

photos by curculiosglass
 

        Ron Teal's Albany Glass:  Model Flint Glass Company of Albany, Indiana, is by far the best resource on Model Flint, and his book chronicles the glass work's rise and fall in some detail.  Model Flint opened in 1888 in Findlay, Ohio, and in 1893, the company relocated to Albany, Indiana -- accordingly, Model Flint Glass is often referred to as "Albany Glass".  In October, 1899, Model Flint was purchased by the National Glass Company, a glass consortium formed in part to counter competition from the new 17-factory glass consortium known as U. S. Glass.  Thereafter, Model Flint was known as the Model Flint Works of the National Glass Company (Teal, p. 16). 

          At least 19 glass companies were consolidated to form National Glass, among them the Indiana, Pennsylvania glass works of the Northwood company, which became part of National in November, 1899.  As noted below, during their years under National, the Model Flint and Northwood glass works shared several molds, among them celery vase molds.  When National Glass experienced financial setbacks and closed in 1903, it would sell the Northwood Glass works to the Dugan brothers, who would continue to operate the factory as the Dugan Glass Company.  Model Flint fared less well, however:  in 1902, the National Glass Company abandoned the Model Flint Works, and the glass factory never reopened (Teal, p. 17).

          Before National's takeover, from 1888 to 1899, Model Flint issued a wide variety of pressed crystal and colored transparent glass "in almost every shade imaginable," with a range of decorative effects that included ruby and amber staining, gold flashing, etching and frosting (Teal p. 22).  Among Model Flint's early wares were a number of celery vase patterns issued in transparent glass.  Model Flint also produced milk glass, but prior to 1899, the company made no opalescent ware, with the exception of lighting globes and shades (Teal, p. 23).

           All of Model Flint's opalescent tableware dates from 1899-1902, the company's brief period of operation following its purchase by National.  During those three years, Model Flint produced an array of opalescent glassware lines.  The September 12, 1901 China, Glass & Lamps proclaimed:

A number of new designs, decorations, etc., are being shown this fall from the different factories of National.  The Model Flint works are making a line of opalescent specialties and novelties in yellow and blue that are dainty and unique.  They comprise card baskets and cases, vases, rose bowls, pond lily sherbets, chrysanthemum holders, etc. (all pressed glass).

Model Flint's opalescent vase production was, however, fairly limited -- in all, the company produced seven original vase patterns and shared three others with Northwood.

          Among Model Flint's most notable vase patterns are the two shown at the top of this section:  Model's Flint's Many Ribs, which are exquisitely-colored tubular vases with pillar-like ribs that join unevenly at the rim to produce a scalloped effect; and Ribbed Spiral vases, which were issued as part of Model Flint's extensive Ribbed Spiral tableware line.  Ribbed Spiral vases feature an unusual stacked-rings pattern, which we believe inspired the Imperial Glass Company's now widely-collected carnival glass Ripple vases.  Both Many Ribs and Ribbed Spiral vases are featured in our other guides (see Ribbed Vases and Ripple vases).  

          Model Flint additionally produced striped opalescent vases in a variety of shapes, and three opalescent footed novelty vases of its own design, known as Calyx, Corolla and Diamond Stem.  The company also issued a fourth footed opalescent vase in the well-known pattern Lorna, produced originally by Northwood. All of these are shown in our guide on Model Flint Novelty Vases.

        Model Flint made only four opalescent celery vase patterns.  Two of these -- a striped vase marketed as Opal Stripe and a speckled vase issued under Model Flint's trade name "Coraline" -- were Northwood inventions.  Model Flint also designed two original celery vase patterns:  its highly collectible Wreath & Shell vases and its beautiful mold-blown Fern vases.  All four of these are featured in this guide.

Model Flint's
Wreath & Shell Opalescent Celery Vases
          

A Wreath & Shell 6"celery vase, circa 1899-1902 (left)
with a 4 1/2" spooner in the same pattern, with enamel decoration

photos courtesy of erics914 and nickadaemous

            The pattern known as Wreath & Shell originally appeared under the name Manila and as "Pattern 905" in the Model Flint Glass Works 1899 catalog.  (Author Ruth Herrick later coined the name "Wreath and Shell.")  Glassware bearing the pattern is treasured by collectors, in part because of its scarcity.  Teal writes:  "Manila, without a doubt, is the best-known and most prized Albany pattern by collectors ... [who] have continued to hoard whatever pieces they can find." (p. 43).

          Wreath & Shell (or Manila) celery vases are round pieces perched on three short legs.  The Manila pattern impressed on the vases consists a thrice-repeated design of large palm-like fronds alternating with two smaller leaves with curled flourishes on either end.  Above this pattern, a band of repeated striated arches circles the vase two thirds of the way down from the rim.  The rim is decorated with scallops that are indented slightly in the middle.  The vases' three legs are grooved with parallel lines that terminate in curled flourishes on the top surfaces of three rounded feet. 

          Model Flint issued its Wreath & Shell pattern in blue, canary and flint opalescent glass, as well as in crystal, teal and (possibly) amber glass.  Pieces sometimes feature enamel floral decorations; a decorated spooner is shown above right.  The pattern was produced in a broad variety of shapes (see Teal, p. 44, 98-99, 140, figs. #247, 263, 889; Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass, 6th ed., p. 164).  Among these were spooners, footed tumblers and lidded sugar jars -- all of which are very similar in design to the celery vase shown above. 

          The best way to distinguish Wreath & Shell celery vases from other shapes is by their top edge and size.  Lidded sugars and tumblers have a flat edge, rather than the scalloped rim shown on the vase above left.  Spooners, such as the one shown above right, also have scalloped top edges, but are smaller than the celery vases -- 4 1/2" high with a 3 1/2" mouth diameter.  The vases measure approximately 6" tall, with a 4" mouth diameter. 

                          

Opalescent Celery Vase
Patterns Shared with Northwood
 

National's Model Flint and Northwood glass works
both issued ruffled celery vases in striped and speckled patterns.

photos courtesy of curculiosglass

             The two patterns shown above -- called Opal Stripe and Coraline by Model Flint --  were produced by National's Model Flint glass works between 1899 and 1902.   Both patterns were issued at roughly the same time by National's Northwood glass works.  We believe that the general design of such striped and speckled celery vases should be credited to Northwood and not Model Flint.   As noted in our associated guide on Northwood/ National's Celery Vases, Northwood issued various vase patterns in the distinctive ruffled shape shown above, and Northwood first issued ruffled striped vases in 1899, before joining National.  Northwood began producing speckled ruffled celery vases after joining National, but Northwood's Ellwood glass works had experimented in spatter-glass effects long before Model Flint issued such vases as part of its Coraline line.  Nevertheless, some mention of Model Flint's production of striped and speckled celery vases is merited.

              Opal Stripe Vases:  Shown above left, these 6 1/4" vases feature white opalescent striping on a transparent clear or colored-glass background.  The vases bulge at the bottom and have cylindrical bodies and wide opalescent ruffles.  Teal convincingly documents that Model Flint issued Opal Stripe celery vases some time between 1899 and 1902 in flint (white-to-clear), blue and canary-opalescent glass  (Teal, pp. 47, 120, 135).  Identical vases were marketed as "Venetian Striped" celery vases in a Northwood assortment advertised in an 1899 Butler Brothers catalog  (see Heacock, Harry Northwood, The Early Years, p. 166).  Peterson notes that determining whether Model Flint or Northwood made a given striped ruffled celery vase is challenging:  "Of all the references I checked, no one is positive about who made what, unless it has been handed down in a direct line from someone who made it and there is provenance on it" (Peterson, pp. 12-13). 

            Speckled Optic "Coraline" Vases:  Model Flint's speckled ruffled celery vases present similar identification issues.  Model Flint's speckled ware was christened "Coraline" by Model Flint glass worker O.O. Faull.   It included at least three patterns -- speckled ruffled celery vases, Mavis Swirl and Stippled Estate -- and appeared in green and purple as well as in four colors also advertised by Northwood:  flint, canary, blue and cranberry opalescent (Peterson, p. 35 and Teal, pp. 27-28).  The speckled ruffled celery vase shown above right exactly resembles a green speckled vase featured in Teal's Albany Glass (p. 135, fig. 774).  It is white-on-green glass, lacks an opalescent treatment on the rim and has an inverted thumbprint surface design.  A vaseline opalescent example of a similar vase, with an opalescent rim, is identified as a Model Flint piece in Peterson's Vaseline Glass, Canary to Contemporary,  p. 35 (p.66, fig. 516).  

          Nevertheless, the attribution of Coraline celery vases to Model Flint vs. Northwood is generally problematic. "Coraline" was also advertised by Northwood /National while it was under the management of the Dugan Brothers, and Coraline's spatter treatment is very similar to that of Granite Ware developed by Northwood's Ellwood factory in 1893 (see Heacock, Dugan/Diamond, pp 34-35).  Moreover, when questioned many years after Model Flint's closing, O.O. Faull noted that Model Flint's production of Coraline was limited (p. 19).  Thus, unless a buyer or seller has provenance, it is probably safest to assume that a given speckled celery ruffled vase came either from Northwood / National or from Model Flint/ National.

Model Flint's Fern Vase

Canary Opalescent Model Flint Fern vase, circa 1902
photo by curculiosglass

          Model Flint's Fern Celery Vase is a breathtakingly pretty piece.  The vase features a four-times-repeated design of fern-like fronds that swirl upward around the vase body to a widely ruffled rim.  The fern pattern is white opalescent glass against a background of colored glass.  This pattern is slightly raised, can be felt on both the inside and outside of the vase and continues onto the bottom of the slightly recessed base.  The ruffles are opalescent on the edges and partly crimped, and are divided into three sections of four ruffles each by the three inward folds.  The vase body bells out in the center, and there are two faint mold lines.  Although the vase has the delicate and watery appearance of blown glass, the base has no pontil mark.  The vase shown above is 5 1/2" inch tall, with a base diameter measuring 2 7/8".  The ruffles the spread to a width of 5" inches.  Fern vases were issued by Model Flint in blue, canary and flint (clear-to-white) opalescent glass (Teal, pp. 32, 120 & 135, figs. 553, 767, 769).  

        Model Flint's Fern celery vases are quite rare.  Teal writes that "few pieces of Albany's Fern have been located because the pattern was introduced only one or two years before Model Flint closed."      Model Flint issued its opalescent fern pattern in other shapes as well as celery vases -- including tankards, syrups, tumblers and a taller vase (Teal, pp. 31, 135).   The pattern dates from 1902 at the latest; Model Flint advertised its celery fern vase, along with a Ribbed Spiral vase, in a 1902 Butler Brothers catalog:

A Model Flint opalescent assortment appearing in the
spring, 1902 Missionary edition of Butlers Brothers' wholesale catalog.

The Fern vase featured in the ad's center is described as a "6-inch Large Tall Celery Holder".  The ad offers the opalescent ware shown in  "Rich opalescent colors in 3 delicate colors:  blue, flint and canary opalescent" (Teal at p. 63).   The vases are especially rare in canary-opalescent glass.  (see Standard Encylopedia of Opalescent Glass, 6th ed., p. 65).  The canary-yellow coloring of the vase shown higher above was produced through the addition of uranium dioxide to the molten glass.  The yellow coloring is subtle by daylight but fluoresces a brilliant green under ultraviolet light. 

          Ruth Herrick first documented Model Flint's Fern celery vase in her 1959 publication Greentown Glass (p. 37, fig #318).  Twenty years later, Hartung included the pattern in  Opalescent Pattern Glass (1979), calling it "Fern Sprays" and mistakenly attributing it to Northwood (p. 39).  Heacock also documented various opalescent Fern patterns, designating them "Fern Sprays" and "Opal Fern," in Pattern Glass Preview, Issue No. 5, p. 15, which featured two photographs of Fern celery vases (p. 15).  The sixth edition of Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass as well as author Ron Teal call the pattern by the simple name, "Fern".

Distinguishing Similar Opalescent Fern Patterns

Model Flint Fern vase,
showing pattern against dark backround:
note the leaves are unconnected to the stem

photo by curculiosglass

          The identification of Fern-patterned opalescent glass often proves challenging for glass sellers and collectors because, in addition to Model Flint, two companies located in Martin's Ferry, Ohio, also produced opalescent ware bearing Fern patterns:  West Virginia Glass (in 1894), and Beaumont Glass, (circa 1898)  (see Heacock's Opalescent Glass from A-Z, p  59).  Teal notes that Model Flint's Fern pattern was "well-received because of the popularity of similar patterns made by other companies through the 1890's"  (at p. 31). 

          West Virginia's Fern fortunately can be distinguished from Model Flint's by a number of traits.  First, as Ron Teal notes in Albany Glass, Model Flint's Fern pattern "has leaves that do not connect to the center of the stem"  (p. 31).  This trait is shown clearly in the detail photograph of the vaseline-opalescent vase shown above.  Other differences are notable, as is evident in the illustrations shown below:

.

Illustrations of celery vases from Victorian Era catalogs:
Model Flint's Fern pattern is shown at left and West Virginia's at right.

These two illustrations show details of the Model Flint Fern vase that appeared in the 1902 Butler Brothers wholesale catalog ad shown higher up on this page; and of a West Virginia Fern vase appearing in an 1884 Montgomery Ward catalog advertisement reprinted in Heacock's Opalescent Glass from A-Z (pp. 59-60).  The illustration at left shows that on Model Flint vases, the fern fronds are all oriented so that the fronds point upward.  By comparison, on the West Virginia Fern vase, fronds with downward-pointing leaves alternate with fronds with upward pointing leaves. (It is notable, however, that this distinction is unhelpful when applied to Fern-patterned Model Flint and West Virginia pitchers; on both, the fronds alternate pointing upward and downward.)

          Teal notes additionally that the shapes and colors of Model Flint's and West Virginia's celery vases differ.  As shown in the above illustration, West Virginia's vases taper more toward the mouth, and they lack the widely-flared ruffles of Model Flint's vases.  The West Virginia ad from which the above illustration was taken also notes that the West Virginia vases were produced from molds that impressed an optic pattern on the surface of the glass; Model flint's were not.  Finally, West Virginia Fern-patterned glass, originally marketed as its "Blue Opal Ware," and named "Blue Opal Leaf Spray" by Marion Hartung, was issued in blue, flint (clear-to-white) and ruby opalescent, but never in canary-opalescent (Heacock, p. 59; see Hartung 20).  By contrast, the Model Flint advertisement announces that the Fern vases are available in flint, blue and canary opalescent. 

Close-up of Fern patterns on blue opalescent
Model Flint celery vase (left) and Beaumont cruet (right)

photos courtesy of curculiosglass

          Beaumont's Fern pattern, issued in blue, cranberry and white, also can be distinguished from Model Flint's.  As Heacock notes in Opalescent Glass from A to Z (p. 39), Beaumont designed West Virginia's Fern pattern and thus, not surprisingly, these two companies' Fern patterns are very similar. On Beamont's Ferns, like West Virginia's, the fronds' leaves touch the stems.  The Beaumont fern fronds also alternate in a pattern of downward-pointing and upward-pointing fronds, and the leaves on the fronds vary more in size than on the Model Flint Fern vase.  Differences among the three companies' patterns are clearly shown in an array of photographs of  fern-patterned West Virginia and Beaumont glassware featured in Opalescent Glass from A to Z, rev. ed. (59 & 169, figs. 794, 795, 797-802).  Beaumont issued its Fern pattern in flint, ruby and blue opalescent only, and it is notable that to date we have found no evidence that Beaumont produced its Fern pattern in celery vase shapes.

            Fenton issued a much later-vintage opalescent Fern pattern, from 1952-1954, in cruets and vase shapes.  These, however, are not easily confused with Model Flint's early fern-patterned opalescent glass, because the Fenton pieces were produced in opalescent colors frosted with acid to produce a satin finish.  (See Heacock at 59 and Margaret & Kenn Whitmyer's Fenton Art Glass Patterns 1939-1980, at pp. 304-307).  Fenton also issued a "Daisy & Fern" pattern, which is distinguishable because it incorporates a floral design with the fern motif.  Fenton first made Daisy & Fern for L.G. Wright and later issued its own Daisy & Fern opalescent ware.

Recommended Resources:

Bond, Marcelle, The Beauty of Albany Glass.  Berne:  Publishers printing House (1972). 

Felt, Tom (compiler), Opalescent Glass 1883-1934:  Original Advertisements
        & Trade Journal Reports.  Weston:  West Virginia Museum of Glass, Ltd. (2005).

Heacock,  William, Harry Northwood, The Early Years: 1881-1900.
         Marietta:  Anique Publications (1999)     

Peterson, David A., Vaseline Glass:  Canary to Contemporary.  Marietta, Ohio:
        The Glass Press, Inc. (2002). 

Teal, Ron, Albany Glass:  Model Flint Glass Company of Albany, Indiana.
        Marietta:  The Glass Press (1997). 

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Related Curculiosglass Opalescent Vase ID Guides
Ruffled Celery Vases - Northwood/National Glass 
Celery Vases of the Nickel Plate Glass Co.
Celery Vases - A. J. Beatty & Sons

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Many thanks to E-bayers  rics914,  nickadaemous and unclechamps  for generously contributing photographs to this guide.  Rights to all photos belong to the photographers, and pictures should not be used without their permission.  Text is (c) 2009 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.