Northwood Novelty - Opalescent Vase - Grapevine Cluster Vase
Hilltop Vines - Twigs Vase - Leaf & Beads  - Northwood Vase

Northwood Opalescent Novelty Vases
and Other Novelties with Twig Feet, Part I
(1898-1908)

by curculiosglass

A  blue opalescent Northwood
Grapevine Cluster novelty vase, circa 1905
photo by sydny
     

INTRODUCTION

           This 3-part guide focuses on opalescent novelty vases and novelties made by the Northwood Glass Company between 1898 and 1908.  Part I and Part II of this guide feature seven Northwood opalescent novelties with twig feet.  Part III features novelty patterns with leaf-like legs.

          This guide is part of an ongoing guide series on early American pressed-glass opalescent vases (1880-1912).  The purpose of these guides is to help E-Bayers identify old glass; to document rare, unusual and notable glass that appears on E-Bay each year; and to provide more detailed information on specific pieces than is currently found in widely available resources.  These guides are made possible by the many E-Bayers who have contributed photographs to them.  Please leave feedback by clicking the button at the bottom of the page.  To access our other guides, click here:  GUIDE INDEX.

History of the Northwood Glass Co.

A Northwood opalescent novelty assortment,
from a 1906 Butler Brothers wholesale catalog advertisement.

             In 1902, Harry Northwood, the son of a prominent British glass maker and cameo glass-carver, founded H. Northwood and Co. of Wheeling, West Virginia.  H. Northwood & Co. eventually would emerge as a major American glass company.  Before 1902, however, the Northwood Company passed through several transitional phases in other locations.  Between 1888 and 1899, Harry Northwood engaged in three failed attempts to set up a glass works in the American Midwest:  he established and operated Northwood glass companies in Martin's Ferry, Ohio, from 1888 to 1892; in Ellwood, Pennsylvania, from 1892 to 1896; and in Indiana, Pennsylvania from 1896 to 1899 (Heacock, Harry Northwood:  the Early Years, pp. 20-140). 

          In 1899, the Northwood company was purchased by the newly formed National Glass consortium and continued on as  the Northwood Works of the National Glass Company.  Harry Northwood departed this glass works in 1899, leaving his molds behind.  The Northwood/National plant operated for four short years under the management of Harry Northwood's cousins Thomas and Alfred Dugan, who had worked with Harry Northwood earlier in Martin's Ferry (Heacock, Dugan/Diamond, at p 4).  National collapsed in 1903, and in early 1904, National sold the plant to the new Dugan Glass Company, which would be managed by Thomas Dugan. 

          Harry Northwood, in the meantime, opened a new company, H. Northwood & Co., in Wheeling West Virginia, in May, 1902.  His new company commenced operation in October, 1902, and would continue through 1925.  Most of the opalescent novelty vases shown here were issued after 1902, by Northwood's Wheeling, West Virginia plant.  A few, however, were issued or first designed earlier by Northwood's preceding glass works.  Several of Northwood's opalescent novelties bear similarities to novelty vases produced by the Dugan Glass Company after 1903.

          All of the novelty patterns shown here are "pressed glass" -- that is, they were made by pouring glass into metal molds that impressed patterns into the glass as it cooled.  The novelties are made of transparent glass mixed with opalescent glass -- in most pieces, opalescence is heaviest near the tops or rims.  Early opalescent glass was created by adding bone ash to molten glass to produce a translucent milky quality.  A layer of such glass was then repeatedly fired and fused with a layer of clear glass:  this caused the edges of the clear glass to take on a milky appearance as well. 

        Northwood produced opalescent glass novelties in four colors:  "flint" or clear-to-white; blue; green; and canary, a yellow that fluoresces under ultraviolet light, also called "vaseline" by modern collectors.  Whatever their color, when held before a strong light, the pieces featured here tend to display a fiery reddish color along the top edges -- an effect of the opalescent treatment. 

Northwood Novelties with Twig Feet

A canary opalescent Northwood Twigs vase,
with a Northwood ad illustration of a Twigs vase, from
an 1898 Somers & Co. wholesale catalog

photo by 1912antiques 
  

        Northwood issued a variety of opalescent novelties with legs that resemble tree branches or twigs.  The detail work and mold strike on such vases is remarkable:  the legs bear knobs and bark-like patterns, and twist and turn like the gnarled limbs of old trees.  Northwood's first pattern featuring twig legs was the novelty vase shown above, now known as a "Twigs Vase".  Twigs vases were first issued by Northwood in 1898, and thus date from Northwood's period of operation in Indiana, Pennsylvania, before the fledgling glass works was purchased by National Glass.  These novelty vases, which eventually were issued by the Dugan Glass Company as well, are the subject of our extensive three-part guide on Opalescent and Carnival Glass Twigs vases.

            Northwood novelties with twig legs proved popular -- Northwood continued to design and produced twig-footed novelties for at least a decade.  By 1908, the Northwood Company of Wheeling,West Virginia, had designed and issued six different opalescent novelty patterns bearing twig legs:  Grapevine Cluster, Hilltop Vines, Leaf & Beads, Beads & Bark, Ocean Shell and Cyclone.   These are shown here and in Part II of this guide.  Northwood also originated additional novelty patterns that featured a variation:  supporting legs that looked not like twigs, but instead like leaves.  These are shown in Part III.

Photographic ID Guide
to Twig-footed vases
 

A rare green opalescent Grapevine Cluster vase, circa 1905
photo courtesy of panama5074

Grapevine Cluster.  The Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass notes that Northwood's Grapevine Cluster vase "is a collector's favorite and always brings a high price when sold" (6th ed., p. 73).  These  5 3/4" novelty vases were made by the Northwood Glass Co. of Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1905 (Heacock 2, p. 95, fig. 244).  The Grapevine Cluster pattern features a cone-shaped vase body impressed with grape and leaf designs. The vase is supported on three twig legs anchored to an grape-leaf-shaped base:

 

William Heacock recorded Grapevine Cluster vases in white, blue and canary opalescent glass (Heacock 3, p. 63).  As shown at the top of this section, however, green vases also exist, although the Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass classifies them as rare (6th ed., p. 73).  The green vase featured here was discovered by E-Bayer panama5074 and appeared on E-bay in May, 2009.

Northwood also issued Grapevine Cluster vases in purple slag glass, marketed as "Mosaic" glass (Heacock 2, pp. 22-23, 83, fig.  40).

Hilltop Vines novelty,  circa 1906-1908,
with an illustration from a Northwood opalescent assortment
advertised in a mid-spring, 1906 Butler Brothers catalog.

photo by curculiosglass

Hilltop Vines.  This pattern first appeared in a Northwood novelty assortment advertisement placed in the April, 1906, Butler Brothers catalog.  The ad described the novelty as a "5-inch high footed rustic jelly dish" (Heacock 2, p. 32).   The Hilltop Vines pattern was made in the single shape shown here:  it consists of a bowl impressed with 15 veined leaves that overlap a top layer of larger (veinless) leaves that merge to form a chalice shape.  Three sepals extend over three of the veined leaves, joining with three twig legs impressed with markedly detailed bark designs and small knobs.  The legs attach to a circular domed base decorated with small raised circles and stippling.  The top edge of the novelty dish is scalloped, and the scallops are toothed. 

A variant exists of the Hilltop Vines novelty shown above:  on the variant, the leaves in the top layer are veined and stipled.  According to the Standard Encylopedia of Opalescent Glass, Northwood issued Hilltop Vines novelties in white, blue and green opalescent glass (6th ed., p. 77).  Opalescence on these pieces is heaviest at the rim, and when held to the light, most pieces display a remarkable fiery opalescence.

Leaf & Beads novelty rose bowl,  circa 1906-1908,
with an illustration from a Northwood opalescent assortment
advertised in a spring/summer Lyon Brothers catalog.

photos courtesy of curculiosglass

Leaf & Beads.  This pattern first appeared in a novelty assortment advertised in the April, 1906, Butler Brothers catalog (Heacock 2, p. 33).  The ad featured the pattern in a nut bowl shape with a domed base.   Rose bowls in this pattern originally surfaced in a Northwood "Venetian" opalescent assortment advertised in the spring/summer, 1906 Lyons catalog  (Heacock 2, pp. 32-33).  

Leaf & Beads shares many design features with the Hilltop Vine novelty shown above.  The Leaf & Beads pattern consists of a bowl impressed with 15 veined leaves that overlap a top layer of larger (veinless) leaves.  The top leaves are separated by rows of raised dots or "beads".  Three long sepals and a circlet of shorter ones extend over the veined leaves.  The longer sepals join three twig legs that are decorated with bark designs and knobs.  These legs loop under the bowl to merge with a raised marie base that measures 1 3/4" in diameter.  The top edge of the novelty is scalloped, and the scallops are toothed; opalescence is heaviest on the scalloped rim.  The rose bowl shown above is 5" wide at the rim and 4" tall.

According to the Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass, Northwood issued Leaf & Beads novelties in white, blue and green opalescent glass (6th ed., p. 91).  Northwood later produced the Leaf & Beads pattern in custard glass, and in carnival glass in a variety of iridescent colors.  Nut bowls appear with both domed and twig-footed bases, but all rose bowls have the twig legs shown here.

Other Twig-Footed Novelty vases:  Continue on to Part II of this guide and to view these other novelty vases with twig legs:  Beads & Bark, Cyclone and Ocean Shell.

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Related Opalescent Vase ID Guides
Northwood Novelties with Twig Feet - Part II
Northwood Novelties with Leaf Legs - Part III
Model Flint Glass Company Novelty Vases
Jefferson Glass Company Novelty Vases
Northwood's Opalescent Celery Vases
Northwood's Carnival & Opalescent Vase Twins
Northwood's Opalescent Jewels & Drapery Vases

References

Hartung, Marion, Opalescent Pattern Glass.  Des Moines:  Wallace-Homestad (1971).

[Heacock 1] Heacock, William, Harry Northwood:  The Early years, 1881-1900.
        Marietta:  Antique Publications (1990).

[Heacock 2 ] Heacock, William, Harry Northwood:  The Wheeling Years, 1901-1925.
         Marietta:  Antique Publications (1991).

[Heacock 3] Heacock, William, Opalescent Glass from A-Z, rev. ed.  Marietta:
          The Glass Press (2000). 

[Heacock 4] Heacock, William, James Measell and Berry Wiggins, Dugan /Diamond:
           The Story of Indiana, Pennsylvania, Glass, Marietta: Antique Publications (1993).

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Many thanks to E-bayers  1912antiques,  panama5074  and  sdny  for generously contributing photographs to this part of our 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 the seller's name into the Feedback Forum's search blank.