Opal Honeycomb Vase - Opalescent Vase - Honeycomb Vase
Hex Optic Vase - Chicken Wire Vase - Hexagon Vase

 

 

ID GUIDE, Part 2:

MISCELLANEOUS  OPALESCENT  VASES (1898-1912):
Vases with Honeycomb Patterns

A rare 7" squatty green opalescent Honeycomb vase
photo by unclechamps

Introduction

          This is a seven-part reference guide to American pressed-glass opalescent vases manufactured at end of the Victorian Era, around the turn of the century (1898-1912).  This guide features "conventionally-shaped" vases (as opposed to footed, novelty and celery vases), with the intent of aiding buyers and sellers in identifying similar-looking early American opalescent vases.  In addition, the guide offers more detailed information on the patterns featured than may be available in widely available resources on opalescent glass. 

        Part 1 of this guide provides general information on American pressed-glass opalescent vases of 1898-1912, and this section of our guide, Part 2, features vases with Honeycomb patterns.  To access other sections of this guide, click on links in the Table of Contents at the bottom of this page.  If you're having trouble identifying an early opalescent vase, and don't see it here, try our 5-part guides on the Jefferson Glass Company and on carnival & opalescent twin vases.  Both guide series can be accessed by clicking GUIDE INDEX or the links at the bottom of this page.  These guides have been made possible by the many E-Bayers who have contributed photographs to this project.  Please leave feedback by clicking the button at the bottom of the page.

 

          

Opal Honeycomb Vases

              

Green, white and blue standard-size
Opal Honeycomb vases

photo by curculiosglass

Opal Honeycomb Vase.   This pressed-glass vase pattern is rarely seen and of mysterious origin.  The name "Opal Honeycomb" was assigned to the pattern by William Heacock, who featured an Opal Honeycomb vase in his 1981 publication Old Pattern Glass (p. 220).   Heacock wrote of the pattern that "it is found only in opalescent glass and usually in some form of vase.  A bowl would be rare."  In 1981, Heacock was unable to confirm a maker, but estimated that the pattern had been issued between 1905 and 1910 (p. 214). The Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass, 6th ed. (2009), features the Honeycomb pattern in its section on glass manufactured between 1880 and 1930 (p. 79).  The fifth and sixth editions of the SEOG document the pattern in footed bowls, and vases like those shown here, which appear to have been pulled from bowl molds.

Opal Honeycomb vases feature a stretched honeycomb design of interlocking hexagons.  As shown above, the rims of the vases also are unusual -- the rims have nine points, each with three small tooth-like knobs.  The base of each vase sports an impressed, many-rayed star set inside a ring of striated petal-like shapes.  As shown below, when viewed from above, the petals form a a scallop-edged skirt around the bottom of the vase: 

Detail of the striated petal shapes forming a
a scalloped skirt around the base of a blue Honeycomb vase

photo by curculiosglass

Opal Honeycomb vases have base diameters measuring 3 5/8" and appear in both standard and squatty sizes.  Standard-size Opal Honeycomb vases surfaced on E-Bay in 2007-2008 in heights between 11" and 12 1/2".   We've seen only three examples of this vase in squatty size:  two come from the collection of E-Bayer unclechamps, who listed 6" blue and 7" green Opal Honeycomb vases in January, 2009.  (The green vase is shown at the top of this page.)  A very short squatty white Opal Honeycomb vase measuring 5 3/4" tall also surfaced on E-Bay in August, 2008.  The vase was discovered by E-Bayer lucas676902fj and is shown below:

  

Squatty-size white Opal Honeycomb vase:  note the
distinctive scalloped skirt made of striated petal-like shapes.

photos courtesy of  lucas676902fj 

            As noted above, Heacock wrote in his 1981 work Old Pattern Glass that Opal Honeycomb vases were made exclusively in opalescent glass.  Nevertheless, in July, 2009,  an Opal Honeycomb vase in transparent green glass surfaced on E-Bay.  The vase is shown shown below:  

An "Opal" Honeycomb vase in
transparent (non-opalescent) green glass

photo courtesy of tvmdc2

This vase was discovered by E-Bayer tvmdc2.  Like the opalescent vases featured in this guide, the transparent vase had a skirt base made up of striated petal shapes, and a rim with nine points, each topped with three tooth-like knobs.  The vase measured 11 1/2" high, with a base approximately 3 1/2" in diameter.  This is the single example of an Opal Honeycomb vase in transparent glass that we have seen. 

 

Other Honeycomb Patterns
found in Early Opalescent Glass

Hexagon patterns in opalescent glassware are found in a variety of shapes other than vases.  The Fenton Art Glass Company issued a pattern  known as Honeycomb and Clover in 1910, in water, berry and table sets and novelty bowls.  The pattern appears in the SEOG, 6th ed, at p. 85, and features clover and leaves intertwined over a pattern of interlocking hexagons.  This pattern has not appeared in a vase shape, and also lacks the distinctive scalloped skirt base of Opal Honeycomb vases.  Fenton produced Honeycomb & Clover in carnival glass as well; an excellent, detailed photograph of Fenton's Honeycomb & Clover pattern can be viewed at David Doty's carnival glass website (ddoty.com/backpatterns.html).

The Dugan Glass Company also issued a pattern consisting of interlocking hexagons in 1904-1905.  Known by glass collectors as Dugan's Honeycomb, this pattern is featured in the Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass, 6th ed., at p. 56.  The SEOG notes that the Dugan pattern is usually found in a rose bowl shape in carnival glass and occasionally surfaces in Dugan's early speckled glass.  Only two pieces are known in opalescent glass:  two small white and green bowls with ribbon-candy edges.  These lack the distinctive scalloped-skirt base of the pieces featured above, and Dugan's Honeycomb has never been documented in vase shapes.  A carnival glass rosebowl in Dugan's Honeycomb pattern is shown at David Doty's carnival glass website (ddoty.com/honeycomb.html).

One final note may be helpful in aiding collectors in distinguishing Opal Honeycomb from another early opalescent glass pattern known under two names -- Honeycomb and, alternately, Hobbs Honeycomb -- which is found in a variety of (non-vase) shapes including pitchers, tumblers, cracker jars, barber bottles, oil lamps and syrups.  Hobbs Honeycomb unfortunately has been jumbled in with Opal Honeycomb in glass literature, and this has contributed to the misattribution of both patterns to the West Virginia Company, Hobbs, Brockunier. 

Hobbs Honeycomb was first identified by William Heacock, in his 1975 publication, Opalescent Glass from A to Z.  In that book, Heacock featured an opalescent pitcher with a hexagon pattern he called "Honeycomb, Opalescent" and tentatively attributed it to Hobbs, Brockunier (p. 42, fig. 275).  This Hobbs Honeycomb pattern reappeared in Heacock's posthumously published 2000 revised edition of Opalescent Glass from A-Z  (p. 68, fig. 881).  The revised edition's editor, JoAnnElmore, wrote that the attribution of "Hobbs Honeycomb" pieces to Hobbs, Brockunier was questionable, and that the pattern might have have been made by Phoenix, Northwood, Dugan or even a British glass works.  Neither the 1975 nor the 2000 editions included Opal Honeycomb vases.  The Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass subsequently erroneously conflated the so-called Hobbs Honeycomb pattern and Opal Honeycomb vases under a single heading, "Honeycomb" (see, e.g., the SEOG's sixth edition, p. 79).  This has resulted in considerable confusion for collectors. Whatever the Hobbs Honeycomb pattern's origin, it does not appear in vase shapes and is quite distinguishable from Opal Honeycomb:   Hobbs Honeycomb pieces lack the distinctive toothed rim and scalloped skirt base of Opal Honeycomb pieces.  And Heacock never attributed the Opal Honeycomb pattern to Hobbs or speculated in any publication about a possible maker for the pattern.

 

EAPG Honeycomb Vases

Honeycomb patterns were quite prevalent in EAPG.  from 1903-1906, the Steimer Glass Company of Tennerton, West Virginia issued the vase shown above, which is fairly similar to Opal Honeycomb in clear glass from 1903-1906.  The Steimer pattern is known by three different names -- Chicken Wire, Sawtoothed Honeycomb and Dutch Diamond.  (The Union Stopper Company of Morgantown, West Virginia later bought Steimer's molds and re-issued the Chicken Wire vase pattern in 1909.) 

Chicken Wire vases feature a stretched hexagon pattern accentuated with short crosshatchings, and lack the toothed rim and skirt base of Opal Honeycomb vases.  The vases are 5 1/2" tall - celery vase size --with bases measuring 3 7/8" in diameter; the bases are impressed underneath with a geometrical pattern.   A photograph of a Chicken Wire vase can be found in Dorothy Daugherty's wonderfully detailed Celery Vases:  Art Glass, Pattern Glass and Cut Glass (Schiffer 2007), at p. 17.  A toothpick, pitcher and spooner featuring the Chicken Wire pattern can be viewed at the website of Patternglass.com (www.patternglass.com).

Hexagon designs on glassware long predate the heyday of opalescent glass. Between 1865 and 1880, a number of glass works produced (non-opalescent) EAPG glassware bearing Honeycomb or Hexagon designs, among them Bellaire, Boston Silver & Glass Co., Doyle & Co., Bakewell, Pears & Co., Gillinder & Sons, Gierson & Co., McKee, New England Glass, O'Hara Glass and U.S. Glass.  From 1899 to 1903, U.S. Glass also produced its well-known Vermont pattern, which consists of hexagons with floral designs  (Reilly & Jenks, Early American Pattern Glass, pp. 255, 482).

 

Hex Optic Depression Glass

A Hex Optic sugar bowl
issued by Jeanette Glass, circa 1928

          The opalescent Honeycomb vases featured in this guide occasionally appear on E-Bay listed under the name "Hex Optic".  This name is derived from the Depression Glass era, when the Jeannette Glass Company issued its now widely-collected Hex Optic glassware.  Jeanette's Hex Optic pattern consists of hexagons that interlock to form a honeycomb design. According to Gene & Cathy Florence, authors of Depression Glass, 18th ed. (p. 96), Hex Optic was one of the earliest Depression glass patterns, dating to 1928.  Hex Optic was issued in a broad array of shapes from sugar shakers to ice buckets, in pink and green from 1928-1932; in ultramarine blue in the late 1930's; and in iridescent glass in the 1950's.  Jeannette's Hex Optic pieces appear frequently on E-Bay.

Click here to continue on to Part 3, or click on one of the the links below.

___________________  o __________________

          Table of Contents - Opalescent Vases  (1898-1930)
          Part 1:   Jewels & Drapery vases
          Part 2:   Vases with honeycomb patterns
          Part 3:   Ribbed vases                                                                                          
          Part 4:   Vases with panels                                                                 
          Part 5:   Vases with ring and spiral patterns
          Part 6:   Basketweave and Little Nell vases
          Part 7:    Vases with maze patterns                                    
          Part 8:    Canary opalescent vases of unknown origin                                       
          
          Other ID Guides to Early Opalescent Vases (1898-1930)
          Jefferson Glass Co. Opalescent Vases    
          Opalescent Vases with Carnival Twins 
                                                                       

________ o ________

Many thanks to E-bayers   johnsmolen,  lucas676902fj,  tvmdc2  and unclechamps,  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) 2007, 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.   PLEASE LEAVE FEEDBACK ON THIS GUIDE BY PRESSING THE BUTTON BELOW.   To access our other guides, just click here:  GUIDE INDEX.