Tiny Tears vase - Model Flint Vase - Corinth Vase - Many Ribs Vase

ID GUIDE, Part 3:

MISCELLANEOUS  OPALESCENT  VASES (1898-1912):

Ribbed Vases

   

Model Flint Many Ribs vase, circa 1900-1902
photo by t-rextreasures

Introduction

        This is Part 3 of a seven-part guide series on American pressed-glass opalescent vases manufactured at end of the Victorian Era, around the turn of the century (1898-1912).   Part 1  and Part 2 showed vases with drapery and honeycomb patterns.  This section, Part 3, features ribbed vases:  Model Flint's Many Ribs; Corinth, issued by U.S. Glass; and Tiny Tears, a vase of unknown origin.  The other parts of this guide can be accessed by clicking on links in the Table of Contents at the bottom of the page.

          This guide series focuses on miscellaneous opalescent vases not covered in our guides on the Jefferson, Northwood, Dugan, Fenton and Imperial glass companies.  If you are trying to identify an early opalescent ribbed vase and don't see it here, try consulting our guide on easily confused ribbed vases.  That guide shows five early opalescent ribbed vases made by the Jefferson, Northwood and Fenton companies. 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.

Photographic Gallery
of Opalescent Vases

 

Canary and blue opalescent Many Ribs vases,
made by Model Flint Glass Co., circa 1900-1902

photos by curculiosglass

Many Ribs (Model Flint).  This vase is a product of the Model Flint Glass Company, a short-lived glass works whose production years just barely extended into the Twentieth Century.  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 1900, the Model Flint plant became part of the National Glass Company.  Before closing in 1902, Flint/National produced a number of opalescent patterns, among them the Many Ribs vase featured above, and the Ribbed Spiral vase (shown in Part 5).

Mouth of blue opalescent Many Ribs vase
photo by curculiosglass

Many Ribs vases have a distinctive design of 18 wide ribs:  6 tall ribs alternate with 6 pairs of slightly shorter ribs.  The ribs terminate in slightly knobby ends at the top rim, and the vase mouth is slightly flared.  The vase's 3" marie base is divided into three concentric sections on top and is smooth and patternless underneath.  Many Ribs vases usually appear in heights between 7" and 8".  The yellow vase shown above left measures 7 1/2" and the blue vase measures 8".  Model Flint's Many Ribs vases are referenced on p. 95 of the Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass, 6th ed. 

Model Flint issued Many Ribs vases in three colors:  white, canary (vaseline-yellow) and blue.  Blue and canary are equally valuable, followed by white.  The intensity of the coloring varies from one vase to the next;  according to Ron Teal, author of Albany Glass (p. 44), this variation resulted from the degree to which the vases were "swung" or stretched.  Although they are rarely featured in standard well-known works on vaseline glass, Model Flint's Many Ribs canary-opalescent vases fluoresce bright green under a black light. 

Only one known specimen of a carnival glass Model Flint Many Ribs vase exists:  the iridescent vase is aqua opal, and stands 7 1/2" tall with a 3 1/16" base.  The vase is in the collection of Don and Becky Hamlet; a photograph of the vase is featured at David Doty's website (ddoty.com/miniribs.html).  Doty speculates that the iridescent vase, oddly enough, may have been made by Northwood.

Northwood did issue an opalescent vase known by the name "Many Ribs".   That vase, however -- which is the precursor's of Northwood's carnival Fine Rib vases -- is very different from an impossible to confuse with the Model Flint Many Ribs vase.  Photographs of Northood's Many Ribs vase can be found in our guide on Northwood opalescent and carnival vase twins.  

To read more about the history of the Model Flint Glass Company, and to view other Model Flint vases, visit our guide on Model Flint celery vases .

     

Corinth (U.S. Glass).  This very old and elegant vase pattern  features 12 ribs that run from the vase's base to its rim, which has 12 rounded, slightly pulled-up points.  The vase is found in white and blue opalescent glass.  Corinth vases are featured in the Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass, 4th edition, at p. 42, which shows a blue opalescent Corinth vase that measures 11" in height.  The vase shown here is 8 3/4" tall with a 2" base diameter. This vase is a product of the United States Glass Company of  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

U.S. Glass began production of opalescent pressed glass quite early -- on November 4, 1891, the trade journal China, Glass and Lamps announced that U.S. Glass was issuing "a large assortment of hyacinth vases in flint, blue, ruby and pink opalescent glass".  Nearly a year later, on August 3, 1892, the same journal proclaimed that the company had presented a display at a glass exhibition of  "the finest, most extensive and most varied collection of pressed an blown glassware ever collected together for commercial purposes in this or any other country".  Among the items presented were "highly finished" opalescent pieces.  U.S. Glass issued the Corinth vase as its pattern #15021.

The United States Glass Company has an interesting history.  The company was founded in the 1800's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a consortium of 17 glass firms that consolidated in order to succeed in the glass market at the end of the Victorian era.  The company's principal factories were located in Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.  The website tumblerworld writes that "over time it has become all but impossible to tell which of the factories made which patterns" (tumblerworld.com/USGlass.html).  In 1892, U.S. Glass merged with A.J. Beatty & Sons, a glassworks originally founded in Steubenville, Ohio.  Nevertheless, well into the 1920's, the company's products continued to be marked with a paper U.S. Glass  label and the letters "USG" joined within a gold shield.  In 1938, the offices of U.S. Glass were moved from Pittsburgh to Tiffin, Ohio.  U.S. Glass closed in 1963.  The company is also known for its decorated pressed glass and carnival, satin and stretch glass.

The Corinth vase pattern later resurfaced in carnival glass.  Iridescent Corinth vases are well-known to carnival glass collectors as a product of the Westmoreland Glass Company of Grapeville, Pennsylania, which issued the pattern from 1904 to 1910 in a variety of carnival (iridescent) colors.  An example of a handsome Westmoreland iridescent carnival glass Corinth vase is shown below: 

A Westmoreland blue opal carnival glass Corninth vase
photo courtesy of bug54

As shown above, Westmoreland's carnival Corinth vases also featured 12 ribs that terminated in rounded points.  Sellers of the earlier-vintage opalescent vases thus understandably sometimes misidentify them as a Westmoreland product as well.  (Even the earlier editions of the Standard Encylopedia of Opalescent Glass mistakenly list the opalescent vase as a Westmoreland product.)  As noted above, however, the true maker of the original opalescent vase, and the true designer of the pattern, was the United States Glass Company of  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

        

White opalescent Tiny Tears vase, c. 1903-1910
photos courtesy of curculiosglass

Tiny Tears.  This vase pattern appears very infrequently on E-bay.  The Tiny Tears vase features vertical ribs that run from the vase's rim to a circlet of oval, tearlike shapes at the bottom.  The vase has a flared mouth with six ruffles.  The underside of the marie base bears an impressed 28-point star, enclosed in a ring formed of closely spaced lines; the lines are visible through the top of the base:

         

Detail photo of base of a Tiny Tears vase,
showing the circlet of tear-shaped drops and the rayed base

photo by curculiosglass

Tiny Tears vases are referenced on p. 151 of the Standard Encyclopedia of Opalescent Glass, 6th ed., which approximates their date of manufacture at 1903-1910, but the vases' maker remains unknown.  The SEOG notes that the vases must come in the usual opalescent colors of blue, green and white; we have never seen the vase in blue and white only.  The white vase shown above appeared on E-Bay in 2008.  The vase is 16" tall, with a 3 1/2" base.  Two blue opalescent vases also have surfaced on E-Bay:  a 12 1/2" vase in 2007; a 15 15/16" vase in June, 2009.

To continue on to Part 4, click here, or click on one of the links below.

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          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)
          Easily Confused Ribbed Vases
          Model Flint Celery Vases
          Jefferson Glass Co. Opalescent Vases    
          Opalescent Vases with Carnival Twins 

           ________ o ________

Many thanks to E-bayers  bug54,  tomiecentury21lemac  and  t-rexteasures,  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.