FENTON'S STAG & HOLLY:
How to Tell the Beautiful Genuine Article
from the Fakes

by curculiosglass

  
Detail from Marigold Stag & Holly
Carnival Glass Bowl, circa 1912
photo by curculiosglass

             Fenton's Stag & Holly carnival glass is among the most beautiful of old American pressed glassware.  We encourage prospective buyers to consider bidding on the many outstanding examples of Stag & Holly that become available each year on E-Bay.  

            Nevertheless, as often happens to fine old things, the Stag & Holly pattern's beauty and popularity have spawned imitations that are pawned off as originals.  For this reason, for the protection of buyers and honest sellers alike, we're posting this guide on Fenton's Stag & Holly pattern -- to help you tell the genuine article from the shameless fake; to let you know which authentic pieces of Stag & Holly are especially rare and interesting; and to inform you of the array of colors and pieces in which genuine old Fenton Stag & Holly is available.

          Recently on E-Bay, a few fake Stag & Holly bowls have been sold as Fenton originals to unsuspecting buyers -- at high prices.   Please exercise caution before bidding on Stag & Holly three-footed bowls.  Here are good rules of thumb for buying genuine Stag & Holly and avoiding the fakes:
 

Rules of Thumb for Buying Stag & Holly Bowls

1. NEVER buy white carnival bowls believing that they're genuine originals.  Fenton never issued Stag & Holly bowls in white carnival glass.  A fake white bowl is shown below.  (Buy a white bowl only if you're interested in a reproduction -- and then buy from a seller who identifies the bowl as a reproduction; you'll get a fairer price.)

2. Exercise caution with carnival glass red, blue and purple (amethyst) bowls.  In addition, be aware that transparent pink and "ice blue" knockoffs advertised as "Depression Glass" have been reported, as have reproductions of "Jadite" bowls.  Read below about how to distinguish the real carnival, Depression and jade-green bowls from the frauds, and look at our photographs of originals and fakes. 

3. Be wary of sales tactics:  Sellers of fraudulent bowls may engage in the following tactics.  They fail to clearly state  that a fake bowl is a reproduction.  They feign ignorance about how to tell real from fake bowls, even after your questions refer them to Internet sources notifying them of the facts.  They post photos that are blurry or insufficiently detailed.  To give an example of how reproductions should  be sold, in 2007 an honest seller posted a listing that read, simply:  "Stag & Holly White Carnival Glass Bowl (Reproduction).  Fenton made a Stag & Holly Bowl, but not in this white carnival glass color -- this is a reproduction and issue from another company."

4. Protect yourself from a bad sale.   If you find that you have bid on or bought a fraudulent Stag & Holly bowl thinking it is real, you should contact the seller and give him or her the chance to respond graciously.  A seller, like a buyer, may not know that a given piece is a reproduction.  If the seller does not react responsibly, alert E-Bay in order to protect yourself and other bidders, and if necessary, take action through PayPal.  The policy "buyer beware" does not apply to circumstances in which a seller has secured a high price by leading buyers to believe that a fake is a genuine original. 

5. Compare original bowls on E-Bay.  As noted, genuine Stag & Holly bowls, plates and rose bowls are sold on E-Bay every month.  After reading the information below, take a look at original bowls to get a sense of what the genuine pattern is like.  Notably, carnival bowls in marigold, green, aqua and a host of other colors have not been reproduced.  Fenton's Stag & Holly plates, nut bowls, rose-bowls and spade-footed bowls also have not been reproduced; all known fakes are in the scroll-footed large bowl shape.  This guide provides information on the shapes, sizes and colors of genuine 1912 Stag & Holly carnival, as well as authentic Stag & Holly 1932 pink and green Depression glass, 1929 jade-green glass and 1916 black glassware.

CARNIVAL GLASS FAKES:
Blue, Red, White & Purple Scroll-footed Bowls

    
                                                       
Fake Blue and Red Stag & Holly Scroll-footed Bowls
Note the lack of iridescence; the bowls are clear cobalt-blue and red glass.
The stags on these bowls have tongues, but the tongues don't stick out.

          So far, Stag & Holly fakes are restricted to three-footed bowls such as the ones shown above.  These reproduced pieces may appear in a ruffled shape, like the blue bowl above, or in a flat ice-cream shape, like the red bowl.  All have "scroll" feet, like those in the above photographs:  scroll feet are ball-shaped, and from the side show a design that looks a little like a rolled-up ream of paper.  The ruffled bowls are approximately 9 to 9 1/2" wide, and the ice-cream shaped roughly 10 1/2".  These reproductions are meant to mimic a large Stag & Holly footed bowl made by the Fenton Art Glass Company in 1912.

          According to the authors Margaret & Kenn Whitmyer of Fenton Art Glass, 1907-1939, 2nd ed. (2003), p. 94:  "A poor quality reproduction of the large 3-footed bowl has appeared in cobalt, ruby and iridized white opalescent.  Fenton never produced this pattern in these colors."  It is now well-established that the false bowls were issued by a company called AA Importing in the 1990's -- and they may continue to be issued.  A purple iridescent bowl also has surfaced. 

          Red and Blue bowls.    Red or "ruby" fakes, and blue or "cobalt" fakes, such as the ones shown above, are easily distinguished from carnival glass, because the fakes are not iridized. They're simply colored glass.  Fenton did issue red and cobalt-blue carnival glass bowls, but these genuine bowls are iridized -- that is, they have a coating that makes them show a rainbow play of light on the surface.  All carnival glass is, by definition, iridescent.  Photographs of a genuine red carnival Stag & Holly bowl are shown toward the end of this guide.  Additional note: Sometimes fake purple bowls are marketed as "blue" or "electric blue," so if you're looking at an iridescent blue bowl, read about the purple bowls below as well.

          White bowls.  White bowls are trickier, because their opalescence mimics somewhat the iridescence of white carnival glass.  Nevertheless, you can dismiss any white bowl by remembering that Fenton never issued white Stag & Holly carnival bowls.  (None of the authoritative sources on carnival glass, including Warman's Fenton Glass, the Standard Encyclopedia of Carnival Glass and ddoty.com -- list "white" as a color of Fenton's Stag & Holly carnival.)  Here is a photograph of a white Stag & Holly reproduction:

White Stag & Holly Reproduction
Note the bowl's opalized iridescent quality.
The seller of this bowl described it accurately,
as a product of the AA Importing Co.

photo courtesy of  kmhoppel

              Occasionally, sellers of these reproduced white bowls will try to pawn them off as "opalescent" rather than carnival glass. According to the authoritative source,  Whitmyer's Fenton Art Glass 1907-1939 (pp. 16 &19), Fenton did issue Stag & Holly in 3-footed 11" bowls in opalescent  glass from 1908 to 1912, in amethyst, blue, green and a clear-to-white color called "crystal opalescent".  However, this fact should not persuade you to buy a white reproduction such as that shown above, thinking it might be an authentic Fenton opalescent bowl.  First of all, true opalescent bowls were considerably bigger -- 11" -- while the reproductions tend to run 9" - 9 1/2".  (The bowl pictured above is 9 1/2").  Second, the white reproductions have an iridescent sheen -- Fenton's early opalescent glass does not.   More notably, Fenton's "crystal opalescent" pieces are see-through; the pieces show markedly transparent glass that fades into an opaque, milky white glass toward the rim.  Reproduced white bowls, by contrast, are white from rim to rim, like the bowl shown above.  Finally, the stags on Fenton's opalescent bowls have almond-shaped eyes and protruding tongues -- details explained further immediately below.

Detail of Stag's Head on Genuine Green Carnival Bowl:
Note the oval eye and protruding tongue.
The deer in the corner inset is on a fake white bowl: 
his eye is round, and his tongue just barely protrudes from his mouth.

photos by todd6500 (green stag) and kmhoppel

            Purple (Amethyst) Iridescent Bowls:   A purple iridescent knockoff also exists; in photographs, it looks distressingly like an amethyst carnival glass bowl.  Both genuine and fake purple bowls tend to be marketed on E-Bay as "amethyst," "black amethyst," and  "electric purple."  Fakes are even occasionally advertised as "electric blue," because dark colors are difficult for buyers to distinguish in sales photographs.  To tell fake purple bowls from real ones, you need to know that there are general differences between all authentic Stag & Holly Bowls and the knockoffs.  These are noted below.

          General Differences between All Genuine and all Fake Bowls:   A number of traits distinguish genuine Stag & Holly bowls from all fakes (whatever the color).  The following have been noted by various carnival glass authorities:

(1)  Tongues.  As shown in the above photograph, in genuine Stag & Holly bowls, the stags'  tongues stick out far.  In the reproductions, the tongues are visible, but they lie mostly within the stags' open mouths, with barely a tongue-tip sticking out.

(2)  Eyes.  In Warman's Carnival Glass, p, 153, the authors note that the stags' eyes on the fake bowls are round.  As shown in the above photograph, the stags on the real bowls have eyes that are "almond-shaped" --  that is, shaped like a pumpkin seed, or a narrow oval pointed at both ends.  In the inset photo of the fake white bowl, the stag's eye is round.

(3) Quality of Edging.  David Doty also reports that the edge ruffles on fakes may look tacked on:

    
Edges of Fake (top) and Genuine bowls
Edges of the fake purple or "electric blue" bowl
look tacked on, while on the authentic bowl (bottom),
the edges are a continuation of the bowl.

(4) Size of Bowl.  Our own observation is that knock-offs of the ruffled bowls -- whether clear, iridized, opalized, or described as "Depression Glass" or "Jadite," uncannily all seem to appear in the same cookie-cutter size -- they all hover around 9 to 9 1/2" in width.  We would be interested in hearing from other E-Bayers about their observations of the dimensions of known Stag & Holly fakes.

(5) Side-by-Side Comparison of Genuine and Fake Bowls.  There are other ways to distinguish the bowls, but these are of limited value to the casual buyer, because they require that you have a genuine bowl handy that you can view side-by-side with the possible fake.  Nevertheless, the differences are notable:  (a) the real bowls show far more detail in the deer and holly design; (b) the fake bowls have smaller collar bases underneath; and (c) in the originals, each stag's mouth is closer to the holly branch in front of him than is true in the fake bowls. After you read this guide and look at its photographs of carnival, Depression and jade-green bowls below, we strongly recommend that you check the website of carnival glass authority David Doty.  The site shows several pictures of reproduced red and purple bowls, and compares them to photographs of genuine bowls (see ddoty.com/stagholly.html).

         

GENUINE STAG & HOLLY CARNIVAL GLASS

A Scarce Genuine Red Carnival Glass Bowl, circa 1912
photo courtesy of antiquersfind

           As noted above, the Fenton Art Glass Company issued carnival glass bearing the Stag & Holly pattern in 1912.  The pattern is referenced in the Standard Encyclopedia of Carnival Glass, 11th ed., p. 248.  The Stag & Holly design features a repeated picture of four stags separated by holly berries and leaves.  As shown above, at the center of the pattern is a magnificent, many-petaled chrysanthemum.  The Stag & Holly design appears only on the inside of bowls, rose bowls and nut bowls; the outside of these pieces is plain.  On plates, the pattern appears on the top, and the plate back is plain.

          Carnival Glass Shapes   

          David Doty, the SECG, Warman's Carnival Glass, and Fenton Art Glass 1907-1939  record that genuine Fenton Stag & Holly was issued in the following carnival shapes:

Small bowls with spade feet:  roughly 7- 8"  wide; ruffled or "ice-cream shaped" (i.e., with a round, unruffled shape).  A small spade-footed bowl is shown below; these bowls are sometimes referred to as "spatula-footed".

Large bowls with scroll feet:  roughly 9-11" wide; ruffled, or "ice-cream shaped".  This is the sole shape that has been reproduced. 

Plates:   these come in three sizes:  small plates are 6 1/2" or 9-10", and large "chop" plates are 12-13"; the chop plates have a round or collar base.  The SECG characterizes the plates as "scarce". 

Nut bowls with scroll feet:  roughly 7 1/2"wide.

Small rose bowls with spade feet :   made from the small bowl mould; characterized as "scarce" by the SECG. 

Large rose bowls with scroll feet:   made from the same mould as the large bowls and chop plates; ddoty.com describes the large rose bowl as "highly desirable and quite rare".   A photograph of a large blue rose bowl can be see at the bottom of the "2007 auction photos" page at Doty's website (ddoty.com/2007photos.html).

A bowl whimsey, whose "feet don't touch the table" is reported at ddoty.com; the bowl is amber-colored.

 

A Genuine Red Spade-Footed or "Spatula-Footed" Small Bowl:
As of 2007, spade-footed bowls have not been reproduced.
photos courtesy of  antiquersfind

            As noted above, reproductions exist in red, blue and purple.  Nevertheless, genuine Stag & Holly was made in these colors as well.  According to Fenton's Art Glass and Doty's field guide, Fenton issued genuine pieces in red, blue and purple in the following shapes:  Red -- small and large bowls.  Blue -- small and large bowls; 9-10" plates; nut bowls; small and large rose bowls.   Amethyst (purple) -- small bowls; large bowls; 6 1/2" - 12" plates; nut bowls.           

           Fenton also issued the Stag & Holly pattern in a number of carnival colors that have not yet been reproduced.  These include marigold, green,  and aqua. According to David Doty's field guide and  Fenton Art Glass, 1907-1939, 2nd ed., p. 94, the following genuine Stag & Holly carnival pieces were issued in these colors:   Marigold -- small and large bowls; all three plate sizes; rose bowls; nut bowls.   Green --  small and large bowls.  Aqua -- large bowls.

         Ddoty.com and the SECG, also record that genuine 1912 Stag & Holly carnival was made in 13 other harder-to-find colors.  These unusual colors also have not been reproduced.  Large Bowls -- In large ruffled and ice-cream-shaped bowls, these colors include amber, amberina, black amethyst, lavender, lime green, marigold-over-moonstone, oxblood, sapphire, smoke, teal and vaseline.  Doty's field guide (p. 218) notes the existence of powder-blue and smoky-blue large ruffled bowls as well.  Ddoty.com and Doty's field guide also record sales of the following shapes in unusual colors:  Small Bowls -- smoke, teal and vaseline;  Plates -- smoke;  Large Rose Bowls -- powder-blue.   

          A note on reproduced "ice" colors:  Please note that Stag & Holly was not made in "ice" colors such as "ice blue" and "ice green."  Occasionally, Depression glass (transparent glass) knockoffs are marketed under these names.  Finally, as noted above, Fenton never issued Stag & Holly carnival bowls in white.

STAG & HOLLY  GENUINE AND FAKE
GREEN AND PINK DEPRESSION GLASS

 

Authentic Green and Pink Depression Glass Stag & Holly Bowls, circa 1932
photos by antiquesbyal and rangerlalas_intrinsic_ collectibles 

          Vintage carnival glass is roughly defined as iridescent glass made between 1907 and the late 1920's.  Depression glass is defined as colored glassware made from the early 1920's up to the 1970's.  With some exceptions, Depression glass typically lacks both iridescence and opalescence.  Depression glass is often a transparent pink or green.

          In 1932, Fenton produced Stag & Holly Bowls under the name "Fenton #1608" in pink and green transparent glass usually identified on E-Bay as "Depression glass."  The bowls measure 10" to 11.5"  in width and appear in two forms:  a shallow bowl with a scalloped edge (shown above), and a slightly deeper crimped bowl.  The green and pink bowls can be found referenced in Whitmyer's Fenton Art Glass, 1907-1939, 2nd ed., at pp. 182 (green) and 218 (pink).  Fenton called these colors "green transparent" and  "rose."  The green bowls fluoresce green under a black light.

        Depression Glass "Ice-Blue" and Pink Knock-offs.  The emergence of  Stag & Holly knockoffs in new colors and kinds of glass is always possible.  Fake transparent Stag & Holly bowls measuring 9 1/2" and described as "ice-blue Depression glass" have been advertised recently on the Internet.  In addition, pink reproductions measuring from 9" to 9 1/2"  have been reported.  Thus, it's worth emphasizing that on Fenton's genuine Depression glass bowls, the stags have almond-shaped eyes, and their tongues protrude quite far from their mouths, just as in the carnival originals.  Pattern details in transparent Depression glass are notoriously hard to photograph;  thus, we are fortunate to have a close-up photograph of a genuine pink bowl here, so that sellers and buyers know how the original Depression glass design appears:

Detail of Stag's Head in Genuine Pink Depression Glass Bowl
Note the almond-shaped eye and protruding tongue.
photo by rangerlalas_intrinsic_ collectibles 

JADE-GREEN BOWLS
AND REPRODUCTIONS

Reproduction of Jade-Green Stag & Holly Bowl
photo courtesy of mommabettyj

          Fenton produced a Jadite-like, milky green glass from 1921 until 1930.  Information on the glass, which Fenton called "Jade Green," can be found in Warman's Fenton Glass by Mark F. Moran (2004), pp. 96-97.  In 1929, Fenton issued the Stag & Holly pattern in jade-green glass under the name "Fenton's #1608"  in 10" shallow bowls with scalloped edges, and slightly deeper bowls with crimped edges.  These bowls are referenced on p. 190 of  Fenton Art Glass 1907 to 1939, and a picture of a bowl is shown on page 189.  On these bowls, the Stag & Holly design is identical to that of genuine Depression and carnival glass bowls:  that is, the stags have protruding tongues and almond-shaped eyes, and the bowls' edges appear to be part of the glass and not tacked on. The design is very detailed.  This bowl has been reproduced.  The reproduction looks as if it were made from the same mold as the non-iridized blue and red bowls; it is ruffled and measures 9 1/2", and the stags featured on it have round eyes, and tongues that just barely protrude from their mouths.

OTHER FENTON STAG & HOLLY:
BLACK GLASSWARE and CLEAR CRYSTAL

         A last note on Fenton's early Stag and Holly:   Fenton Art Glass 1907 to 1939 (p. 168) notes that in 1916, Fenton issued a 10" Stag & Holly scroll-footed bowl in "black glassware".   A picture of a black Stag & Holly bowl can be found on p. 169.   These bowls are unusual:  they're opaque black, and have a scalloped rim that is rolled downward.  Like the jade-green and Depression glass bowls, the black Stag & Holly bowls also went by the name "Fenton's #1608". 

        Fenton Art Glass 1907 to 1939, p. 331, also provides a photograph of a small Stag & Holly rose bowl issued by Fenton in clear, colorless crystal.  That resource assigns a book value of $60 to the rose bowl.  The date of issue is not given. 

          ____________ o ____________

          This guide was made possible by the many E-Bayers who came together to contribute photographs to the project.  Many thanks to E-Bayers  antiquersfind,  antiquesbyal,  kmhoppel,  mommabettyj,  rangerlalas_intrinsic_ collectibles  and  todd6500  for generously contributing their photographs. 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.   To read our other guides, click  GUIDE INDEX.