10/14/13 Millersburg Glass Association holds first auction, meet and greet

  • Staff Reports
  • October 9, 2013
  • 435
                        
SUMMARY: Auction sees rare Peacock at Urn bowl sell for $25,000 When the Millersburg Glass Association formed last year, its goal was to educate collectors and the public about the unique place Millersburg glass holds in the history of carnival glass. At its first auction and a members only meet and greet Oct. 4 - 5, the association seems to be meeting its goals. The Oct. 5 auction featured a never before seen vase only recently confirmed to be made by the Millersburg Glass Company. Collectors at the Oct. 4 members only meet and greet talked ‘mystery’ Peacock at Urn bowls and the mix and match nature of patterns, colors and variants that make Millersburg Glass so special. “We started this club a year ago for the basic reason that a lot of people are uneducated on Millersburg,” MGA president Randy Jones said. “The association is a good way to teach people and learn some things ourselves.” The collected knowledge of such an association is necessary to anyone interested in Millersburg glass. For example, carnival glass must be iridized to be considered carnival. Millersburg’s iridescence comes in two forms: Satiny, and radium. Radium has sharp, sparkling iridescence, and satiny, as its name implies, has a softer sheen. Radium was highlighted in many of the item descriptions, whereas satin was not. So, radium must be more valuable, right? Wrong, Steve Maag, MGA vice-president, who also assisted in the Saturday, Oct. 5 auction, said. “Not always,” Maag said. “It depends on the piece, the color and the pattern.” Learning about patterns is a wealth of knowledge in and of itself. A piece of crystal in the sale in the Ohio Star pattern probably dates from 1906, collector Dave Cotton said. This doesn’t seem possible because the Millersburg Glass Company started in 1909. However, the mold probably came from a Fenton Glass pattern, Cotton said - on loan to Millersburg Glass company founder John Fenton from his brothers, who formed the Fenton Art Glass company. Cotton brought a rare vase that sold for the first time at a collector’s auction. The vase was in the Four Pillars pattern, a pattern only recently identified as Millersburg. There was some question, even after 100 years, whether the Four Pillars vases were all made by the Northwood glass company. However, a dig at the old glass plant in the 1990s by a local collector turned up shards that matched the suspected Millersburg Four Pillars vases completely. Cotton’s vase is a whimsy, with the glassmaker having put a twist in the middle. The vase sold for $1,700. The top lot of the auction was a Peacock at Urn tri-corner bowl. The piece was originally a round, 11 inch bowl that a glassmaker turned three of the edges up on. Already a rare piece, it had a very nice radium iridescence. It sold for $25,000. The next best piece of the auction was a butter dish in the Hobstar and Feather pattern. It is a common pattern in Millersburg crystal (clear glass that has not been iridized) but rare when found poured in a color and iridized. It had a radium iridescence that auctioneer Jim Wroda referred to as “blasting” and sold for $7,000. And the ‘mystery’ bowls? The fun is spotting the mystery, a variant from other Peacock at Urn patterns. (Hint: It has to do with the flowers in the urn). The MGA plans to hold a larger, 300 - plus lot auction on the courthouse square next year during Antique Festival weekend. Membership in the MGA is $15 per year. Members get a quarterly newsletter filled with stories and information about Millersburg glass.
For more information or to join the Millersburg Glass Association, visit www.millersburgglass.com/.


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