Wishing Everyone a happy Thanksgiving holiday!
The Myth of Antique Celery Vases
As I was preparing this Thanksgiving e-card I went through a number of pre 1910 postcards looking for ones that caught my eye. I took note of something that made me pause for a moment and take a second look at some of them. I found that in the ones that showed a nicely set table there was something present that was a bit of a surprise to me. I have read on a couple of different forums over the last few years and had a number of discussions in the shop with people that did not believe that people actually used celery vases. Yes, celery vases! It seems that some people seem to think that they were just called a celery vase and that it was just a type of flower vase that one got that matched their glassware pattern. Some people can not give credence to the fact that celery could have been that important!
Celery is rather difficult to grow. As referenced in the PDF e-booklet from Cornell University,
"GROWING CELERY. Perhaps the most difficult vegetable to grow in many areas.
"GROWING CELERY. Perhaps the most difficult vegetable to grow in many areas.
"
Because of advances in hybridization in this last century, celery plants are way more hardy and have been breed to be easier to grow now. Even so it is still considered a difficult plant to grow conveniently at home.
Because of the rather difficult nature of growing celery and it not being available in many areas, it became a great luxury for the wealthy and every one wanted to show off that they to could afford this delicious and great looking plant. What a better way to serve it than in a vase of water(to keep it fresh and crisp)and let your guests see it on your table in all of it's expensive glory! Also in a sparkling glass container that's in the same pattern as the rest of your glassware.
Almost every late 19th century and early 20th century American glass pattern included a celery vase in their offerings. The popularity of the celery vase is shown by the many patterns they occur. Being that most of them are not very rare today, seems to lead many into thinking that people did not use them. The truth of the matter is, they were cherished and taken very good care of because they were considered a necessity to any meal where one wanted to let their company know how much they cared. Many of them are so common that they really have little value, given their age, especially some of the clear glass ones.
I was so surprised to find among my collection of pre-1910 postal cards that some of them actually showed celery vases in use! The one I chose of Uncle Sam and his Thanksgiving Meal shows that even Uncle Sam himself considered the celery vase a table necessity! These cards were printed in the hundred of thousands and clearly show that the celery vase was a common feature of the dinning table for millions of average American households. The fact that celery vases are still commonly found after all this time and that they show up in so many of these antique post cards seems to indicate that celery vases were ubiquitously used by the masses.
One of my favorite websites for Celery Vases is The Celery Vase Store at patternglass.com
