The Myth of Antique Celery Vases and a Happy Thanksgiving to All

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.

"

 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

Northwood Alaska Blue Opalescent Glass Sugar & Creamer and Unkown Double Hobstar Bowl

 I had a young woman come into South Coast Antiques & Gallery the other day and sell me some really nice blue opalescent glass pieces. She had a sugar bowl and creamer that are in the northwood pattern known as "Alaska". The "Alaska" pattern was made by the Northwood Glass Company and dates between 1898-1903.  This is a pattern that I was not familiar with. I went online and typed into the Google search engine, "blue opalescent sugar bowl" and was suprised to find almost immeadiatly a thumbnail image of 26 pieces that had been previously been sold.

Northwood Alaska Blue Opalescent Glass Sugar & Creamer Circa 1898-1903

This site told me who made my pieces and what pattern this was. I did a bit of checking around to verify that this was correct information, beacause contary to popular belief just because it is on the internet does not necessarily make it correct information. 

I then looked around online and was suprised at how easy it is to fimd pieces avalable and at moderatly reasonable prices. 

Northwood Alaska Blue Opalescent Glass Creamer 

 I find this pattern truly beautiful and in my opinion it epitomizes the high Victorian tastes of the turn of the century.  The feet on these pieces are what are known as "Lion's Legs". 

Please note that these pieces were photographed before they were cleaned. There is some dust and a small amount of dirt that shows up in the images.  What looks like dirt also in the images is actually traces of what was once gilding on the edges.

Bottom detail of Northwood Alaska Blue Opalescent Glass Sugar Bowl

Blue Opalescent Glass Bowl Double Hobstar Design Eva

There was a third piece of glass, a bowl in the same blue opalescent type of glass. This piece has benn driving me crazy. I have looked in all my books and found nothing.  I have looked at a million pieces of glass online and not found anything at all in this pattern. This pattern has a double "hobstar" pattern that I just can not track down. Until someone can show me what it really is called I will refer to it as "Double Hobstar Eva"

Side Detail Double Hobstar Eva Bowl

This is a really great looking piece of glass that just radiates an almost magical opalescent inner glow. I am very curious as to who made this one, when, and what the pattern is called, if anything. Many patterns did not originally have names they were just given number designations such as pattern number 143.  Many times the names were added to the pattern because that was just what the collectors started calling a specific pattern. 

If anyone has any information about this piece please let me know.  

UPDATE:  I was told by  PatternGlass.Com, That this bowl is a one off piece and was not part of a pattern set. That is why I can not find a pattern name for it. So I guess I will call it the "Double Hobstar Eva" Bowl.  Many thanks to PatternGlass.Com!

A Few New Photos and a Frederic Remington Bronze at South Coast Antiques & Gallery

Here are a few new images of the shop that I took today.

This case has a variety of things  such as 19th century spelter figurines, a 1920's red flapper's box camera, 1870 top hat, Pre WWII boxed childs cutlery set, Pair of Victorian ivory paintings, Bristol ware glass, Santa Clara blackware pottery, Large sterling silver oval vanity mirror, assorted antique ivory jewelry and ornaments, including an African chiefs horn.  Also included are Japanese geisha doll, squash blossom necklace, a Harrach glass and gilt vase. Tiffany Favrile footed glass salt dip, Sterling Coach chain and lock necklace, 1860's gold and garnet necklace.  The bottom shelf has vintage Shearwater figurines which a very rare cabin shaped cookie jar, Fred Press original plaster art deco bust, A matched set of three Sea foam blue victorian opaline ware containers, Black Victorian mourning fan, Large niello sterling Siam belt, and a small grouping of early William Spratling jewelry, plus many other items.

In this case we have a very rare circa 1870's Ames sword company sign, a pre WWI Bavarian reservist regimental stein, early 1800s Ottoman Empire inlaid blunderbuss, a bone mounted late Mejii dagger, a Malaysian watered steel kris, African trade spear point, Spanish bone handed bull fighting sword, a shamshir, Spanish 1820s uprising briquet sword, very early Dragoon sword, 1840s single shot percussion pistol, a WWII  Japanese NCO's sword, a WWII Japanese officer's sword, rare pre-kerosene smugglers black out lantern, Austrian pioneers sword from the 1820s, 1840s newspapers masthead American eagle printers block, 19th century Persian tile, an image of an Italian Alpine trooper circa 1910, small bugle, early 1900s handcuffs, African dagger, German guild processional axe, WWII aircraft gun camera, a Spanish shipwreck coin and a very large Remington bronze mountain man sculpture.

This handy little corner cabinet has on top an Indian painted water bottle with folkloric scenes, and inside the case is a large Fenton art glass vase by Robert Barber, a white bronze Coptic cross with hand painted inset panels, A Victorian red on crystal basket, A Rosie O'Neal Kewpie cup, A scarce paper thin milk glass hand enamel painted beer stein circa 1820's, A hand painted wooden Russian peasant mug by Michael W, Moses, and a early 1900's creamware Mettlach, German stein, and on the bottom shelf is a mid 1950's Murano glass bowl. Next to the case is a French provincial style table from the turn of the century. On this table is a medium sized Persian samovar, a Japanesque American made caster set by Reed & Barton, An Egyptian motif oil lamp, a moss rose Japanese made 1950's coffee table set, a Japanese made lustreware bowl, and a set of circa 1910 Royal Doulton plate and bowls. Underneath the table is a 1930's fan and a coal fueled iron, a common flat iron, a tall reproduction fireplace trivet, and a vintage cooper tea pot. off to the side we see a early 1900's ships wheel and WWII liberty ship binnacle with compass and a matching set of craftsman leaded glass door panels circa 1915.  Well these are a few of the things that we currently have in stock at South Coast Antiques & Gallery!

Now for the big news. We have acquired a wonderful extremely fine casting of a Frederic Remington bronze. This wok of art is 28½ inches tall and is called the "Mountain Man".  This bronze sculpture is one of the finest quality Remington bronzes that we have ever seen! The detail is amazing. Every detail on this piece is just incredible. Everything from the liver sulfur patina to the exquisite mirror polished French slate base shows this to be a truly superior work of art.

"Mountain Man" by Frederic Remington

       

More About Antiques Plus, the New Antique Shop in D'Iberville, MS

The View as One Enters Antiques Plus

The Main Show Room at Antiques Plus

Here are a few images of the  new shop called "Antiques Plus". Located at 10340 D'Iberville Blvd. in D'Iberville, MS.  Located in the heart of D'Iberville on the beautiful Gulf Coast, this shop as you can well see is brightly lit and full of all types of nice quality antiques, vintage,collectable items, and jewelry. The middle of the shop has a number of consignment rooms and the back of shop has furniture.

One of the Consignment Rooms

 

Furniture in the Back Room

Beautiful  Fleur de Lis Handled Uranium glass

Harrach Alabaster Glass vase @ South Coast Antiques & Gallery, Ocean Springs, MS

..........A few years back I purchased a small vase that I thought was 1880's British Bristol glass.
I had it out in the shop priced as such.

I was doing some online research on a totally unrelated item and was surprised to discover that it was more than likely a very scarce Harrach Alabaster Glass piece from Bohemia.

I put it under black light and it fluoresces nicely and it has a grouping of numbers on the bottom consistent with other Harrach  pieces that I have seen online. I have also noticed that a number of Harrach pieces were decorated in the same gilt and with similar designs.

This vase is a truly a great find for anyone that is collecting Victorian era Bohemian glass.