Northwood & Dugan Carnival Glass - Whodunit? A brief history of Northwood carnival glass and the confusion that can happen with Dugan Glass similarities.
News-Antique.com - Sep 03,2009 - Northwood produced its wonderful carnival glass from around 1914 to the early 1920’s. Not a very long time for a very famous product. Northwood was considered the King of Carnival and most of their items remain extremely popular.
Harry Northwood’s father was a renowned English glassmaker. Harry, in turn, taught Frank L. Fenton – they were two of the most influential men in the field of U.S. decorative glass. Northwood patterns were much copied by other glassmakers of the time, due to lax copyright laws in the U.S. at the time. Still, it is often not difficult to separate Northwood pieces from those by Fenton or Dugan or Millersburg, sometimes by fine details in the patters, sometimes by the shapes of the bowls, plates, tumblers, etc., and sometimes by the colors. However, in some cases, it’s almost impossible to distinguish a Northwood piece from Dugan. Bill Edwards and William Heacock, two experts in the subject, cannot always tell, even with examining shards found at the old Dugan plant. In some cases, although Dugan produced the pieces, it was consignment work from Northwood. And in any case, the Dugan plant was originally a Northwood plant, so it’s easy to see where confusion would arise.
Art Glass & Collectibles Shop, http://www.tias.com/stores/agcs is featuring a Northwood Peacock and Urn plate in marigold carnival as one of its fall specials, with a special sales price. They also have a rare Wild Rose open-work bowl in aqua pastel and other Northwood/Dugan pieces. Don’t miss this opportunity to add to your collection of Victorian-era glass.
