Treasures: Glass bowl's 'peacock and urn' design offers clues to its origin

DEAR JOE AND HELAINE: The enclosed photo is a dish measuring 8 inches wide and 11 inches long. There are no marks or identification on the bottom. It still has the original twisted-wire handle. It was given to my mother by her gentleman friend in 1915. Any information or value would be greatly appreciated.

— M.W.B., Abington, Va.

DEAR M.W.B.: This lovely glass basket is made from custard glass, and is in a pattern known as "peacock and urn." This pattern — or a very similar one — was reportedly made by three different companies.

The three companies in question are the Millersburg Glass Company of Millersburg, Ohio; the Northwood Glass Company of Indiana, Pa.; and the Fenton Glass Company of Williamstown, W.V.

In her letter, M.W.B. reports that she took this piece to the Fenton people in Williamstown and they advised her that it was not their pattern.

Fenton's "peacock and urn" pattern is a tad different from the other designs made by the other companies, but we are a bit surprised that the overall pattern was not recognized. Fenton's pattern is found in carnival-glass colors of marigold, blue, green, amethyst, white, aqua, lavender and red. The Fenton pattern has a "bearded berry" reverse pattern and a large bee near the peacock's beak.

The Millersburg pattern, on the other hand, has no bee (usually) and there is no beading on the urn. The Northwood pattern, however, has a paneled reverse (as does the piece in today's question) and the urn has beading — which is also the case with M.W.B.'s glass basket. Therefore, there is no doubt that this particular piece was made by the Northwood Glass Company.

Collectors are generally familiar with this pattern being made in carnival glass, but it was also produced in other types of glass.

"Custard" is said by some to resemble the egg-rich victual of the same name, but the color can actually vary greatly from a rich yellow to an almost bone white.

Uranium salts were used to make this glass, and will make a Geiger counter start clicking away — but do not worry, the slight radioactivity will not harm you. Custard glass was made by a wide variety of companies, including Fenton, Cambridge, McKee, Jefferson, Diamond and, yes, Northwood.

Northwood was one of the major manufacturers, and some pieces are found signed "Northwood" in script or with an underlined "N" in a circle. The fact that this particular piece is not signed is not troubling.

There are almost 200 recorded custard glass patterns, but "peacock and urn" is not considered to be one of the major varieties, and most collectors do not associate this design with custard glass. As was said a bit earlier, it is associated with carnival glass, and some "peacock and urn" pieces in this type of glass can be very expensive.

An example of this might be the 10 ½-inch-diameter Northwood "peacock and urn" shallow plate in green carnival that sold at auction for $10,750! Unfortunately, M.W.B.'s "peacock and urn"-pattern custard glass basket is somewhat less valuable. For insurance-replacement purposes, the piece is worth in the range of $200 to $250.

Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of "Price It Yourself" (HarperResource). E-mail them at treasures@knology.net.