The Fun of Carnival Glass

From fairground giveaways to collectables, carnival glass is fun and fascinating. Let’s explore its origins and its value today.

What we call carnival glass today has been known by many names, including poor man’s Tiffany, aurora glass, dope glass, taffeta glass and rainbow glass. All these names give you a clue as to what it looks like. When you put a piece of carnival glass in sunlight, it becomes psychedelic, shimmering with many colours.  Depending on the process, carnival glass pieces are often different colours from each other.

This peach lustre swirl pattern No 7 from Anchor Hocking, is a great example of the marigold colour achieved in the manufacture of carnival glass. Buy this.

How is Carnival Glass Made?

The process of making a carnival glass piece starts with a mould. This is usually a metal mould, but can also be a wooden mould. The mould is usually in two parts that are secured and locked together with wooden handles. Molten glass is poured into the cavity, and a plunger is then inserted to distribute the glass. A hydraulic press will push the plunger into the mould and make sure it reaches all corners.

Once it cools, it is taken out of the mould, and any embellishments are added. This requires heating it up again, which is also a requirement for the carnival part. When all the additions are completed, the heated glass is sprayed with liquid metallic salts.

The glass is then slowly cooled over a period of around 24 hours to make it strong and prevent stress fractures.

Some manufacturers will add the metallic salts to the glass before moulding to get a different effect.

The Colours of iridescence

To get specific colours, specific liquid metallic salts are used. It is, however, safe to say that the specific colour is dependent on many factors, such as temperature, the thickness of the glass, the amount of metallic salts added, and so on, so that often no two items are the same. This makes them quite special and unique.

There are two metallic salts that are used more often to create the iridescent effect on glass: iron chloride and tin chloride (stannous chloride). The iron chloride usually makes the glass a marigold, butterscotch colour, but that also depends on the colour of the glass. Purples, greens and reds are often achieved with the tin chloride, once again depending on the colour of the base glass. Then there is a mixture of the two, which can make a piece a kaleidoscope of colours. Different effects can also be combined by adding one before the other and vice versa. It has to be fun working on carnival glass in a glass factory and seeing what colours you can create.

How it all Started

Interestingly, this type of glass has been around for millennia, but not intentionally. Glass artefacts that are buried will, over time, and with the influence of temperature, humidity, and acidic or alkaline soil, form a layer that becomes iridescent when unearthed.

It wasn’t until the late 19th century that glass manufacturing companies began experimenting to produce iridescent glass intentionally. Some of the first were Thomas Webb & Sons, Stevens & Williams, Tiffany, and Steuben. Each had their own recipes and names they gave to the glass ranges they produced.

The peak era for carnival glass was around the 1950s, and it is these pieces that are most commonly collected. There are many more pieces that were made in the 1920s and 30s, which are also highly collectable. There was a revival in the 1960s, with some of the old moulds resurrected and some new ones created in new colours. Carnival glass is still being produced today, but be cautious of fakes. This type of glass is part of the glass itself, similar to milk glass and not painted on. Some fakes replicate the original patterns with subtle differences, while others, although not considered fakes, use the original moulds to reissue or reproduce previously made glass. Look out for these and study the real versions well. The differences are often easy to spot.

If you are interested in collecting carnival glass, learn as much as you can about the patterns and the manufacturers. Carnaval glass value can range from a few rands to many thousands, depending on the condition, rarity, and who made it.

What we can conclude, though, is that it’s a fascinating glass that's enjoyable to collect.