Last Friday night I was in Russel Wright Heaven, aka Hiram and Andrew's house. (Actually, it was Mid-Century Heaven,
period. But more about that in another post.)
Not only do they have more beautiful pieces of Russel Wright furniture than I can begin to list, in addition to the spectacular collection of china that you saw in my post about their home, but they had some "spare" Old Morgantown American Modern glassware they were willing to sell, so of course I joyfully let it follow me home. Now I have 33 new "babies," including 3 wine glasses, 4 cocktail glasses, 8 goblets, 4 water glasses, 4 juice glasses, 8 sherbet dishes and 2 cordial glasses in coral. Only 23 pieces to go before I have 8 of each...plus 8 iced tea glasses and 8 dessert dishes...yes, another collection in the making. (Hiram and I miscounted, and I realized when counting them for the post that I owe him more money. Don't let me forget to pay it!)
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| In the clean-up stage, after being carefully and lovingly unwrapped |
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| The grand...11 oz. goblets that are over 4" in diameter |
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The petite...cordial glasses that stand only 2 1/2" high
and are only 2" in diameter |
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| Water and juice glasses |
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| Sherbet dishes |
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| Wine glasses |
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| Cocktail glasses |
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Safely ensconced in my Drexel Profile china cabinet
with my Russel Wright Iroquois Casual in ripe apricot and avocado yellow |
This handmade line was produced in four colors: smoke, seafoam, chartreuse and coral, which was said to be difficult for the factory to achieve with uniformity, according to Ann Kerr's Collector's Encyclopedia of Russel Wright. This explains the variations in color in the pieces I bought.
The line was produced in 1951 in these items: tumblers in three sizes, a 5 1/4", 15 oz. iced tea, a 4 1/2", 12 oz. water, a 3 3/4", 8 oz. juice; stemmed glasses in five sizes, a 4 1/4", 11 oz. goblet, a 2 3/4", 5 oz. sherbet, a 2 1/2", 3 oz. cocktail, a 4 oz. wine (Kerr didn't list a diameter for this piece.), and a 2", 2 oz. cordial. The cocktail and wine glasses are so similar in size that many collectors have difficulty distinguishing them. In addition to the four colors, the line also included crystal, which is rare.
Russel Wright GLASSWARE? Oh crap....more stuff to look for, covet, want for, need, cry about, research, loose sleep over, miss out on, and hopefully...buy.
ReplyDelete@Mr.Modtomic: Oh, yes...check out his Eclipse glassware by Bartlett-Collins. I bet you'd love it! That company also made a pattern called Asterisk and a striped pattern I don't know the name of. Flair, Pinch and Twist patterns were made by Imperial. And then there's Mary Wright's line...Theme Formal. Someday I'll start collecting RW flatware and table linens too. :)
ReplyDelete@Mr.Modtomic again: The other night, we passed on a RW tea cart and several pieces of spun aluminum serveware, mainly because we were buying so much other stuff. It's crazy-good how much RW our friends Hiram and Andrew have!
ReplyDeleteI am yet to catch up on the glassware lines and designers..thanks for sharing i will know what to look for when im in a store the next time :)
ReplyDeleteI also confess to not knowing very much about glassware lines and china; I'm learning a lot from you.
ReplyDelete@Sudha: My pleasure!
ReplyDelete@I dream lo-tech: I love glassware, china and smalls and have been collecting my own for years. That's what I buy for our store, so I've had plenty of opportunity to research them. I'm learning a lot about typewriters from you as well.
ReplyDelete