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AUSTRALIAN CARNIVAL GLASS

There were several companies making glass in Australia during the time that Carnival Glass was in its glory days in the USA and Europe, and so the interest in iridescent glass began to gain momentum in Australia.
It is thought that iridescent glass was probably being produced as early as 1919 by one or more of these companies although most Australian collectors are only aware of the Crown Crystal Glass Co. Ltd which is, in fact, from the amalgamation in 1926 of; The Balmain Glass Works of Margaret St, Rozelle, The Crown Glass Works of Euston Rd, Alexandria, The Crystal Glass Works of Wyndham St, Waterloo and the Zetland Glass Works of Bourke St Waterloo, NSW.

The first registered designs were:
Kingfisher on 4th of January 1923. Regd No.4184
Kangaroo 15th January 1924 Regd No. 4696
Swan 15th January 1924 Regd No. 4697
Emu 14th November 1924 Regd No. 40360
Kookaburra 14th November 1924 Regd No. 40361
Magpie 14th November 1924 Regd No. 40363
Waratah 14th November 1924 Regd No. 40364
Kiwi 19th April 1926 Regd No. 44289

Two other designs were registered but seem to have never been used:
Lyrebird 14th November 1924 Regd 40362
Koala 8th of December 1924 Regd 40547

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In Australia all patterns produced here are highly sought after, but probably most popular of the Australian patterns sought by carnival glass collectors would have to be the large 23 cm (9 inches) Master Bowls and 13 cm (5 inches) Nappy Bowls depicting Australian flora and fauna.
The bowls occur primarily in Amethyst , a very dark black Amethyst and Marigold , but on occasions a rare Aqua example may be found, particularly the Emu pattern, but examples of the Shrike and Kangaroo (big Roo) do exist.
These bowls were actually meant to be berry or fruit sets consisting of one large master bowl and 6 small nappy bowls and there are two other patterns that occur in these sets which are not often seen.
The Scales nappy bowls are the same size and shape as the other nappy bowls and feature a fish scale like pattern on the inside, so far no master bowl has been found to match.
The other large master bowl that is occasionally seen is the Plain or sometimes referred to as the 5 Rings which is a large 23 cm (9 inch) fluted bowl with a set of 5 rings on the outside.

The comports are also highly prized, and who wouldn’t love to own a Dark Emu comport or cake salver. The comports also come in Amethyst and Marigold and here too some of the marigold comports can have an aqua base.
The aqua on the comports ranges from extremely light, where it needs to be seen on a white background to detect the colour right up to a Dark Aqua which rivals any aqua made by the USA companies.
One or two iridised examples of the small 15 cm (6 inch) Butterfly Bush comports have been found with a Roslyn (pink) base but these are considered very rare.

Three of the largest and most impressive pieces of Australian Carnival Glass are the float bowls; Dragonfly and Waterlily , Dragonfly and Bullrushes and the super Kookaburra . Once again these are found in Amethyst and Marigold.
The slightly smaller, and more commonly found float bowls are the Heavy Diamond and Banded Diamond . which can be found in the usual colours of Amethyst and Marigold and also occasionally in Aqua.
The main difference between the Heavy Diamond and Banded Diamond is that the Banded Diamond has two sets of rings on the back whereas the Heavy Diamond has a single set of rings.
Marigold and Amethyst flower frogs (arrangers) are often sold with these float bowls and usually have the Crown Crystal, diamond shaped, logo on the base.

There are two Australian water sets that are avidly snapped up when found and these are Block and Arches which is only found in Marigold, and the beautiful and simply designed Banded Diamonds which can be found in Amethyst and less often in Marigold. These sets consist of a large water pitcher and 6 tumblers.

There are Australian pattern vases that are highly collected which are both, once again, found in Marigold and Amethyst. The largest of these is the Lily Vase which can be found with a 13cm (5 inches) base and can be anywhere up to 45cm (18 inches) in height, the mouth of these vases can vary in width from almost the same diameter as the base to as wide as 23cm (9 inches).
The smaller and more often found vase is Gum Tips , this pattern has a much smaller base usually around 8 or 9 cms (3 – 3.5 inches), and usually around 26 to 28 cms (10 – 11 inches) in height. Occasionally a Gum Tips vase is found which has been pulled in midway to form a "waist”. These are much harder to find than the regularly shaped vases.
There is one other extremely rare vase that has been found, probably only 5 or 6 have so far been collected and these have been pulled up from the Banded Diamond Tumbler .

There are several other Australian patterns which are not part of sets, some of them easy to find and couple are extremely rare. Some of the easier to find patterns are Pinups , Style , Butterfly Bower , Trailing Flowers and Bullrushes and Bush Orchids .
The rarest pattern to find is the Australian Holly , very few perfect examples are know as the small feet are easily damaged.

NB In recent years there have been new Carnival Glass master bowls produced depicting the Lyrebird, Koala and also the Platypus. It should be noted that these are new designs and not reproductions or fake copies of old carnival glass patterns.
There have, however, been fakes made of the marigold Kangaroo bowl as well as the Kingfisher nappy bowl, which collectors should be aware of.

If anyone could supply a picture of these fakes to display on the website it would be a great help to fellow collectors to avoid making an expensive mistake. Please email Website.