Lattice and Points Vases “Compliments Indiana Foundry Co.”
By Dr. Larry Keig
The Dugan Glass Company and its successor, the Diamond Glassware Company, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, made carnival glass from 1909-1931. Among the specialty items produced over these years were souvenirs with handwritten inscriptions. Sometimes the lettering was artfully applied, but often crudely scrawled. Souvenirs can be found today with script that is as pristine as it was the day they were made but it can also be timeworn.
Souvenirs were made for hamlets and villages, many of which have long since disincorporated, and for more up and coming cities and towns in the U.S. and Canada. How these were marketed and to whom is unknown. Some were likely wholesaled to “dime stores” and then re-sold. Others may have been premiums or giveaways.
They were also commissioned by a smalltown merchant, by, as has been revealed recently, a regional industrial manufacturer, and by organizers or a vendor of an annual summer event. The most historically interesting of the souvenirs are those for a Main Street business in a college town in scenic far northeast Iowa, for the southwest Pennsylvania, corporate patron of the vases featured in this article, and for the Indiana, Pennsylvania, county fair.
Ben Bear.
The retail shop was Ben Bear, a clothing store in Decorah, Iowa. The souvenir is a marigold JIP hat shaped from a Floral and Grape tumbler. It was made during the Dugan era. Its story is chronicled in an article on Floral and Grape in the September 2018 issue (pp. 10-15) of The Carnival Pump.*
Indiana Foundry Co.
The other enterprise for which a souvenir was produced, generally made known only over the past year, is for the Indiana Foundry Co., a metal casting manufacturer in Pittsburgh, just a hop, skip, and jump from the small town where the glassmaking factory operated. These are amethyst vases made from the Lattice and Points pattern with the Daisy interior. The caption reads: “Compliments Indiana Foundry Co.” They, too, were made during Dugan’s carnival years.
If you look carefully at the top of the vases, the one on the left has the pinched or indented finishing, and the one on the right has the more unusual ruffling.
One, with lettering only partially identifiable, was offered by Seeck Auctions in September 2020. On it, “Foundry Co.” is readable but “Indiana” illegible, presumably from wear. However, the Steel City firm for which it was made became known in May 2021 when two of these vases were listed on eBay. Soon thereafter, an Internet search revealed details on this firm and its products.
The three known Foundry souvenir vases vary in height from seven to eight-plus inches. The one the Seecks sold was a seven-inches. The two that changed hands on eBay measure about eight and one-half inches. While not quite identical, they look like a pair and were probably gifted or selected to be displayed as such. The most obvious difference, while slight, is the ruffling. One has the Dugan and Diamond typical six flat ruffles. The other, while technically flat ruffled, has ruffling that is somewhat indented.
This photo shows a better view of the ruffled top of one vase.
The lettering runs vertically from just above the “grass” at the bottom to just below the folds of the ruffles at the top. The messaging no doubt had to be placed that way because of the large number of characters involved. It may be the only souvenir on which the inscription has been positioned in this manner. Its black calligraphy has been evenly applied, even if the vase must be turned ninety degrees to read it.
The seller, a longtime resident of the Iron City, bought the vases years ago at an estate sale. He displayed them as a pair in a cabinet for many years before deciding to downsize his collection. The account of the problem and solution in finalizing the eBay transaction is a fascinating backstory but beyond the scope of the topic at hand.
The Pittsburgh Foundries. Three foundries operated in Pittsburgh from 1851 to 1948.Their names changed periodically as ownership turned over and the firms were restructured. These companies produced a dizzying array of products, large and small. The large included heating and cooking stoves, boilers, farm equipment, infrastructure and related items for cities and towns, products used by the railroad and coal mining industries, even dinner bells that were struck on homesteads to let farmers know it was mealtime, and many other difficult-to-classify items.
The Indiana Foundry Co., so named just before or soon after the turn of the twentieth century, operated throughout the classic carnival glass era and beyond, until its closure in 1948. During this era, a number of small utilitarian products, including those for cooking and baking, were produced. Among them were “large kettles, several sizes of iron pots, waffle irons, skillets, [and] griddles.”** It seems possible that a buyer of, say, a waffle maker might have received a Foundry vase with the purchase. But that’s just speculation.
The linkage between the Indiana Foundry Co. and the Dugan Glass Company1909 to 1913, when the Lattice and Points pieces and the souvenir vases were made, is currently unknown. Not known either is the occasion for which the vases were actually gifted.
The vase, lying on its side, shows the souvenir lettering.
Availability of the Souvenir. The Indiana Foundry souvenir is probably not as scarce as it might appear. Because Pittsburgh was already a bustling and enterprising city at the time the vases were made (in 1910, it was the sixth largest city in the U.S. with a population of more than half a million) and because the intent was to give them away, they must have been produced in some quantity. Even with the inevitable breakage and discards, there must be a good many still tucked away. These are a slice of Americana worth tracking down, especially for carnival collectors in southwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio who are also drawn to artifacts from once regionally significant economic players.
Indiana, Pennsylvania, County Fair.
The Indiana Fair souvenirs represent the other historically important genre of these firms’ carnival memorabilia. These were made by the Diamond Glassware Company, the earliest known for the 1921 event, the last for the 1927 exposition. Stories of some of these souvenirs were related in the September 2019 issue (pp. 14-17) of The Carnival Pump.*** An account of one more will be told in a forthcoming issue of this publication.
It’s possible that Dugan or Diamond, or both, made souvenirs for commercial enterprises or special events other than the three mentioned here. After all, it was just a year ago that the Foundry vase came to light. If readers know of others, they are asked to report them.
Notes
*The article can be accessed for free on the International Carnival Glass Association’s website. Click on “Articles” once you get to the site and then scroll down under the author’s entries. The article can also be found at the Hooked on Carnival site under the pattern name.
**From the unsigned Internet article “The Indiana Foundries.”
***The article can be accessed at no charge at the International Carnival Glass Association website. Click on “Articles” and then scroll down the author’s entries to the “Indiana Fair Souvenirs.” It is also posted at the Hooked on Carnival site.
Photos courtesy of Diane Highnam.
This article first appeared in the ICGA Pump in the September 2021 issue and is reprinted with permission.