Comments by Alan and Lorraine Pickup
The Three-In-One Plate
From HOACGA bulletin January, 2002

This pattern had the unique distinction of being pattern number "one" in Imperial Glass Company's inventory of moulds. And was produced in a variety of shapes by Imperial in non-iridized glass but limited to only a few carnival glass shapes.

This article will only address this 7-inch plate. This plate has the pattern on the reverse side with a smooth surface on the obverse. So the iridescence has to be such that the back pattern comes through. This plate is listed as being available in marigold and vaseline in some books. Carl Burns in his Imperial Carnival Glass book states, "They are quite rare and have been reported in marigold." The plate and the rare rose bowl were more than likley made from the same bowl mould. The past auction reports record plates and bowls in marigold and bowls in purple and smoke. Carl's book shows a clambroth bowl that comes closest to the color of our plate.

So the question here is this. What color do we have and in what colors are these plates really available? This plate isn't a true marigold as the basic color leans towards a translucent lemon or clambroth. The iridescence has lots of pastel shades from lemon sprinkled with magenta and green. This plate's base color doesn't appear to be vaseline, but it does fluoresce under a black light (ultraviolet). Does this make it vaseline color? And is this what is being sold as vaseline? The fact that it "glows" under a black light only indicates that one of the batch ingredients contained some uranium sand. That does not qualify it as being vaseline color. If it does, we have a house full of vaseline custard glass as well as other glass colors that "light up" with a black light.

Sorry that this article is not offered with a color picture. It sure makes it difficult to make a point or show color in black and white. But if anyone does have a vaseline plate that requires you to go into a dark room with a black light to prove it--it's probably marigold.

Three-in-One

<- Return to Comments listing page