Do you ever wonder about what specifically spawns certain trends in collecting and decorating? What makes a certain type of item suddenly become in demand, or even have a powerful resurgence after being ignored or reviled for decades?I had often wondered this very thing in relation to the iridescent glass we think of as "carnival glass" today.
I have been fortunate over the years to pick up a number of carnival Indiana Glass Harvest Grape pieces from the 60s and 70s-- all inexpensively at thrift stores and antique malls.
But I was always curious what it was that triggered modern manufacturers to suddenly start remaking the colorful glass that had been so popular 50 years or more before.
Well, would you believe I recently found the answer to this, in casual reading?
Yup, I'd been going through volume three of the Imperial Glass Encyclopedia, when their section on carnival satiated my curiosity once and for all!
In the 1960s, not only did Marion Hartung publish books on the subject, bringing the glass back into the light (so to speak), but an article in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution newspaper (August 18, 1963) on the topic dubbed old Carnival glass the "Cinderella of Modern Antiques."In response, Imperial, Fenton Art Glass and other companies began reissuing carnival pieces, many from their original molds. And the revival grew well into the 1970s.
This got me thinking about how it had taken some appreciation from Martha Stewart to get the collectibles community showing renewed enthusiasm in the creamy green glassware known as jadite...
While I've noticed costs for jadite have gone to more reasonable levels in the last year or so, there for a while antiques dealers were offering jadite for princely sums. Where Martha waxed poetic, the market agreed. Everyone wanted beautiful, soothing pieces made of this opaque, aqua glass.So this got me pondering again: what do you think is a highly underrated collectible today?
As I've always been a fan of the Carnival glass, I notice right now I'm one of the few that finds it magical. Will it have its day again?
And I adore McCoy's art pottery pieces, particularly ones from the 1940s. It always makes me wonder why McCoy pottery ends up being about half the price of Hull, even though their style is very similar...
So my question is open to you folks:Is there a collectible item out there that you adore and feel hasn't received the attention it's deserved?
What is your "Cinderella Among Collectibles"?
