Imperial Octagon Purple Vase Whimsey

Several years ago now, Friar Gabriel showed this piece on HoC, Hooked on Carnival. I was so taken back because there it was, an Imperial Octagon whimsey carafe in purple, made from a decanter. What's not to love about purple Imperial? They got it right most of the time. I contacted Fr. Gabriel and told him that if he ever thought of selling it, I sure would be interested. Well, several years past and the carafe was always a thought way in the back of my mind. 

One day, a couple years back, I get an E-mail from Fr. Gabriel asking if I was still interested in the carafe. Well...I sure was. We talked for a while, and I asked how he came about it. Love to hear the stories. He said that he bought it off E-bay for a song. Wow, good for you. He bought it very early in the morning, like 3 o'clock. He thought that not being able to sleep was the very reason that he wound up with it and I couldn't agree more. The same exact thing has happened to me.

He told me what he had to get for it and the deal was made. The photo he used on HoC looked like it was a little dull and needed a good cleaning. While I was waiting for it to arrive, I kept thinking of ways to make it shine a little. Very warm water with sudsy ammonia, soak it for a while, clean with a soft scrub brush, rinse and dry. Then spray with a good glass cleaner. We use Zep. This should help.

When it did arrive, I was totally taken back when I opened the box. I just started to laugh. I picked it up and just held it and let it talk to me. You know how a piece talks to you. It does not happen very often that a piece talks to me, actually they are far and few in between, but this one spoke to me. It was very bright with almost electric iridescence, not at all like the photo.

The iridescence actually matches our purple decanter, how kewl is that? I wrote Fr. Gabriel and told him that he is a man of integrity for contacting me like he said he would a bunch of years before. I told him it looked amazing and thanked him one more time. We will enjoy this piece till it is time for someone else to be the caretaker of this outstanding whimsey.

The Dick & Sherry Betker Collection
Posted November 22, 2022