Brockwitz Germany Antigone Marigold Flask or Water Bottle for Tumble Up Set

This water bottle, also called a flask, is part of a tumble up set which consists of one bottle and a matching tumbler placed upside down on top of the neck of the bottle. Sometimes, an under plate came with the set to place under the bottle. These were used especially in the bedroom on nightstands and are commonly also refered to as bedside water carafes. The tumbler, placed over the bottle's top, acted as a lid as well as a clever space saver.

It was bought by my friend and fellow collector Ellen Richards, UK, in January of 2010 on eBay. At the time it was sold to her, it was described as a "Rare Brockwitz Electra Water Bottle". She went for it as she hadn't seen this before, even though there was no tumbler to complete it.

Ellen had asked me to look up the pattern in my Brockwitz factory catalog files which were given to me by my friend Bob Smith of Boston, Massachusetts. We soon came to realize it wasn't Electra at all (although it is similar) but was actually another Brockwitz pattern called Antigone.

Ellen found no records of a tumble up or flask having been found. After making inquiries, Stephen & Glen Thistlewood of the UK told her there was one tumble up known along with one tumbler so she still had a very rare item. Here is the link to the Thistlewood's website called CarnivalGlassWorldwide.com showing the Antigone Tumbler they own (shown top left). This is the tumbler that would fit over this bottle. Thank you to the Thistlewoods for sharing their website with us today.

I had just begun to collect these tumble ups so I was excited to buy this rare Brockwitz flask from Ellen in the fall of 2015. Some day I hope to find a tumbler that fits over the top of it. I believe the Thistlewood's tumbler has a much different iridescence than my bottle and with all tumble ups, it is important to match the iridescence or they will look "married" or "out of place"  and obviously not originally made for each other. If I do find a tumbler, it will be a miracle if the iridescence were to match. I do believe in those miracles though, don't you?

The Christina Katsikas Collection