Cambridge Nearcut No. 2651 Inverted Feather Purple Tankard

I purchased this iconic Cambridge Glass Inverted Feather purple tankard from my good friend Aaron Hurst during the 2015 HOACGA Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. It was love at first sight and I was very pleased to learn it was the only purple one reported to date. Aaron said he purchased it at auction when John and his sweet wife, the late Jeanette Rogers, sold some of their collection on January 26th, 2008 during the Sunshine State Carnival Glass Association Convention (SSCGA). It was held at the Cocoa Beach Holiday Inn Oceanfront Resort that year. Jim Wroda was the auctioneer. 

There  is something very exciting about these big heavy pieces of Cambridge Glass. They have a wonderful historical presence about them. This one is so rare. I found no mention of it listed within the January 1978 issue of the Crystal Ball written by Dr. John Adams for the National Cambridge Collectors, Inc. of which he was a member. Some of you may remember he was also the Vice President of ICGA at that time. There was only the mention of a quart pitcher in marigold but none in purple. This tankard does easily hold a quart or four cups of water with room to spare. It's 10 3/8" tall at the lip and 10" on the opposite side where the handle is. It was made in a four-part mould. The 3 7/8" base has a geometric flower/star on the bottom.

This purple one was sold by Wroda Auctions in January, 2008. The Fall 1908 Butler Bros. Catalog ad shows all the shapes and sizes that the crystal Inverted Feather pattern came in. What is interesting to me is this; the catalog lists this piece as part of the "Top Notch Cask Assortment" calling it a "tall tankard jug" and as being only 8 3/4" tall. I don't know if this 10 3/8" tankard of mine is a prototype of one intended to be taller but it surely is by 2". That's really a big difference. Perhaps it was a typo but I don't think so. This may be why it holds more than a quart; five cups to be exact. Also, this would account for the scarcity of these taller iridized, colored glass versions.

The pattern, called Inverted Feather, is sharp and crisp and it looks and feels as if it had been cut into the glass. The pattern is number 2651 and comes from the NEAR-CUT line, a trade name that belongs to the Cambridge Glass Company. I was about to say this tankard was not signed until I remembered that the NEAR-CUT logo may be difficult to find because it's not always on the the base. I finally found it on the very bottom of the handle in raised letters shown in the last photo.

In the Cambridge catalog, the only item that even remotely resembles the size and shape of this tankard is a Special Vase. It even had the double band of rings at the top like this tankard has.

I have also included photos, courtesy Seeck Auctions, of the crystal and marigold versions for you to see.

Fast forward two years after the writing of this article; I ran across a crystal example on eBay, shown here in the very last photo, that I "sorta sold myself". Actually the seller copied parts of this article, word for word as in "copy and paste", and presented his crystal version for sale with my description. Before I realized they were my own words, I read it, nodding my head thinking to myself, "Boy, this guy really gets it...my thoughts exactly...." and they were! They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I didn't know if I should be flattered or upset that he plagiarized my writings for profit but when I saw the Buy It Now price of $36.00 I decided to forgive him because "he knows not what he does" and there can't be much profit in that! I bought it to sit next to its iridized brother to show the dramatic difference iridizing a piece of intricately patterned glass can make. (And yes, I plagiarized his photos from eBay! Ha! ha! They are the last two shown.

Other iridized Carnival patterns in this line are Inverted Strawberry, Inverted Thistle, Buzz Saw, and Wheat Sheaf.

After this article was published, I recieved an interesting letter from one of our collectors here on Showcase, Travis Reyan. Here is what he had to say:

"Cool pitcher! I went to an auction a couple summers ago north of Pittsburg, PA. The auctioneer did not know what he had but he put a picture on Auction Zip. He had an Inverted Feather water pitcher in purple. I was not the only person to see it on Auction Zip. There was a guy there from North Carolina. Joe J. was also there. But...I found a crack in it. Anyway, I bid it to $2500 and some elderly lady outbid me. The thing is, she did not know what she was buying. She said after the sale that it wasn't Inverted Feather but Hobstar & Feather  (I wish) and she was going to write in to tell them they had the pattern wrong. Who she was going to write to, I don't have a clue.

So, there is another one but you have the only perfect one. Thanks! Keep up the good work. Oh, the auctioneer found this in a barn in a milk can wrapped in straw. Travis"

Thank you Travis. That was a great story. Lots of great stuff was stashed in those old milk cans!

The Christina Katsikas Collection