Cristalerias Papini Argentina Star Marigold "Interchangeable" Vase, Punch Bowl & Cake Plate

Don't cry for me Argentina....because I'm happy having fun with your glass today.

Late this last summer (2016), I decided I should maybe like to collect chop plates so I purchased this gigantic 14 1/2" beauty from a Seeck auction. Jim Seeck delivered it to me when he stopped by my fireworks store to pick up my auction glass for the 2017 HOACGA convention auction.

Then last week (November 2016) Jim Wroda had an auction where Sherry Betker called in a bid for me to purchased what I think is the first Argentina Star punch bowl ever reported. I was intrigued for sure when I saw it listed. I thought it would look nice sitting on my chop plate as a liner to place some cups around it some day, that is, if there were any such cups. It was mine for the final bid of $400 and I was very happy with that price. When the punch bowl arrived, I was surprised to see that it was made from the exact mould as the chop plate except it had been curved up. They both measure the same. The bottom of both pieces has a center star with a deep wide channel going around it where the pedestal rests inside.

Now, this six-inch pedestal doubles as a vase when it's flipped over. It has a tremendous amount of wear on the smaller end and some cloudiness to the inside, as it most definitely was used as a vase for the better part of its life. The marigold iridescence went lightly up the side and then down the inside a third of the way down creating a stripe that is a darker shade of marigold. The rest looks pastel marigold, all on clear base glass.

Here's the great part about this pedestal/vase. It's the kingpin of the whole outfit. With this piece, the possible combinations of use are astounding and so utilitarian and sensible to me, not to mention so very clever and thrifty too. Countries like Argentina were very frugal with their belongings. They didn't have multiple household items that had the same uses like we did and still do here in the United States. Every item they had was used until it wore out or broke before replacing it. This glass is really thick and the chances of it breaking is not high if they were careful. It's rugged and lends its self to being well used.

So now, my point is this. I have these three pieces of Argentina Star that can be used in so many ways. We have the chop plate which can also be used as a serving tray. When I was on the phone with Sherry Betker she suggested I put the chop plate on top of the pedestal. A moment later, with her keen hearing, she said , "I heard that! It fits perfectly doesn't it! Doesn't it?". I squealed with delight when I told her yes! It was pure magic! It locked in perfectly just like the punch bowl does, and became an elegant cake plate! Also, this ten-inch wide bowl alone could be used to serve food as well. It makes a great fruit, bread, corn chip, or salad bowl. I got real fancy and stacked all three together to make a really nice punch bowl with room for cups to go around. One combination, shown in the last photo, is also perfect for shrimp cocktail!

So this is my story about the clever, crafty glass artisans of Argentina....where necessity was the mother of invention! Ole!

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After this article came on on Carnival Glass Showcase Facebook, I received a letter from Glen & Stephen Thistlewood. So they are giving us the "rest of the story" we call "Argentina Star Part Two".

Glen writes, "You may have seen Christina Katsikas' wonderful post (on Facebook) earlier today about her Argentina Star pieces, and the astonishingly versatile way in which she discovered they can be used together - multi-function at its best. Christina has kindly asked me to post the back-story to this pattern, and how Stephen and I discovered the maker when we found (and named) the vase, back in the mid 1990s. Here's the story, as I wrote it to Christina earlier today.

Christina - I absolutely love your photos of the "Industria Argentina Star" pieces and their incredible “mix and match” versatility. Thank you so much for posting them. I thought you might like to have some more information about the pattern, as Stephen and I did the original work on it, and we feature it in a couple of our books. In fact I'm guilty of naming the pattern "Industria Argentina Star". LOL. Yes, it was me! We got our vase (first one reported) over 20 years ago. We wrote about it in our first "Magic and Mystery" book in the late 1990s, where we attributed it to Cristalerias Papini. We have done quite a bit more research into Papini since then, and in the second edition of "Carnival Glass – the Magic and the Mystery" (pub. 2008) we added more info about the factory and the pieces known in the pattern. I'll copy below the relevant sections from Magic 2. (The vase and chop plate are shown on our website in the Gallery, attributed to Papini, but the information below is only in our books).

This section is about the factory (extract from "Carnival Glass The Magic and The Mystery 2"):

Cristalerias Papini (also called Cristalux S.A.)—Argentina

Founded in 1896 and located in Buenos Aires, Cristalerias Papini’s trademark was Cristalux; they often used the logo INDUSTRIA ARGENTINA, meaning “Made in Argentina”, which can sometimes be found moulded into their glass. Cristalerias Papini imported glass from Europe, indeed, in the introduction to their 1934 catalog, Papini explained to their customers that as the price of imported glassware was increasing, they were therefore starting to increase the range of home-made goods. However, a good number of European articles remained, including items from Inwald in Czechoslovakia. Cristalerias Papini also made some of their own Carnival Glass.

At its peak, the Cristalux factory employed 1500 workers producing mainly domestic glassware, barware, bottles and containers, but sadly the company went bankrupt in 2000. Against all the odds, a workers’ co-operative was established on the old Cristalux site in Buenos Aires and today, Cooperativa Cristal Avellanada produce plates and tumblers—their clients include Wal-Mart and Makro.

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This is the extract from our book about the pattern:

INDUSTRIA ARGENTINA STAR—Cristalerias Papini.
A complex intaglio star is repeated around the exterior of items in this pattern. A most distinctive feature of items in this design is the wording moulded on the glass which reads “INDUSTRIA ARGENTINA”. On the bowls and plates it is on the marie or base, while on the vases it can be found on the side, underneath one of the large star motifs.
Shapes: small and large bowl, small plate, chop plate, vase
Color: marigold

Thank you again for posting your lovely photos, Christina. I truly never imagined that my vase could be a pedestal as well … nor would I ever have thought that the chop plate (or bowl) would fit onto a vase! It’s a brilliant combination and just shows how the Carnival makers extended the use of their ranges. Magic and Mystery indeed.

The vase and the chop plate are also shown on our website on the South American Gallery.

(Article & photos used with permission & courtesy of Glen & Stephen Thistlewood).