Dugan Twigs Variant Lavender Vase

As told by Larry Keig

for Arnold & Dorothy Snell

"The Twigs Variant pattern is different in one significant respect from standard vases. It is missing the vine-like twigs on the paneled portion of the receptacle.

The variant’s absent element has led me to believe its mold was a prototype soon replaced by the more elaborately designed standard Twigs. It is probable it, like the other, was produced circa 1906, just before the non-iridescent opal vases were put on the market. If that’s the case, this earlier mold was set aside for a time, brought to life, perhaps by accident, three or four years later for a minuscule carnival run.

The base color of the only Twigs Variant I know of is lighter than standard vases, lavender rather than amethyst. Its iridescence is a comely, even pastel.

Arnold and Dorothy Snell, owners of the lovely, approximately four-inch tall Twigs Variant, bought it at the Southern California convention auction in 2003. There, Arnold recalls, they somehow wrestled it away from a well-known vase collector. Before that, it had been in the Rabon and Melpha Hall collection in Kentucky. The Halls specialized in small vases and hat shapes."

Written by Larry Keig

From the Collection of Arnold & Dorothy Snell