Maker Unknown Bellflower Blue Square Vase

I purchased this tiny vase from the February 11, 2017 Tampa Bay Auction featuring the Gary & Sharon Vandevander collection. Mike Carwile had emailed me a photo of it to put on Showcase when I first started this website because he knew I wanted to highlight rare and unusual items not seen every day. I instantly fell in love with it and  thought it would be really something to own it some day. I was happy to hear Gary Vandevander decided to sell it at the Tampa Bay Convention Auction, a club I hold dear. 

Mike Carwile remembers Remmen Auctions having sold this vase in Harrisonburg, Virginia during the 2007 ACGA convention auction. Although that auction featured the collection of Billy Smith from Virginia, he tells me it was not his. The catalog description read, "Very Rare! Only Known Blue Bell Flower 6" Vase. (Owner Named It!) Most Likely Made by Same Manufacturer as the Paneled Dragon Vase."

Kris Remmen was an excellent photographer who put together auction catalogs that were very beautiful. This photo below is his. The last photo shown was the Burns Auction catalog photo. Tom has the philosophy that the glass at his auctions is always better in person than his photos show. He said it is better that way than the other way around. I totally agree with him. The rest of the photos are my own.

As you can see, the pattern goes around the corners of this vase. There are two Bellflowers total in this pattern. Each one occupies two of the four panels or sides. Each flower is slightly different from the other. It was made to be the same but the artist copied it over differently. Even the blades of grass at the stem of each flower are different. I placed the two like sides one after the other in photos so when you toggle from one to the next your eyes can see the difference in the pattern. All you have to do is keep clicking on the first large photo.

The base glass is cobalt blue. The top is ground very nicely, with no chips to distract as are often seen in ground tops, so seeing no mould lines, it is safe to say this was blown in the mould. It's exactly six inches tall with a base diameter of two inches square, and has a one inch square top opening.

It is Tom Burn's opinion, stated in the catalog, that the same maker who made the Paneled Dragon vase was also the maker of this item. The iridescence is certainly the same. It has a radium sheen seen on Brockwitz items I own of bright blues, magenta and gold but there is nothing definitive to say it was made by the same maker. Unlike the Paneled Dragon vase, this Bellflower has no pattern on the bottom, is not black amethyst, and is 4-sided instead of 6-sided. There are less than ten Paneled Dragons that I know of but only this one Bellflower vase has been reported. 

The Christina Katsikas Collection (It feels good to say this! Finally!)