Millersburg Mitered Ovals Green Vase

Bob and I have very few pieces of Millersburg in our collection but the rare and beautiful Mitered Ovals vase is one that had somehow made it onto our “must have” wish list. We did bid on them (albeit unsuccessfully) as they came up at auction – first at the ICGA auction in 2012 (one green and one amethyst sold), and at the LLCGC auction in 2013 (one amethyst sold). When 2014 rolled around we saw that two (amethyst and green) were to be sold in May at a Tom Burns auction of the Bill Sr. and Carole Richards collection. We also knew that Jackie Poucher would be selling her three Mitered Ovals vases at her auction that fall. We couldn’t believe that five of these vases were to be sold at auction in one year – our chances of being the winning bidder on one of the five were definitely improving!

After previewing the glass we decided we would bid on both of them, but we really wanted the green one to go home with us. The amethyst vase was Lot #25 and we did bid, but then decided to let it go. The green vase was Lot #50 and it had a story to go with it – and it was not the kind of story that made you want to buy it - in fact it was just the opposite. Billy Richards was helping Tom Burns with the auction and he proceeded to tell the audience the story of how his Dad came to own the vase. This is a condensed version of that story:

"Old Bill Richards had a friend from way back that had a good collection of Carnival Glass, including a green Mitered Ovals vase. He also had a wife who drank a lot and ran around on him a good bit. One night Bill’s friend came to him and told him that he needed to borrow some money - $70 in fact – but he had collateral. Bill asked him what it was and he said it was the green Mitered Ovals vase and that he would take $35 for it. Bill gave him the $70 and received the Mitered Ovals vase and a 1914 Parkersburg BPOE Elks plate as collateral. Later that evening Bill and Carole went out to dinner and saw Bill’s friend at the restaurant. Old Bill asked him how he was doing and his friend answered that he was doing great and had everything figured out. The next morning Bill heard on the radio that an Ohio man had driven to Dayton, killed his wife and her lover, and then killed himself. Billy said that his Dad knew then that his friend wouldn’t be coming back for his Mitered Ovals vase. And that Mitered Ovals vase became a piece that was dearest to his heart."

We were lucky to win the Richard’s green Mitered Ovals vase that day and are honored to have it as one of the highlight pieces of our collection.

Note: The wwwcga mailing list conducted an informal survey in 2009 to try and find out how many Mitered Ovals were in existence. The results were 26 (10 green, 10 amethyst, and 6 marigold). More may have surfaced since then but they are still a very rare vase.

The Bob & Sandy Sage Collection