Millersburg Ohio Star Emerald Green Swung "Twin Towers" Vases

These Ohio Star twin swung vases belonged to none other but Grace & Byron Rinehart who owned them for 38 years until they were sold at auction in 2011.

They are a true emerald green having primarily gorgeous blue iridescence from top to bottom on the green base glass. Other than this pair, there are two more in green, one in marigold, and another one in amethyst known in this swung shape. That is a total of six that are considered to be whimsies in this pattern.

The first one measures 16 1/4" tall and the other is just a quarter of an inch taller than its twin at its highest peak, at an amazing 16 1/2 inches tall. They measured 9 7/8 inches before they were swung so they almost doubled in height.

The girth of an unswung vase is 9 1/2 inches around the middle. On these twins that were swung, the girth on each is now 6 1/2 inches around the middle, a whole 3 inches narrower. Swinging a vase is exactly what was done. The glass maker attached his "snap" tool which clamped on the bottom of the vase to hold it. After reheating it, he swung it back and forth like a pendulum until the desired length was achieved. It is amazing to me how this man made these within just a quarter inch difference of each other. These were definitely made to be displayed as an identical pair. Now, as the proud owner, I must say at first glance they appear to be identical twins, but like any Mama of twins, I can tell they each have their own personalities that make them unique.

There is a story about these vases in the ICGA March 2009 Newsletter in an article about whimsey vases. It goes like this. "Grace Rinehart told us that she and a friend found these stunning vases at a shop many years ago. They each bought one. The friend suffered buyer's remorse for having paid far too much. Grace relieved her guilt by buying it for the $25 she had paid." Thank you to the person who wrote this article.

Jim Wroda sold these for Grace on August 13, 2011 at the WWWCGA Convention Auction. The auction catalog read like this:

Lot 83. SUPER RARE EMERALD GREEN OHIO STAR SWUNG VASES (2). Both are fabulous! BECAUSE THEY ARE A PERFECT MATCH, WE WILL BE SELLING 1 WITH THE OPTION OF THE HIGH BIDDER TO TAKE THEM BOTH. IF HIGH BIDDER DOES NOT TAKE BOTH, THE BACK UP BIDDER WILL HAVE OPTION TO TAKE THE OTHER AT THE SAME PRICE. With trying to keep Grace's wishes but yet also trying to achieve the best price for her, we feel this is the fair way to auction these wonderful vases. There is not $500 difference in these vases! Grace would love for them to stay together as they apparently have been from day of making.. What an opportunity to continue history!

The bidding was very exciting, I can remember watching it on my computer from my office. Aaron Hurst was the high bidder and took them both. The auction stopped to congratulate him and his wife with photos and applause. It was a wonderful moment

Surprisingly, shortly after, like two weeks later, Aaron sold the pair to Gary Heavin of Missouri. I remember congratulating Gary and I told him he should nickname them the Twin Towers and he did. They stayed in his collection a few years until he sold them to me in 2015. I picked them up at the 2015 HOACGA convention and flew home with them, happy as a clam.

Now here it is, January of 2018 and I am just getting around to posting them. These should have been written up a long time ago but the daunting task of photographing them put me off. There are no pictures that can capture these breath-taking beauties but you will get the feel of them for sure.

The second to the last photo is courtesy David Doty.

The last photo, which shows the best iridescence, is courtesy Gary Heavin, a keepsake he gave me to dote on the pair for a couple of years. That was some pin-up photo!

The Christina Katsikas Collection