Millersburg Olympic Emerald Green Compote

There are only two of these mini Olympic compotes known to exist. One is an amethyst example in a private collection and the other is this emerald green one. It was a fine day when I purchased it privately from Mavis Loescher of Beloit, Wisconsin when we first met each other in person at the Septemtem 2014 Jackie Poucher Auction event in Kansas City, Missouri.

What a treat to something so special, so charming and beautiful in every way. Mavis collected Carnival Glass with her late husband, George Loescher, for several years. I never met George but Mavis says I would have enjoyed him. He loved the glass and had a special insight for the rare.

They purchased this mini compote over thirty years ago from a John Woody auction on January 9, 1982 for $700. It was owned by O. Joe Olson of Kansas City, Missouri who had consigned several Millersburg rarities to this auction including the amethyst Acorn  and amethyst Wild Flower jelly compotes. O. Joe Olson was also the editor of a publication called the Carnival Glass News & Views where he wrote about this $100,000 auction in great detail in Volume 20, No. 1.

He went on to say the auctioneer, John Woody, had acquired glass consignments from Jim & Marlene Mogg of Hamilton, Mo., Mr. & Mrs. James Harrington, Jr. of Cummings, GA, and that of O. Joe Olson for this auction of "rare and super rare Millersburg pieces".  A memorable auction highlight was the blue Peoples vase that Don Staley purchased, for one uncontested bid of $5,000, for his friend Floyd Whitley, of Houston, Texas, who was away on business in Alaska at the time. This famous vase had been consigned by the Moggs who had paid $8,100 for it at a Des Moines, Iowa auction in 1973.

Now, as my friend Brent Mochel recalls, he goes even further back, years before the Woody Auction. He remembers his father, the late Charlie Mochel and his mother, Eleanor, had taken a trip to Emporia, Kansas to meet and visit with Mrs. Marion Hartung. It was she who first owned this little compote. After their visit, his parents were sitting in their car ready to leave her house, when Charlie remembered what his friend John Britt once told him..."If you ever see one of those little compotes with a star at the bottom and flowers going around the inside, just buy it!" He was sure it was the little compote he saw in Marion's house so he got out of his car and went back in to buy it and he did. Later on he traded it to John Britt for two rare tumblers, a marigold Dahlia and a marigold Cut Cosmos. John held on to it for ten or fifteen years. It is unclear but John Britt must have sold it to O. Joe Olson sometime before the Woody auction or it was actually he who consigned it at that time. The provenance on this little compote is amazing, isn't it?

It  was a wonderful gesture from Mavis to offer this to me. It's an honor that she thought to let its next home be here in the Carnival Glass Showcase. It is said this and the purple compotes are some of the top rarities in all of Millersburg glass. I would like to call this green one the prettiest piece of Millersburg second to only the amethyst Butterfly & Corn vase.

It stands just 3" tall and 3 1/2" wide at the top. It shares the same exterior mould as Millersburg's Leaf & Little Flowers compotes. The foot is octagon shaped and the exterior has eight smooth panels. It's a very simple form with an elegant interior. I've taken some close-up photos to show the 8-pointed stippled star circled with 29 beads. All this is surrounded by a square wreath with a flower in each corner. A gorgeous blue glow radiates from this very special miniature compote.

I don't know who gave this compote its name. I don't believe it was anyone mentioned in this article. Not even Marion Hartung who wrote about it calling it by name but of no mention that she named it. My gut feeling is that Millersburg (John Fenton) named it as a special order product. I will tell you why.

• Its center star may actually symbolize the flame of the Olympic torch, a recognized symbol of this ancient event.

• The leaves on the wreath are definitely the same shape as those of an olive branch. In ancient Greece, an Olive wreath was placed on the head of the winning athlete on the champion's podium. It was the only award given at the time. Later on, during the Victorian Era (when this compote was made) 1912 was the last year solid gold medals were awarded along with flowers. Each individual bloom had its own symbolic meaning and was native to the country hosting the event.

• The 1912 Summer Olympics were held in Stockholm, Sweden. It just so happens this was the last year Millersburg produced glass and closed their doors forever. It is recorded that 28 countries participated in this event. Not counted in these 28 countries was one more "private entry" which was allowed back then. These were entries not part of the country's officially selected teams. Arnold Jackson from Kenya, Africa represented this 29th country. He ran and won the 1500 meter race, beating out the United States by 0.1 seconds in what is known as "the greatest race ever run". This entry was the 29th bead in the circle.
  

I think you will agree that these are three good reasons why I think it was named "Olympic". Why there were only two made, one in each color, I don't know. Perhaps they were prototypes that were never approved to be mass produced for the Olympics. It wasn't because they were not beautiful, that's for sure. Maybe John Fenton couldn't swing such a large order for whoever asked him to produce this Olympic souvenir during a time his company was in distress. The pattern was absolutely brilliant!

I would like to thank Mavis again for passing the Olympic Torch on to me. I love it down to my Grecian roots. Let the games begin!

Please don't forget to click on each picture and then click on them again for a larger and much more detailed view.

 The Christina Katsikas Collection