Northwood Diamond Point Marigold on Green "Alaskan Treatment" Rayed Base Vase

By Mike Carwile

I noticed this somewhat odd Northwood Diamond Point vase on eBay recently and it just came today.” (April 2017)
 
A bit of history on this vase from the old Butler Brothers Catalog reprint;  This vase is first shown in the above mentioned catalog as being first made in Opalescent Glass in April 1906 and listed as “Large Fancy Flower Vase, 12”, and continues to be made in Opalescent Glass until the Mid Spring section in 1909. Then in October 1909 it shows up for the first time in an ad for their “Iridized Assortment” as a “Diamond Embossed Flower Vase, 12” size.
 
Most of us have seen these in various sizes (this one stands at 7 7/8” tall and 5 3/8” across the top) and colors and various sizes with a different number of points sharply pulled up, and some simply ruffled with a rounded edge like this example. This example was obviously, to me, ruffled by using a method where the rod it was attached to was swung left and right, turning the rod 180 degrees with each swing (as I have done during many glass making classes at the Fenton Factory), as opposed to turning the rod with the piece attached to the “snap rings” upside down and inserting it into a “foot pedal” crimping device that make all the ruffles even.
 
Several things got my attention when I saw this vase;  the color we sometimes refer to as Northwood's iridized “Alaskan Treatment”, being marigold on green glass, then its random ruffled edge with no points, but rather scalloped edge, the fact that the marigold goes all the way to the base, and the main feature being that this vase has a 30-rayed base, which is the least often seen as most have the plain base with the Northwood logo on the bottom (this one has the logo inside on the bottom).
 
After a bit of searching on eBay and other locations I find that during the Opalescent years, I was seeing about 1 in 10 vases having a rayed base and all of them had this odd piece of “extra” glass (shown here in photo) at the same place on the side of the base.  It’s a 3-part mold but the extra blob of glass is in between two of the mold seams and the vase sits with no wobble at all.
 
I took one of my regular Diamond Point vases with a smooth base, put a straight edge across the base and measured down to the glass and it was 1/4” in the center of the base.  Then I repeated the same procedure on the rayed base version shown here and the same measurement was 3/8”.
 
Now I have somewhat of a problem;  was this a different mold, was there what’s called a “slug plate” used in the bottom of the mold on some of these vases to make a rayed base?
 
Both versions have the same base diameter 3 7/8” and both have 17 rows of diamonds.

So, what is the answer?  What have I missed?  Any theories from you are certainly welcomed.”

The Mike Carwile Collection