~ Ellen & Keith Richardson, UK

Carnival Glass collecting was a slow start for me and my husband Keith. Our first stint at collecting glass was in the 70s when Swarovski Silver Crystal was established. That continued until the mid 80s and we took a little break.

My first memory of Carnival glass was of two  pieces my mother had , Pineapple ( or Pineapple  & Bows Sugar & Creamer by Sowerby ). I was only about 10 years old but was taken by all the rainbow colours I used to see on the glass. My mum didn't know what it was called or who made it but I was determined it would be mine. I regularly used to ask if I could have it when I grew up. In the end she relented and handed it over to me when I was 18 years old.

It was a long time after that , I would say late 80s before we started to buy any more Carnival glass , and then it was the odd Marigold piece that we came across. We didn't know any other colours existed until one day we were visiting a large Antique Center. We saw a pair of Fenton  Lotus & Thistle bowls and decided to buy them. While they were being wrapped we were chatting to the center owner who asked if we had any of the other colours. What do you mean other colours we said.
We were pretty amazed when he told us what was out there and all the patterns that existed. So we decided there and then that we would start looking for these other colours and patterns.

A few weeks later we decided to pay the center another visit and were lucky enough to catch a seller unpacking a monster piece. We couldn't believe our luck a Grape & Cable Stippled Banded large Bowl in blue. And that was our first piece in a different colour.
We started to go to Antique Fairs around the country and steadily built up a rapport with the Carnival Glass sellers. Although we bought quite a few pieces from them , they did not offer much in the way of advice . The first publication we knew of was a Marion Hartung book that a stall-holder showed us for prices. So we bought the book and used that for a while.

Some years later in the early 90s we were at an Auction bidding against another keen buyer. That buyer turned out to be Jim Nichols who was already well known to buyers and dealers in the USA. Jim had a small shop selling Carnival Glass amongst other stuff and we started to visit there on a regular basis.

Over time we became friends and he would call in and see us on his travels. He did the Carnival Glass Auctions for the late Frank Horn and for the Carnival Glass Society UK. Jim gave us lots of advice about iridescence, colours, shapes and patterns.
If we were at a Fair and saw something we weren't sure about, we would ring him and he would tell us what he knew.
It did backfire on him once when he told us a piece we had seen wasn't a genuine . When he eventually saw it he was trembling. Jim put us on to Dave Doty's publication and that became our bible for a number of years.

It was Jim who turned us towards collecting European Carnival Glass when he arrived with an EDA Largerkrans bonbonniere one day. We were instantly smitten and had to have more.  So, to Jim Nichols, I would like to say a huge "Thank you" for all the  knowledge you imparted and your friendship.

From then on we bought numerous publications by Glen & Stephen Thistlewood  and  Mike Carwile and Bill Edwards along with individual books on Imperial, Northwood, Dugan, and Fenton. So a big "Thank you" to all who have contributed so much to this passion of ours.

You talk about passing on knowledge and due to an entirely chance encounter, I am currently mentoring someone who has only recently started to collect Carnival Glass. This person lives a long way from me but has an open invitation to come and see our collection. It is something I have done a few times, but it is wonderful to see someone's reactions when they see a Carnival Glass collection for a first time and are spellbound.

And last, bit not least, I would like to say a big thanks to Christina Katsikas. Christina gave me the opportunity to put most of our European Carnival Glassware on Showcase when she started it it up. It not only gave us the opportunity to get it out there but it also made me up my game with photographing my glass. I took hundreds of photographs before deciding which were the best. I have progressed from that. I still take lots of photos but I know what backgrounds look best along with the best sort of light gets the best results. So thanks again Christina for that one off opportunity.

Ellen & Keith Richardson.