Dolores & Dick Sage
Description
Collecting Carnival Glass:
How the Addiction Spread through One Family
By Dolores Sage
My Carnival Glass collecting began with a marigold Imperial Star Medallion milk pitcher. Where my mother found it I have no idea. It might have come from a county fair, or in a large bag of flour or chicken feed, or even from the traveling Watkins salesman who stopped by every month. No one else in my family wanted it.
From this early beginning evolved our own 700-800 piece collection and an interest in collecting Carnival Glass in our four children and two granddaughters (some more passionate than others). The other ten grandchildren all have received gifts of Carnival Glass. Seven great-grandchildren and seven great-nieces and nephews are currently members of Iridescent Nation, a Carnival Glass Club for junior collectors. The youngest member is three months old.
Our main love was boating and fishing, but we did manage to sandwich in a few stops to antique shops during those early years of collecting (1970s). In spite of a limited budget, our collection grew by a few pieces of Carnival Glass including a smoke Imperial Grape Decanter and two wines, and a passion for wine and cordial sets was ignited.
I did manage to join the American Carnival Glass Association but never made it to a convention with the exception of the one held in Ithaca, New York, in 1976. The convention hotel happened to be on the way to a boating trip to Lake Ontario and my husband, Dick, knew that I was really interested in checking it out. With a German Shepherd in the back seat and a boat on the trailer behind our truck, he stopped at the hotel and sat in the parking lot while I went in to take a look around. I saw some people wearing badges, a welcome sign, but no Carnival Glass so I walked back out and we drove on to our weekend of boating and fishing.
Dick and I did find time to attend a few ACGA conventions and the Woodsland convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Setting out to capture all the milk pitchers I could find, and concentrating on those made by Imperial, I soon amassed a collection of about fifty. I still have about 25-30 displayed on a high shelf above my kitchen.
My interests then changed to collecting wine and cordial sets, water pitchers, dragon bowls, and more Imperial. My cabinet of dragons, off-limits to my birthday and Christmas gift-giving, holds about fifty+ pieces of Dragon & Lotus, Dragon & Strawberry and a Paneled Dragon vase (one of four known).
After Dick retired from IBM in 1986, we moved from Texas to Florida. With more free time on his hands Dick became more interested in Carnival Glass, especially candlesticks. We joined the Sunshine State Carnival Glass Association, attended all of the conventions, and became active working members of the club. No one else in the family showed much interest until after Dick died in 2002. Suddenly my four kids rallied to keep Mom’s interest in the glass going -- thinking to themselves I’m sure -- that doing so would keep me from being too involved in their lives. So they all joined SSCGA and sixteen family members attended the 2003 SSCGA convention in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
A comment from my youngest granddaughter, Alicia, about the lack of pictures of Carnival Glass in my newsletters triggered the idea of creating a Carnival Glass Club for young collectors. To persuade some doubtful members of SSCGA, I involved family members Sandy Sage and Donna Nestra to help produce a colorful newsletter and the Sunshine Club for young Carnival Glass collectors was born! The Sunshine Club was sponsored by SSCGA until it ceased to exist in late 2012. In 2013, with the help of Founder Dolores Sage, John & Loretta Nielsen, my great-granddaughter, Laikyn, and newsletter editor Sandy Sage, the Sunshine Club changed its name to Iridescent Nation and is still going strong.
The addiction has spread throughout our family. My son, Richard, loves Imperial Windmill pieces; my other son, Doug, loves all of the grape patterns; my daughter, Donna, enjoys collecting tumblers and anything blue. Donna’s daughter Alicia, the first member of the Sunshine Club (with Matt Wroda) has a beautiful collection of Imperial Ripple vases.
And my son, Bob with his wife Sandy, are devoted collectors of Carnival Glass – with a passion for collecting European Carnival Glass, Greek Key, and Horse Medallion.
Addendum: Dolores was the recent recipient of awards from both the Heart of America Carnival Glass Association (HOACGA) and the Texas Carnival Glass Club (TCGC). At the 2015 HOACGA convention, Dolores given a special award for her efforts in organizing and continued support of Iridescent Nation, the Carnival Glass club for young collectors. At their convention in Dallas in 2017, she was the recipient of the Texas Carnival Glass Club’s Whitley Award. This prestigious award, begun in 2003, honors the recipient’s dedication to carnival glass that has enriched fellow collectors.
Dolores with family receiving 2017 Whitley Award at TCGC Convention
Dolores with Jackie Poucher receiving 2015 special HOACGA Award
It is with great sadness that we share the news that Dolores Sage passed away on the 4th of July, 2018 at the age of 92. Although her battle with a rare form of lymphoma of the spleen was short, it did not stop her from focusing on one of the things that brought a light to her eyes and a smile to her face, her carnival glass collection.
She was a fierce advocate for promoting collecting carnival glass to future generations. In 2002, she came up with the idea of a carnival glass club for young collectors. In 2003 the Sunshine Club was formed as part of the Sunshine State Carnival Glass Association (SSCGA). In 2012 the name was changed to Iridescent Nation and now, 15 years later, it is still going strong with 58 active members ages 18 and under, and more than 200 alumni.
Dolores was the recipient of awards from both the Heart of America
Carnival Glass Association (HOACGA) and the Texas Carnival Glass Club
(TCGC). At the 2015 HOACGA convention, she was given a special award for
her efforts in organizing and continued support of Iridescent Nation.
In 2017, at their convention in Dallas, Dolores was awarded the Texas
Carnival Glass Club’s Whitley Award. This prestigious award, begun in
2003, honors the recipient’s dedication to carnival glass that has
enriched fellow collectors.
Her love of carnival glass and legacy of collecting will live on
through her four children, twelve grandchildren, and numerous
great-grandchildren – many of us collect carnival glass. And a word of
advice to her fellow collectors already in Heaven - If there are
carnival glass auctions up there, she keeps her bid card up until she
wins.
