U.S. Glass Big Butterfly Marigold & Green Tumblers

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Butterflies of June

June, the start of summer. The flowers are blooming attracting bees, hummingbirds, hummingbird moths, and butterflies.

The birds, Red Headed Woodpeckers, Baltimore Orioles, Blue Jays, Wax Wings, Finches, and my favorite, Indigo Buntings. The three large bird feeders have to be filled every other day to keep up with their insatiable appetite. What a magnificent colorful site when they are all there at the same time. What a blessing actually.

Like myself, Sherry loves them all, especially the butterflies. She must have ( I haven't counted them ) anywhere from 15 to 20 placed about the house. I had a butterfly land on me once and Sherry said it is good luck when that happens. Should of went to the casino to verify that instead of continuing to work in the yard. So don't know for sure, smile. Maybe next time.

June 12th to the 15th we were in Greenville, Ohio to attend the ACGA, American Carnival Glass Association convention & auction. There would be three days of auctions.

Thursday, the 12th would be the start of the World Renowned Bob Smith Tumbler Collection. That first day would be 800 tumblers on the block and Friday would be the rest of his collection, almost another 800 tumblers.

This was an historic event. We went to see history being made and to view all these tumblers on display. Wow, what a site. This has never been done before and never will happen again. On Thursday, during the preview, we came upon Bob's two Big Butterfly tumblers, one an olive green and the other marigold, the only one known and both of them flawless.

We have only seen these Big Butterfly tumblers in photos so it was pretty exciting holding these very rare tumblers. When the auction started and the tumblers hit the auction block, Sherry went into action. First the olive green one and followed that up with the marigold one. Slam Bam!

Wow, what a great day. Sherry had her dream tumblers, tumblers she thought she would never see, much less own. On that day the Butterflies of June went home with us.

The Dick & Sherry Betker Collection

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Going back further with the Marigold Big Butterfly by Christina Katsikas

The late Bob Smith would tell you, with a great big smile, that his most favorite tumbler is the U.S. Glass rarity call "Big Butterfly" or "Butterfly" in the base color marigold. For a long time, this tumbler of Bob's was the only one reported in marigold.

Just as detailed as can be, the pointed drapes trimmed with pom-pom tassels, hanging just above the Butterfly, is just amazing to see. This pattern has also been referred to as Butterfly & Bullseye. The round circles may very well be "stained glass bullseyes" in the windows where these drapes are hanging in, so popular in that day. The stippling behind and all around the four butterflies is very fine. It's a masterpiece!

It measures 3 7/8" tall, 2 3/4" wide at the top, and has a 2.5" starred base diameter.

This tumbler once belonged to the iconic tumbler collector, the late Cecil Whitley. It was sold to Bob, via telephone, during a Seeck Auction on Saturday, October the 2nd in 2010 featuring the famous Floyd & Cecil Whitley Collection, held in St. Louis, Missouri. This was after Cecil had passed away. Bob was a very good friend to Cecil & Floyd and shared their love of tumblers in that friendship. He remembers how nerve-wracking the whole experience of purchasing this tumbler was. He said it started out low and steadily climbed up to where it was sold for $11,500. He said it was the only one known at the time and he had to have it... and very frightened at the thought of losing it. He said the only thing to do was to "gulp and get it", no matter what it took, and that he did.

I have written below two separate accounts for the provenance of this tumbler...the first one known. I have not ironed out the missing information but this is what I found:

Jim Seeck recalls how it was only one other bidder bidding against Bob in the auction hall and the bidding did start at $500 so it was indeed a long bidding process. He says the tumbler originated from an old-time collector who found this tumbler in Michigan. He then sold it to Cecil Whitley and now Bob Smith owns it. He also said he sold the only other one known during an auction this summer, in 2016, to Mike & Linda Cain, which has a small nick on the bottom and this one also came out of Michigan. Thank you Jim Seeck for these recollections.

I also found that O. Joe Olson wrote some news about the only known marigold Big Butterfly tumbler in the News & Views Carnival Glass dated May 1, 1978, Volume 16, No. 4 where he wrote that a fella by the name of Walter D. Brannan of San Jose, California, one of the top tumbler experts in the hobby., had visited HOACGA that year to negotiate a deal with John Britt of Manhattan, Kansas. He wrote, "Brannan brought (to the convention) the only known Big Butterfly tumbler, perhaps the most famous tumbler in carnival. This is stippled and has a dark marigold finish. The rarity was displayed in a locked case in the motel lobby. Brannan and John Britt went into a huddle and negotiated a trade. Brannan gave the (marigold) Big Butterfly and a mini-hobnail tumbler in marigold to Britt in return for four tumblers: Multi Fruits & Flowers, green; Waffle Block, marigold (which Brannan had sought for nine years), and S-Repeat (Robert Hansen), marigold. The fourth was an enameled tumbler worth $15."

Then on January 25, 1979, the first volume of a new publication called the Tumbler & Mug News had come out. In it were writings by John Britt and Don Moore. I was excited to read about the Big Butterfly marigold tumbler again. It told about the trade mentioned in the paragraph above and went on to say that John Britt displayed the tumbler ten weeks later at the ICGA convention at Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. A Texas collector first offered $3500 for it and later raised his bid to $5500 which Britt accepted. He said that while he did not like sellling his "prize", the offer was too generous to resist. So now we know how it went from Britt to Whitley. Yes, that Texas collector was the Whitleys.

Last, but not least, here is some more information and an accounting of the prices paid for the Big Butterfly tumblers on Dave Doty's website.

The second one known sold on May 7, 2016 at a Seeck Mason City auction. It had a chip on its base and sold for $1200 to Mike & Linda Cain of Tennessee. They just recently sold it on an online Seeck Auction based in Wichita, Kansas during the 2017 Air Capital convention on November 5, 2017 for $1100.

Bob Smith thought it would be nice to enclose photos of the Whitley's auction catalog in honor of his good friends, Floyd & the late Cecil Whitley. He says friends like this only come around once in a lifetime and he missed them both dearly.

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Going back further with the Olive Green Big Butterfly by Christina~~

Big Butterfly by U.S. Glass, was the late Bob Smith's most favorite pattern in his extensive collection. It is often referred to as just "Butterfly". This Olive Green version is the second example he had aquired in this pattern. The other one was in Marigold.

It measures 3 7/8" tall, 2 3/4" wide at the top, and has a 2.5" starred base diameter.

Just as detailed as can be, the pointed drapes trimmed with pom-pom tassels, hanging just above the Butterfly, is just amazing to see. The round circles may very well be "stained glass bullseyes" in the windows where these drapes are hanging in, so popular in that day. The stippling behind and all around the four butterflies is very fine. It's a work of art! I've seen two tumblers reported in Marigold, this is not the case with the Olive Green ones. There are a scant few known.

The last photo is pretty, showing the iridescence picking up the blue color of the sky. It seems to pick up any color that is around it so it has many different looks.

Bob could not remember where he found this tumbler. It just would not come to him!

U.S. Glass Big Butterfly Marigold & Green Tumblers

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