U.S. Glass Palm Beach Marigold on Milk Glass Whimsey Bulbous Pinched-Top Vase

This pretty Palm Beach vase has Marigold iridescence over a Milk Glass base glass. I purchased it at the 2016 Tampa Bay Convention auction with Tom Burns, auctioneer at the helm.

It wasn't until I got home from that convention that I discovered that my other vase similar to this one, that I had purchased from Pete Bingham as Pearlized over Custard, was actually a Pearlized (Clear) iridescence applied over Milk Glass and not custard glass at all. Then, to further compare them, the iridescence on this one was marigold and not the delicate pearlized iridescence used to coat clear crystal glass. So, ideally as a collector,  I ended up with two different vases where I thought I was buying a duplicate color of one I already had.

I have learned a lot about Palm Beach vases this year, maybe more than I wished I had. In my humble opinion and through hands on experience, I am inclined to believe that U.S. Glass only made Palm Beach Carnival Glass in two colors: clear and milk glass. The rest of the colors, including Amethyst, Wisteria, and perhaps including Honey Amber (which may be a very dark marigold) are produced by thickly applied surface treatments that are very skillfully executed. I have found my purple vases are actually heavily applied cranberry flashing (think King's Crown) over clear glass. The treatment covers the inside, outside and bottom completely which is why it took me so long to figure it out.  It was only when I viewed a purple piece through the inside looking into the sun did I see scratches to reveal clear glass. I will be writing more on the base colors of Palm Beach at a later date.

The Christina Katsikas Collection