Black Amethyst by Rog Gladson

Northwood Poppy Pickle Dish in Black Amethyst

It’s the rarest and most falsely identified base color found in carnival glass. I’ve spent 20 years searching for this rare glass.  Black amethyst base color is identified by looking thru the base from the back at a high wattage (200-300 Watts) or directly at a bright sun. If when doing so you see a preponderance of purple it is amethyst. If you see a preponderance of reddish purple, it is fiery amethyst. If the base color is almost totally black opaque glass it is black amethyst.

Fenton Peacock Tail Ruffled Sauce in Black Amethyst

Black amethyst has been erroneously reported in many carnival glass auction brochures and in for sale lists in club publications. In my experience this happens about 75% of the time.  Furthermore, much of the new carnival glass sold as black amethyst by the makers is actually amethyst.

Dugan Wreathed Cherry Banana Bowl in Black Amethyst

In my experience this misrepresentation is made when selling Australian pieces.  More than half of the pieces of Australian carnival glass that I have inspected at auctions were simply amethyst.  Having said all this there is a small amount of old carnival glass in black amethyst and I’m on the look-out for it.

Dugan Cherries Bowl in Black Amethyst

So far in the 20 years that I’ve searched for this rare color I’ve managed to collect it in 42 different patterns, namely:

• BEADED PANELS by Westmoreland in a compote

• BUTTERFLY & BERRY by Fenton in a vase

• CHRYSANTHEMUM by Fenton in a 11 inch footed bowl (from the Don Moore collection)

• CORN VASE by Northwood in a vase (I’ve had two of these which are the only ones reported)

• SOWERBY DRAPE by Sowerby in a vase

• DUGAN CHERRY by Dugan in a two-sides-up footed bowl

• EBON manufacturer unknown in a vase which is the only shape and color known in this pattern (from the Carol Moore collection of 2,000 vases)

• FINE RIB by Fenton in a vase

• FISHERMANS by Dugan in a mug

• FOUR PILLARS by Northwood in a vase

• GRAPE & CABLE by Northwood in a 7 1/2 inch bowl and a two handled bon bon

• GRAPE DELIGHT by Dugan in a 6 footed nut bowl

• HERON by Dugan in a mug

• HOLLY by Fenton in a jelly compote (I have seen 4 or 5 -9 inch plates)

• HOLLY & BERRY by Dugan in a nappy

• KINGFISHER by Crystal of Australia in a 5 inch bowl and a 5 1/4 inch bowl

• KOOKABURRA by Crystal of Australia in a 5 1/2 inch bowl

• LEAF & BEADS by Northwood in a tri-corned footed candy dish

• LINED LATTICE by Dugan in a vase (probably the easiest to find in black amethyst)

• LUSTRE & CLEAR by Imperial in a two-handled celery dish

• LUSTRE ROSE by Imperial in a fernery

• MAPLE LEAF by Dugan in a tumbler

• MAPLE LEAF w/PEACOCK TAIL by Dugan in a stemmed berry bowl

• MEMPHIS by Northwood in a punch cup and a punch bowl base

• OPEN EDGE by Fenton in a hat (have 2)

• ORANGE TREE by Fenton in a mug

• PEACOCK & GRAPE by Fenton in a 8 3/4 inch bowl with the front side uniridized and the back side iridized (this is the only example confirmed to be black amethyst)

• PEACOCK@FOUNTAIN by Northwood in a punch cup

• PEACOCK TAIL by Fenton in a ruffled sauce dish

• PERSIAN MEDALLION by Fenton in a 6 1/2 inch plate

• POPPY by Northwood in a relish dish (from the John & Lucille Britt collection)

• QUESTION MARK by Dugan in a compote and a bon bon

• RIBBON TIE by Fenton in a 9 inch ruffled plate

• SIX PETALS by Dugan in a bowl

• STAG & HOLLY by Fenton in a 11 inch 3 footed bowl

• SWAN by Crystal of Australia in a 9 1/2 inch bowl

• THUNDERBIRD by Crystal of Australia in a 9 1/2 inch bowl (have 2)

• TWO FLOWERS by Fenton in a 8 inch footed deep bowl

• VINTAGE by Fenton in a fernery

• WIDE PANEL by unknown maker in a covered candy

• WILD STRAWBERRY by Northwood in a 10 inch bowl

• WREATHED CHERRY by Dugan in a master oval berry bowl

• PEACOCK @ FOUNTAIN by Northwood in a punch cup

(Photos and text by Rog Gladson. Please note: this article was written more than 20 years ago and the information within it may be outdated.)