Been Wondering about White Grape and Cable

By Barb Chamberlain

As you all know, Grape and Cable was the bread-and-butter pattern for the Northwood Glass Company. There was a great variety of shapes and colors produced. Most people have several pieces of the pattern in their collections. Some people even specialize in obtaining a whole range of these items in all the colors.

Have you ever wondered why some shapes come in some colors and not in others? I have. As some of you know, we collect white carnival glass, but we collect all the other colors as well. We like the subtle but brilliant colors of the iridescence, as well as the frostiness, of white carnival glass, especially when a collection of white is displayed together.

After doing a fair amount of researching, I have discovered that the only pieces of white Grape and Cable that are found with some regularities are the large master ice cream bowls and the unstippled bonbons. There are a few of the small bowls that came with the master ice creams, but they aren’t found nearly as easily as the masters, which is surprising when you think of a set of ice cream bowls. The ruffled bowls made from the same mold as the large ice cream bowl can be found, but not as easily.

The relatively available bonbon is shown above.

On the left is the master ice cream bowl which is probably the most available shape in white Grape and Cable. On the right is a ruffled bowl made from the same mold as the bowl on the left.

There are other pieces of white Grape and Cable that can be found, but on a somewhat limited scale, and by no means common. Banana boats, centerpiece bowls with turned in points like a large rosebowl, (center- piece bowls with pulled up points are not easily found), cracker jars, and small fruit bowls have sold, but infrequently.

As you probably know, there are three sizes of white Grape and Cable punch sets known. They are all hard to find. The small size punch bowl has a diameter of eleven to twelve inches; the midsize diameter is thirteen to fourteen inches, and the master measures sixteen to eighteen inches across the top of the bowl. All these punch sets are hard to find. There are a few punch cups bloating around if you need to complete a set, but you will wait a fair amount of time to find or make a complete set. Don Moore wrote many years ago that he thought the small size white punch set was harder to find than the master. Perhaps someone will research this as well as the number of midsize ones.

Matt Wroda Auctions have sold two cups and saucers. A saucer is supposed to have a slightly indented center for holding the cup. Dave Doty lists that one saucer has sold separately, so these also are very elusive. These were most likely made with the same mold as the small ICS bowls. In fact, on the cups and saucers that the Wrodas sold, the outer edge on the saucer was slightly upturned.

The banana boat on the left and the fernery on the right each had their own molds. Neither is easy to find.

Other items that I found that sold (listed on the Doty site) was one berry set with the thumbprints, a large berry bowl with thumbprints, one seven to eight-inch bowl, an eight to nine-inch bowl, two salad bowls, one chop plate, two large fruit bowls, one sweetmeat that sold in 1993, one dresser tray, three hatpin holders, three powder jars, and two pin trays.

According to Carnival Glass 101, a cologne bottle stopper is known, but when that article was written there was no bottle itself. We can hope. I personally saw years ago at an antique show a base for a powder jar. We were new collectors then, so I didn’t know how rare it was and didn’t buy it. There are no banded hatpin holders known in white. According to Diane Fry on this site, the chop plate known was flattened after from a bowl. It measures twelve inches in diameter.

Carl O. Burns mentions that there are two white Grape and Cable chop plates, and he says they were flattened from a fruit bowl. Does that mean that they are footed? He also indicated that there are no other chop plates known in Grape and Cable in any color. He indicated that there was one dresser tray known.

I found it interesting in an ad from the Butler Brothers’ catalog listing that a fernery was available in marigold, purple, and white. It said that the ferneries had white glass liners—these were used to protect the finish on the carnival glass, of course

The three bowls pictured above were all made from the same mold, but were fashioned into a small fruit bowl, left, a rosebowl shaped centerpiece bowl, center, and a points up centerpiece bowl, right. None of these are easily found.

What started me wondering about white Grape and Cable was the fact that I didn’t remember any white plates as selling in either collar base or spatula footed. I thought that was somewhat strange when I knew there were Peacocks and Hearts and Flower plates, as well as a few other Northwood plate patterns that were made in white. There is an ice green footed Grape and Cable plate so why no white ones?

Then I thought about the other items made in Grape and Cable and found no water sets (either table size or tankard size), no table set pieces, and no ruffled berry sets. I’ve been wondering ever since about the lack of white pieces in Grape and Cable.

Very few of the covered cracker jars, left is known.  Surprisingly, the small white ICS bowl, center is much less common than the master. The elusive white hatpin holder, right is shown above. No banded are known.

Do you have some other pieces of white Grape and Cable that I missed? Do you have a photo or two that you could share? I would be glad to include any new information or pieces in a future edition of The Carnival Pump. Please email me at dbcham@iowatelecom.net or write to me at 124 E. Honey Creek Dr., Manchester, IA 52057. Been wonderin’ – have you?

The Three Sizes of Punch Bowls

The small punch bowl measures eleven to twelve inches in bowl diameter. The midsize punch bowl has a diameter of thirteen to fourteen inches. The bowl diameter of the master punch bowl measures sixteen to eighteen inches.

Many of the white Grape and Cable photos in this article are courtesy of Seeck Auction.

This article first appeared in the ICGA Pump in the March 2018 issue and is reprinted with permission.