Carnival Glass: Northwood

Started in 1887 by Harry Northwood, the Northwood Glass company was originally located in Martins Ferry, Ohio. Born in England, Harry’s father worked in cameo glass, a skill he passed on to his son. Arriving in the United States in 1880, Harry was employed with several glass companies before establishing his own. By 1895, he relocated his company to Indiana, Pennsylvania, making use of the old Indiana Glass factory. Pressed glass and custard glass, which was a creamy opaque glass, sold well with the public, but it was in 1908 when the first carnival glass, also known as taffeta glass, was manufactured. By then, Northwood opened a glass factory in Wheeling, West Virginia six years earlier and carnival glass became one of his most important contributions to glass making in America. Sixty different design patterns were created by the company, many of them under the guidance of his brother Carl, who headed the decorating department.

Carnival glass is brightly colored and bore an opalescent finish to it, making it look luxurious, a much sought item by the public. Carnival glass was sometimes referred to as “poor man’s Tiffany glass”, after the famous luxury company which catered to the upper class with fine jewelry, glassware, crystal, and watches. Most Northwood carnival glass was marked on the bottom of each piece with the capital letter N enclosed in a circle with a line underneath the N, which makes it easy to identify. While not all Northwood pieces carry this marking, the company was the first to include the identifier, compared to other companies who manufactured carnival glass, such as Indiana Glass and Jeannette Glass. Harry Northwood made a profit of over one million dollars manufacturing and selling the beautiful carnival glass, which is highly collectible today, most of it over a hundred years old. Among the designs used in the making of carnival glass, grape and cable design is considered to be the most popular.

In 1899, the National Glass Company purchased Northwood Glass and continued to manufacture carnival glass designs until 1925 when Northwood closed, six years after Harry Northwood died.

Some of the designs Northwood came out with are: Poinsettia, Grape and cable, Grape and leaf, Singing birds, Flowers and basket weave, Butterfly, Peacock, Star of David, Rosette, Persian medallions, Three fruits, Strawberry, Diamond point, Wishbone, Corn cob, Tree trunk, Acorn, and Leaf.