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Gallery Feature
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Click to enlarge |
Challinor, Taylor/U.S. Glass
Large Standing Turkey Covered Dish
Take a good look. This is the rare old original, the Granddaddy of
all the standing turkey covered dishes. It was created by Challinor, Taylor
& Co. about the same time as its other "Farm Yard" animal dishes
(circa 1891), and was continued in production using the original moulds by the
United States Glass Company to about 1900. The details of this wonderful piece
are superb, especially in the turkey's wing and body feathers, and in the
elaborate pattern of leaves and foliage embossed at the back below the rump. In
the photo showing the underside of the base, notice the distinctive waffle or
cross-hatch design that covers the entire surface and extends out to the
edges.
Challinor produced the turkey in clear crystal, and in clear with
vivid painted decoration. It is unknown whether the company made it in milk
glass, but the weight of evidence suggests those found in milk glass were
probably produced by the US Glass Company. A very close copy of this turkey --
an import from Czechoslovakia -- appeared in the mid-1920s causing confusion for
many collectors then as now. There should be no confusion, however, with the
large Cambridge Glass Co. turkey, which first appeared in 1930, because this
bird lacks any feathering detail, and has other features quite different from
the Challinor/US Glass version, particularly the roughly mottled surface rather
than a waffle pattern on the underside of the base. In more recent times,
beginning around the 1960s, a new mould, which appears to be a copy of the Czech
turkey, was created for the L. G. Wright Glass Co. It too has a waffled
underside, but the pattern is centered and does not extend out to the
edges.
All of these birds are large, measuring about 9 inches tall. The
popular and somewhat smaller turkey covered dish (7 inches tall) is a product of
the L. E. Smith Glass Company, produced over many years and continued to the
present time. Most recently it is being made in milk white and in opaque green
for Martha Stewart.
For anyone interested in having a full and very detailed account
of all these wonderful birds, we recommend Frank Chiarenza's article
"Identifying Manufacturers of Large Turkey Jam Jars," in Glass
Collector's Digest (Oct/Nov 1994, pp. 55-63).
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