Jenkins Lattice #336

By Carl and Eunice Booker

Originally published in: The Carnival Pump, Vol. XXXIX No. 2 (December 2004)

While on our way to our monthly Hoosier Carnival Glass Association meeting, we decided to check out some of the antique shops where we had not been lately. We went in one shop, and they already had their lights turned out. They didn’t tell us to leave, so we started looking around. Eunice asked if we could have some light as we saw a cabinet full of Carnival Glass. After looking over everything, we decided to look at a tumbler which we didn’t have. We checked it over and decided that we would see if we could negotiate a price. The shop owners were very nice and gave us a little better price, so we bought the tumbler. We didn’t know the pattern but thought that we had seen one many years before.

We took the tumbler to our Hoosier meeting and showed it during our Show and Tell session. No one at the meeting had seen one before. Boy, we were feeling better all the time.

When we got home, we got out the books and started looking. We finally found the pattern listed in Edwards/Carwile as Jenkins Lattice #336. The piece that was shown in their book was listed as a spooner. They gave no dimensions, so we had to believe that it would be a regular spooner size.

The piece we have is 3 3/4 inches tall, 3 1/8 inches in diameter. It has ten panels each with a rounded top and bottom. It has a 24 rayed star in the base with alternating long and short rays. All around the item are diamonds. One row is smooth and the next row has every other diamond stippled. There is a plain band around the top. It has two mold lines.

Edwards-Carwile speculates that there might be other pieces in this pattern iridized as several pieces are known in crystal.

From the size and appearance, we feel that the item which we have is a tumbler. Since we couldn’t find it in any of our books, we decided to contact Bob Smith by e-mail to see if he knew of this pattern in a tumbler. We sent Bob a picture, and he indicated that he had not seen this tumbler before. We checked the tumbler website and could not find the tumbler there.

We feel confident that we have located a tumbler that is quite rare. We don’t know how it should be valued, but the one we have is not for sale. We know that the Jenkins Company did produce iridized tumblers. It’s fun to know that another rare tumbler has surfaced in the State of Indiana that was MADE in the State of Indiana.

If any of our members have any knowledge of this pattern, we would love to hear from you.

P.S. Alas, further research by Barb Chamberlain has revealed that the item we have IS a spooner. You can see the catalog picture accompanying this article. There is a tumbler shown in the catalog, so we have hope that someday we might find the iridized tumbler. We’re just wondering why they iridized so many spooners as we know of at least five. Only time will tell.