Imperial Glass Company
Bellaire, Ohio
Stretch Glass Dates: mid-1910s into mid-1930s
Stretch Glass Line Name: Imperial Art Glass and Satin Iridescent Line
Colors:
Art Glass Line-
Pearl Amethyst - a medium purple glass with multicolored iridescence, mainly blues, purples and reds.
Pearl Green - a light green to crystal glass with multicolored green-gray iridescence.
Pearl Ruby - crystal glass with heavy marigold-like iridescence
Pearl Silver - a dark purple glass with a silvery or gold iridescent surface
Pearl White - crystal glass with frosty white iridescence
Pearl Venitian - crystal glass with a shiny watery-white iridescence (not really stretch glass)
marigold on milk - a milk glass with an orange-red iridescence, actual name not known
smoke on milk - a milk glass with a blue-gray iridescence, actual name not known
Imperial made a vast array of iridized glassware ranging from excellent, true art glass to rather plain and simple carnival. In between, they made two lines of stretch glass, their "Art Glass Line" (which is not true art glass!) and their "Satin Iridescent" colors which appear to be more simply made stretch glass. Other, confusing lines are the "Freehand," "Lead Lustre," and "Nuart" lines as well as their "Bright Iridescent" colors that are obviously what we would call carnival glass today.
Freehand, Lead Lustre and Nuart pieces are true art glass and have the characteristic ground and polished pontils on the bases.
The Art Glass Line is commonly called "Imperial Jewels" by collectors. This line is a true stretch glass, but appears to have been double-doped. They are all "stuck up" pieces and they were obviously iridized, shaped and iridized again. This results in some fantastic iridescent effects. Most of the Art Glass pieces are marked with the traditional "iron cross" mark though this is not always the case.
The Satin Iridescent pieces are almost always "snapped up" pieces. Imperial also commonly added wheel cut decorations, especially on the marigold and smoke pieces.
Vase in Pearl Amethyst.
Hair receiver in Pearl Green.
Violet Vase (commonly called a Jack-in-the-pulpit or JIP) in Pearl Ruby.
Crimped vase in Pearl Silver.
Bowl in Pearl White.
A wide panel bowl in Pearl Venitian (not stretch glass).
Wide flared bowl in smoke on milk.
Bowl in marigold on milk.
Colors:
Satin Iridescent Colors-
Amber Ice - a light brown (amber) glass
Amethyst Ice - a light purple glass, a wisteria
black - a dark purple glass usually without stretch effect, most likely Imperial's "Purple Glaze" which is actually a carnival glass color
Blue Ice - a crystal glass with a blue-gray iridescence, often called "smoke" by collectors
Green Ice - actually a BLUE-green glass, commonly called "teal" by collectors (this color can be very light in thin pieces and may appear blue until compared with a real Celeste Blue!)
Iris Ice - crystal glass with white iridescence
ruby and amberina - a traditional red stretch, but actual Imperial name is not known
Rose Ice - a crystal glass with a light marigold iridescent effect
pink - a pink glass with white iridescence
pink with marigold - pink glass with a yellow-orange iridescence
pink with smoke - pink glass with a blue-gray iridescence (smoke)
topaz - a true yellow glass (vaseline), not named by Imperial but a couple of pieces are known
A wide panel bowl in Amber Ice.
A wide panel bowl in Amethyst Ice.
Handled basket in Blue Ice (smoke).
Octagonal candleholders in Green Ice (teal).
Wide panel vase in ruby.
Large "Chesterfield" compote in Iris Ice (crystal).
Candleholder-bowl in Rose Ice (marigold)
Plate with pink with smoke effect.
A wide panel bowl in topaz, a difficult color to find!
Imperial Glass Company Pages
Imperial Art Glass Line, introduction
Imperial #725, #727 & #728, Octagon Lines
Imperial Stretch Plates & Handled Servers
Imperial Stretch Candleholders
Imperial Stretch Compotes & Sherbets
Imperial Miscellaneous (cream & sugars, mugs, pitchers, etc.)
