I’ve been away, so please excuse this belated addition to something that is very close to my heart. The story of the Northwood and Dugan families does indeed made interesting reading. I have researched it (and written about it) and I also have the privilege of knowing some of the Northwood family descendants personally, so you may be interested to know a little more about the links and connections
The Northwood and Dugan families were English, of course. The name Northwood of course is renowned in British glass (John Northwood - Harry’s father - created an amazing replica of the Portland Vase in cameo glass). Harry Northwood attended art school in the UK and was trained in the glass trade by his father.
Harry Northwood emigrated from England to the USA in 1881, about the same time that his cousin Tom (that’s Thomas E. A) also left the UK to earn his living in the American glass trade.
(Tom Dugan’s father and Harry Northwood’s mother - Elizabeth Dugan - were brother and sister. The “Thomas Dugan” who was Harry Northwood’s uncle was not the Tom Dugan who made Carnival Glass. Known as Uncle Tommie, he was in fact Uncle to both Tom and Harry, as he was the brother of Harry’s mother and Tom’s father. In fact Uncle Tommie had emigrated to the USA when Tom and Harry were both youngsters. He had gone into the glass business and he was on hand later to give them both financial help and expertise).
For a while the two cousins actually worked at the same glass plant (Hobbs Brockunier). In 1887 Harry Northwood (and some other investors) bought the disused Union Flint Glass factory in Martin’s Ferry and renamed it …the first Northwood Glass Company was founded. There were various re-locations of Northwood Glass, including (in 1895) the factory in Indiana, PA. During this period of re-location, the two cousins had stayed and worked together, and indeed Tom Dugan was plant manager at Northwood’s Indiana, PA works (his brother, Alfred Dugan, was plant foreman).
It gets trickier now! In 1899 the two cousins went their separate ways. Harry went back to England (for a while), having sold the Indiana glass plant to the National Glass Company. Five years later, Tom Dugan bought the Indiana glass plant and re-named it the Dugan Glass Company. At around the same time, Harry Northwood went back to the USA and bought another old glass factory (Hobbs Brockunier, in fact) in Wheeling, WV. He called it Harry Northwood & Company.
It’s this final step that has caused some of the glass identity problems that beset Carnival for years. Northwood made his Carnival glass at Wheeling - but his cousin, Tom Dugan, made his Carnival at the old Northwood factory of Indiana, PA. And the tricky thing was, of course, Dugan was using some of the old Northwood moulds.
In 1908 Northwood began making iridised glass - Carnival.
Dugan was certainly experimenting with iridescence for a few years, but his Carnival lines didn’t hit the market until 1909.
One tricky piece is called Nautilus - and is known in peach opalescent (a Dugan signature color) but it sometimes bears the Northwood script signature. This was undoubtedly made by Dugan using his cousin’s old mould, before removal of the moulded signature.
Dugan’s Carnival is certainly greatly admired - though I think most Carnival collectors would say that his cousin, Harry Northwood, had the edge on him.
Terry, you said Northwood on the other hand did not do much in Carnival opalescent.
What? Perhaps you mean that Northwood didn’t do much PEACH opalescent Carnival? That’s for sure - there are a few examples but they are rare and very sought after indeed. However, Northwood is hugely famous for making opalescent Carnival on aqua base glass. His aqua opal is possibly the most sought after color in Carnival - and in fact holds the record for the highest price ever paid. This was for an aqua opal Peacock at the Fountain punch set.
Anyone want to guess what it sold for?Oh, and if anyone is at all interested, here’s a pic of me and Steve with Harry Northwood’s grand-daughter - the late Miss Elizabeth Robb.
http://tinypic.com/eikuu1.jpg(I’m kneeling beside Miss Robb - Steve is standing behind me)
She was a magnificent lady and a devoted collector of her grandfather’s glass. At her home in Wheeling she had some of the most magnificent examples of his work, including some Silveria vases. She also had a piece of cameo glass that Harry had carved - it was exquisite. If anyone is in the area, don’t miss the Oglebay Institute which has some wonderful examples of Northwood’s glass.
Also in the photo are David McKinley and his wife, Mary (both standing left). David’s great grandfather was Harry Northwood’s younger brother, Carl. In 1998, David McKinley began the New Northwood Art Glass Company in Wheeling, in a desire to keep alive his great uncle’s glass tradition.
I hope this additional information has been of some small interest.
Glen