Author Topic: I don't know what this is!!!!!! Help ID = Morgantown "Ivy Ball" (Read 6719 times)

Cassie55308 · « **on:** March 03, 2006, 06:33:06 AM »

If anyone knows what this is please let me know. I know it was my great aunt's but I don't know how she got it. I love all colored glass so I love it no matter what but it would be great to know what it is.
http://www.geocities.com/cassiemg72/blue_ball_top_.jpg

Thanks for any help

Cassie

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glasswizard · « **Reply #1 on:** March 03, 2006, 07:48:55 AM »

Hi Cassie, What you have is known as an Ivy Ball. It was a vase used to start ivy. I believe this one is Cambridge, but hopefully Connie will be along to confirm. These were popular in the 1930s. Terry

Connie · « **Reply #2 on:** March 03, 2006, 10:27:30 AM »

Hi Cassie -

Terry is correct it is an Ivy Ball but it is by Morgantown Glass of Morgantown, West Virginia. It was made in the 1930s and is part of their "golf ball" line. Golf Ball is not the official name but is what collectors call it. It is a very desirable and collectible pattern.

Morgantown is one of my favorite makers. Congratulations on having a fabulous piece.

Bernard C · « **Reply #3 on:** March 04, 2006, 06:40:48 AM »

Quote from: "glasswizard"

... What you have is known as an Ivy Ball. It was a vase used to start ivy.

Terry â€” I am mystified. How does a raised round ball start ivy? And why? I only need to leave my garden unattended for a few weeks, and ivy has devoured my potting shed, all the other plants in the garden, and, triffid-like, is trying to take over our home. You can't compost ivy prunings as it poisons other plants (well you can, but it takes forever to get rid of the poison).

The only reasons we allow it to grow is that it covers an unsightly modern wall and that it provides a valuable food source and habitat for small birds, such as wrens, blue and great tits, song thrushes, and our blackbirds (different species to yours, I believe), particularly during the worst of the winter. There is nothing quite so fascinating as watching a pair of wrens working the ivy and the fern border below.

Bernard C.

glasswizard · « **Reply #4 on:** March 04, 2006, 09:54:59 AM »

Bernard, I really cannot explain why they are known as Ivy Balls. That is what they are called in the literature. I do know that with my totally inept green thumb I could probably kill off your Ivy in no time.
I once had a friend in the floral business who decided I needed a live plant in my home. He gave me a very popular Victorian house plant called a Cast Iron Plant because it was supposedly indestructable. The poor thing lingered until pronounced by my friend that it was indeed dead.
This does bring up an interesting subject. Why were certain glass objects produced? In the 1930s there must have been a demand for Ivy Balls, but I think we would have to go back to that era to find out why they were so popular. In my books on Cambridge glass, there are catalog reprints and these are called Ivy Balls, but again I really don't know why.
Its things like these and the questions we ask that make glass collectiong a never ending delight IMHO Terry

Cassie55308 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 04, 2006, 11:05:36 AM »

Thank you all so much!!!!

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