Tiffin
Tiffin Treasures - Empire Green
By: Kelly O'Kane
In past Tiffin Treasure articles, I have focused on the rarity or popularity
of specific items produced at the Tiffin plant (under either of the official
company names: United States Glass Company from 1891 to 1963 or Tiffin
Art Glass Corporation starting in 1963). However, in this article I’m going
to take a different slant and focus on a color produced at Tiffin that
is extremely difficult to find today: Empire Green.
Empire Green was offered by Tiffin in 1961, and possibly 1962. The available
prices lists state that Empire Green was introduced in January of 1961.
Comprehensive price lists are not available for 1962, and during 1962,
the United States Glass Company was going under financially. Under the
terms of the bankruptcy laws in Ohio, the plant continued to operate into
early 1963. What we are certain of, is that when the plant began producing
again as Tiffin Art Glass in the fall of 1963, Empire Green was gone. So
the longest possible production period for Empire Green is a little over
two years. That alone makes for a challenge for today’s Tiffin collector.
The marketing of Empire Green adds to the challenge of finding it today.
Two other colors were introduced into the Tiffin color spectrum at the
same time as Empire Green: Golden Banana and Plum. These three colors were
used for many of the same items made at Tiffin, the lion’s share of which
can be found in the “Tiffin Selections” catalog. The beautiful items in
this catalog include candlesticks, hurricane lamps, ivy bowls and candy
dishes. Tiffin offered discounts on “packs” of glass, meaning the factory
would give a discount if buyers purchased a bulk package which included
a certain number of items from the catalog. These packs were obviously
popular, because collectors today can find examples of Golden Banana and
Plum, and those were the only two colors included in the packs: Empire
Green was not.
>From the few examples and pictures I have seen, Empire Green is a beautiful
green. It is a light green, and like Tiffin’s Killarney green, it has neither
a blue or yellow hue to it - it is straight green. The best words I can
think of to describe it are “light mint.”
As demonstration of how difficult it is to locate an example of Empire
Green, I will share my own search for an example for my new book on Tiffin.
Not owning an example myself, I used the internet to send out a search
call. I wrote to over 50 people, covering almost all of the major metropolitan
areas in the country. These included glass dealers, mall owners, show promoters
and fellow collectors. I heard back many reports of no luck, near misses,
and even okayed the purchase of several things that turned out not to be
the elusive color. In the end, I was able to have access to examples from
a factory worker, and a collector who happened to attend an auction where
a few Empire Green glasses were being sold. The difficult in locating an
example is reflected in the price list I produced for the book. When I
sent out my search call for Empire Green, I offered to gladly pay double
for an example of Empire Green as compared to the going price of a piece
of Golden Banana or Plum. When a national search produced no results, I
realized this was not the sweepstakes pricing I had originally thought:
the relative rarity of Empire Green meant good examples would bring stiff
prices.
There is no solid documentation why Empire Green was not included in the
discount packs, nor is it known why the production of Empire Green did
not resume after Tiffin Art Glass opened. One guess for the cessation of
the color’s production is the death of Ellsworth Beebe. Beebe was an employee
of Tiffin from the 1940’s, and was the person chiefly responsible for the
rainbow of colors which Tiffin Modern collectors love so much. Beebe died
between the time Tiffin as United States Glass closed and Tiffin Art Glass
opened. While the color formulas were available, the knowledge of how to
create the batch itself was lost with Beebe, and Empire Green may have
been one of the casualties. It is known that Tiffin’s Wistaria color, the
bright rosy pink which had been produced since the 1940’s, died with Beebe.
We do know in the case of that color, that factory workers said “after
Beebe died, we just couldn’t get that color right anymore.”
The picture below is taken from my book, Tiffin Glassmasters, the Modern
Years. It shows four greens. Empire Green is shown at the top left
in the 6126 Hurrican vase with diamond optic. The other colors shown are
Citron Green (upper right), “Apple” Green (lower left) and Greenbriar (lower
right).
During the Modern years at Tiffin, six greens were produced: Killarney,
Pine, Citron, Greenbriar, “Apple” (the official factory name is not yet
known) and Empire. The shapes which can be found in the Tiffin selections
catalog are unique to Empire Green which is a great aid to today’s Tiffin
collector. By learning those shapes, you can be prepared. Then the next
time you are out of the hunt, that wonderful feeling we cherish as glass
collectors can happen: you can see the shape, you can realize it’s green,
and then the feeling washes over you: Empire Green!
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