Heisey's Waverly Pattern

by Virginia Scott
Glass Review - July 1979

A. H. Heisey & Co. made an interesting pressed pattern, "Oceanic," during the early 1940s. In 1949, blown items were added and the name of the pattern was changed to "Waverly."

Waverly Ads On the left of the illustration at the end of this article is a 1950 Heisey ad for "Waverly" which appeared in a House Beautiful magazine. This is the only ad for "Waverly" that I have found in the old magazines. In the ad "Waverly" is called a clean-cut, functional, simply sculptured pattern which is sturdy enough for constant use.

Waverly is a very attractive pattern with designs which carry out a "sea" theme. The high quality glass has curving optic lines which, I suppose, represent waves of the sea. The edge of the pieces is gently undulating and at intervals graduated beads (pearls or droplets?) nestle into the curvy edge. A few pieces have an inch or so of the beading motif along some of the optic lines. The sea motif is further carried out in finials, handles, pedestals and decorations on the various pieces. There is a great deal of variation in the designs used. Stems of the drinking pieces resemble stylized, cresting waves with small droplets flowing down the edges. This same design is used as the finial on the cover of some pieces such as the handsome covered jar, No. 3, and a graceful cruet, not shown. Other handles are scrolled shells Nos. 2, 7, 10, 12). The shell figure is used as the finial for the cover of other dishes. A dolphin-like fish forms the handle of a center-handled sandwich tray, handles for a fan vase and a deep bowl and the pedestal of a footed bowl. Seahorses are used as the handles on some items (No. 3) and decorate the legs of a 3-toed bowl (No 14).

For a survey of the "Waverly" items, see Clarence W. Vogel's book, Heisey's Early and Late Years, the book I used as a reference for this article. It is interesting to note that at least one "Waverly" item departs somewhat from the "sea" theme. The bottom of a covered trinket dish has the typical optic lines, but the cover features a reclining lion as the finial. In a 1974 Heisey Newscaster, Mr. Vogel mentions that the Lion Trinket Jar is the rarest item in the "Waverly" pattern and that the footed Candy Jar (No. 3) and the Cruet are difficult to find. Most items, Mr. Vogel noted, are fairly easy to locate.

In 1958, shortly after Heisey went out of business, Imperial Glass Corporation acquired many of the Heisey molds, patents and the trademarks. Recently, through a Candlewick collector friend, Barbara Lewis of Maryland I came into possession of original 1969 and 1971 Imperial Catalogs. As I looked through the catalogs, I recognized several Heisey patterns among those Imperial was producing. The Illustrations in the two vertical rows to the right on the page (below) show most of the 15 "Waverly" items Imperial reproduced in 1969. Only three "Waverly" items were shown in the 1971 Catalog. The 134/100 Candleholder (No.9) which is probably not truly "Waverly," was shown with the "Waverly" items in 1969 and as an odd candleholder (labeled "Waverly") in 1971. The three other items shown in 1971 were the footed Jar and Cover (No. 3), the footed Oval Compote (No. 4) and a covered Candy Dish which has a dolphin finial (not shown). These three pieces were made only in Caramel Slag in 1971.

Illustrations reproduced by permission of Imperial Glass Corporation.