Glass Horses– Kanawha Glass Company – circa 1960’s
Most of them are little animals made out of glass, the tiniest little animals in the world. Mother calls them a glass menagerie!
Laura Wingfield
A Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
The little glass animals from my menagerie all happen to hail from West Virginia. These fun pieces were produced by a number of companies during the 1950’s and 60’s. The horse figures above were made by Kanawha Glass – just a few miles down the river from where I am right now.
Glass Fish, Penguin and Rabbit– Kanawha Glass Company & Rainbow Glass – circa 1960’s
Another maker of these animals was Rainbow Glass of Huntington,WV who produced the penguin and rabbit shown here. The local legend about these small figural pieces is that they had there beginnings from glass blowers simply playing around with bits of molten glass. A pull here, a twist there and pretty soon an animal shape took place.
These then became favorites in the factory shops of the time and still maintain a nice following by collectors.
I just can’t seem to pass these up when I come upon them – particularly if they are free from any breaks. I have these and others scattered about the house and the shop. Like Laura, I find there’s a quiet comfort in having these “tiniest little animals in the world” around.
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