Suppliers

The Charleton Line (Media)

Abels utilized basically only two types of materials in their blanks, glass and porcelain.
Glass items appear to be the most commonly found, followed by porcelain/ceramics,
metals, and wood. Only a handful of metal Charleton items have been found and just
one recent discovery on wood.

Glass

While Fenton blanks were used extensively by Abels and, in fact, represent the largest
supply of items found with Charleton decorations, many other manufacturers supplied
blanks to Abels for decorating. Both domestic and foreign sources were utilized. We
have personally documented items from Italy, France, and West Germany with
Charleton decorations.

Additionally, either from Walter Abels' personal letters, trade journal text, or
advertisements, Czechoslovakia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Poland, Spain, and
Switzerland are known to have supplied blanks to Abels. To date, no Charleton pieces
have been found bearing a label of origin from these countries. Although Abels did quite
a bit of importing, examples of these items are elusive.

According to Walter Abels, Abels relied exclusively on imports during the early years of
the company. These wares were much cheaper than domestic goods as they were being
produced in "countries of low living standards, such as Japan, Czechoslovakia, Italy,
etc." Since Abels did not have their own decorating studio at this time, any imported
items they sold that were decorated were probably done so prior to their importation.

The impact of WW II drastically diminished Abels' supply of imports from Europe and
caused them not only to quickly turn to domestic suppliers for goods, but to also open
their own decorating department in New York City.

Known suppliers of glass blanks are:

Anchor Hocking

Cambridge

Consolidated

Dunbar

Duncan & Miller

Fenton

Fostoria

Heisey

Imperial

Indiana Glass (Dunkirk, IN)

Jeannette

Kemple

LE Smith

Lornita

Murano

U.S. Glass/Tiffin

New Martinsville/Viking

Westmoreland

West Virginia Specialty Glass

Ceramics (China, Porcelain and Pottery)

Although finding Charleton decorations on ceramics is easier that finding them on metal
items, it is still a challenge for a variety of reasons. The manufacturers of these blanks
are usually lesser known, thereby making pertinent research material harder to locate.
Apparently Abels did not produce these pieces in any quantity approaching the huge
amount of glass they decorated. These items are also very difficult to find with the
Charleton label, probably due both to the rougher unglazed bases that provided a less
than ideal surface for bonding of the adhesive on the label and to the more utilitarian and
everyday uses of these items. There are also numerous pieces decorated by unknown
firms whose floral decorations are easily confused with Charleton.

Other than Limoges, Schumann, and some Italian items identified for us by Maurizio
Burlamacchi, we have not been able to identify the other ceramic blank manufacturers.
Some of the unidentified items found include lamps, (both plain and figural), vanity sets,
figurines of people and animals, vases, lavabos, covered urns, plates, and candy boxes.

These ceramic pieces are to be found in various sub-categories of pottery, china,
bisque, and porcelain (hard and soft paste). Most of these items are hand painted over
the glaze. Abels' use of ceramics also has led to a unique finding of three pieces of
Charleton that were not decorated with anything other than the uniform and simple color
of the glaze, quite unusual for this company. Most likely these pieces were imported
already glazed. More pieces exist as evidenced by the items shown in bisque and
porcelain in their advertisements, but they have not yet been documented in collections.

Known suppliers of porcelain blanks are:

Ars

Ceramiche Corte

Limoges

Ronzan

Sevres

Schumann

We also strongly suspect the Amoges China Company of Trenton, NJ, ca. 1948,
supplied blanks to Abels.

Additionally, we have found Charleton decorations on blanks whose manufacturers
have yet to be identified. Some are imports from Italy and West Germany. Others are
of unknown origin. We have been surprised many times by the items that turn up with
Charleton labels. Charleton decorations adorn an eclectic mixture of shapes, materials,
colors, and styles.

Metal

Very few Charleton items have turned up in metal objects. To date, we have found only
four metal items that are positively Charleton. Two are toleware pieces and are both
decorated in Gold Roses. Just recently, we found a lamp with a glass font and toleware
shade decorated with Charleton Gold Roses. There is a tremendous amount of other
makers' floral decorated toleware on the market. Many of the decorations are similar to
Charleton Roses, but the use of gold leaf from these other manufacturers is sparing if
used at all.

Most of these decorated items are from the Nash Company, or Nashco, as they were
later known. They look so "Charletonesque" that we often cannot resist the temptation
of turning them over in hopes of finding a Charleton label.

The only other item that has been found consisting mostly of metal is a very unique lamp
that the seller described as an "Eames Era Space Age Lamp". It is quite interesting in
design although we suppose it would require just the right 1960s or early 1970s themed
interior to avoid being gauche. This could also have been one of the European lamp
imports that are mentioned in a trade journal from 1963.

Wood

Recently a pair of heavily gilded sconces surfaced that are at this point the only
Charleton objects created mainly of wood. The sconces are two feet high by four
inches wide and are most like Italian in origin. These types of objects are pictured in
AWCO advertisements from 1959 and were most likely decorated prior to their
importation. The candle bowls and base were made from pressed wood and the ornate
faux carved florals are probably made with gesso or plaster.