Karhula Finland Britt Blue Pitcher & Tumbler

"Just on a Hunch"

I (Christina) purchased this pitcher from Dick & Sherry Betker in 2018 during the HOACGA convention. I will let Dick tell his colorful story below:

Dick recalls, "Jim Seeck had an "online only auction" of John & Loretta Nielsen's glass. They are known for their numerous European glass items and this auction had a bunch. There were a couple of items that I was definitely going to be bidding on and then there was a water set that really had me puzzled.

It was listed as a 7 pc. blue Starburst water set. I have been on the lookout for a blue Starburst tumbler for years, and now, there is a whole set. Problem was, the pitcher was not a Starburst pitcher, I know because we have a blue Starburst pitcher. Starburst was made by the Riihimaki Glass Co. of Finland.

The pitcher listed was very familiar to me but I just could not place it. I had seen it somewhere, I was sure of that, but just could not pin it down. Just on a hunch, I figured I would try to buy the set because I really wanted the tumblers and I was very curious about the pitcher.

I bid on it and won it. After I had won it, I sent the listing photo to my expert on European glass, Glen Thistlewood, asking her if she knew the pattern of the pitcher. She wrote back and said that I had the third known "Britt" water pitcher. She knows this for sure because they discovered the first two known Britt pitchers many years ago. Now that was a very Kewl message.

About five minutes later, Glen writes again and says, "You bought this from the Nielsen's auction, didn't you. For years John & Loretta wanted to buy one of our Britt pitchers. We finally sold one to them years back. What you have is still the second known Britt water pitcher."  WOW! Now this just went from kewl to absolute AWESOME!!!  Britt was made by the Karhula Glass Co. of Finland.

So we ended up with one complete Starburst water set, plus, we already had a blue Britt tumbler, so now we also have a Britt pitcher & tumbler. The third photo is how it was listed in the catalog with the Starburst tumblers. The fourth one is my own photo showing the same set up as it was presented and sold during the auction. You can see why no one caught it. The fifth photo is our Starburst pitcher with its Starburst tumblers made by Riihimaki. And all this, just on a hunch! Dick Betker."

Thank you to Dick & Sherry for selling me this pitcher. I heard news today, 8/25/18, that John Nielson passed away on August 19, 2018. He will be greatly missed. My dear friend, Moe Myers of New Hamphsire, spend a lot of time chumming around with John Nielson down in Florida. John also helped create the Iridescent Nation Carnival Glass Club for children. He will be greatly missed.

The Christina Katsikas Collection