Wide Panel - Imperial
Wide Panel is a name given to several of Imperial's pieces made with various mold numbers. Wide Panel pieces only have an interior pattern as the exterior is plain and smooth. The interior panels leave a blank center circle. The panels start out thinner and then get wider as they go to the outer edge. Each panel ends in an arch just before the edge. The panels are slightly raised or convex. The top edge of a bowl is flat but due to the manual manipulation of making plates from the bowl mold, plates may have a scallop to the outer edge.

Wide Panel is usually considered to be stretch glass and comes in various stretch colors including red, however, most pieces are found in clambroth, marigold and smoke. Other Imperial stretch glass patterns, including Flute and Chesterfield, have paneled flutes on the exterior but to be called Wide Panel, the panels must be on the interior of the bowls and plates.

Smooth Panel vases and bowls, also made by Imperial, are similar to Wide Panel pieces as they have smooth exteriors and interior panels, but they are seperated into a unique pattern name. Smooth Panels also have the unique mold numbers of 692, 693, 694 and 695. The third digit in these mold numbers refers to the base sizes of the Smooth Panel vases.

Three mold number series are refered to as Wide Panel; 615, 645 through 648 and 656.
Wide Panel - 615
Imperial's pieces from the 615 mold include two sizes of double handled bonbons and a single handled nappy along with a crimped top rosebowl. Found only in clambroth or marigold, these items are typically overlooked. But the pattern fits the description of Wide Panel. The exterior of each piece has no pattern. The interiors have a clear center and convex panels ring the inside ending in an arch before the outer edge. Also shown here is a 615 two handled bonbon from an Imperial catalog. An oval two handled relish dish is also known.
Wide Panel - 645, 646, 647 and 648
Imperial made bowls and plates in four sizes with interior panels that were designated molds 645, 646, 647 and 648. Typically Imperial would denote size by adding a fourth digit to a mold number, but here, they gave each size a unique mold number.

Mold 645 has a 3 1/2 inch base and made a six inch bowl and an eight inch plate.
Mold 646 has a 3 3/4 inch base and made an eight inch bowl and a nine inch plate.
Mold 647 has a 4 1/4 inch base and made a nine inch bowl and an 11 inch plate.
Mold 648 has a 5 3/4 inch base and made a 10 inch bowl and a 12 inch plate.

Bowls were noted in the Imperial catalog with the mold number followed by "/2B" and plates were noted with the mold number followed by "/2D".

The interior panels of these Wide Panel bowls and plates differ from molds 615 and 656 in that these have a larger clear round space in the center. This means that the panels are not as elongated as in the other two molds. But when flattened into a plate, these larger clear centers made an excellent place to place a bowl onto and that is what Imperial meant to do as these were sold as salad sets. The ad, above to the right, shows a 647/2B nine inch bowl on a 647/2D 11 inch plate. The ad states that the set came with six 645/2B eight inch plates.

Although these have been previously included in the carnival glass pattern of Wide Panel, they are techically Stretch Glass as they are always found with stretch iridescence.
Wide Panel - 656
There were four seperate 656 molds used to make Wide Panel bowls and plates. These molds had a 4th digit to denote the size of the base. Thus there are four base sizes for bowls: 6564/2B 2 3/4 inch base, 6565/2B 3 1/16 inch base, 6567/2B 3 1/4 inch base and 6569/2B 4 3/8 inchbase. The /2b at the end of each mold number tells us that these are bowls. Bowls were typically flared out but also came in a rosebowl, crimped rosebowl, pulled up, wide flared or with a rolled rim. These additional shapings usually happened with the bowls that have a 3 1/4 inch base. Shapes other than the flared shape are more difficult to find with other base sizes.

Plates were also made from the same four molds. These plates were manually flatted out. Imperial catalogs show plate mold numbers as 6569/2D which is a plate with a 4 3/8 inch base. The /2d denotes a plate.
The photos above show various colors and sizes of 656 bowls and plates. The pulled up bowl is in smoke, a marigold crimped top rosebowl and a smoke rosebowl both with 3 1/4 inch bases, the red bowl has a 3 1/16 inch base, the purple bowl has a 3 1/4 inch base and the marigold set is a 12 inch bowl and a 14 inch under plate both with 4 3/8 inch bases.

The photos above also show two ads from Imperial's catalogs. 656 bowls were often marketed as part of a console set. Imperial and other stretch manufacturers paired bowls and underplates with candlesticks to form 3 or 4 piece sets. Bowls could be paired with a matching plate from the same mold or with a black base. Bowls were also sold with just the two candlesticks. The ad, above featuring a 12 inch bowl and a 14 inch plate, are 6569/2B and 6569/2D and are paired with Premium candlesticks. This set is also shown here in marigold. The other ad shows a 9 inch bowl (6567/2B) on a black base also paired with Premium candlesticks.
To be a 656 bowl or plate, the pieces must have the sharply angled ring just above the collar base. Each of the four 656 molds have this square ring as shown in the above two photos. If the ring is not present, then the bowl is another mold number.
Interior Swirl Rib - 656
The largest 656 bowl and plate were also used to make the Interior Swirl pieces by Imperial. The large bowl and large plate form a console set and were then paired with Imperial's Premium With Swirl candlesticks. These candlessticks are the regular Premium candlesticks but have a swirl pattern under the base.