Full text of "Cut and engraved glass, 1771-1905; the collectors' guide to American wares"

71-59751

ut and engraved, glass

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CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

1771-1905

CUT
AND ENGRAVED

GLASS

1771-1905

o -o o o -o- o o o~ o o o o o o &lt;&gt; o o o- o -o -o o- o

(Collectors Quide
to ^American Wares

BY DOROTHY DANIEL

DRAWINGS BY
SIGISMUND V1DBERGS

M. BARROWS AND COMPANY, INC.
NEW YORK

FIRST PRINTING

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, INC., NEW YORK

TO ROYAL

FOR REASONS TOO OBVIOUS
TO MENTION

CONTENTS

Preface page 1 5

I Cut Glass: an American Heritage 21

II How to Detect Imitations 35

III The Making of Glass 44

IV Cutting, Engraving, Etching 51
V Cameo and Intaglio Glass 72

VI Colored Cut Glass 83

VII English, Irish, or American? 95

VIII The Early American Period, 17711830 107

IX The Middle Period, 1830-1880 139

X The Brilliant Period 156

XI Patterns of the Brilliant Period 181

XII Cut Glass, Today and Tomorrow 307

XIII Candlesticks, Candelabra, Chandeliers 319

XIV Lamps 329
XV Decanters, Cologne Bottles, Condiment Sets 341

XVI Boxes, Baskets, Knife Rests 350

XVII Care of Cut Glass 357

XVIII Advice to Collectors 361

APPENDIX

I Motif Chart 373

II List of Known Patterns 375

III Classification of Stiegel Patterns 381

IV Trade-Marks 383
V Glasshouse Chart 386

VI Irish Export Chart 411

VII Glossary 413

VIII Bibliography 420

Index 43 1

ILLVSTRA TIONS

PLATE ^ ^ PAGE

1. Ancient jar for bath ointments 22

2. Crystal cup; rock crystal chalice; compote and cup .... 24

3. Pittsburgh compote with purple Hashing 26

4. Cut goblet; Stiegel Hip; wine glasses 28

5. Pitchers from three periods 29

6. Decanters ; compotes ........... 30

7. Berry bowl ; Russian goblet and champagne glass .... 32

8. Fry glass; Bakewell celery vase 33

9. Celery boat; bread tray; berry bowls; plates 37

10. Berry bowls; nappies; Kilpatrick wine service ..... 39

11. Sandwich decanters 43

12. Rodney decanter; early pickle dish ........ 45

13. New England Glass Company, 18.51 47

14. New England Glass Company; Libbey cutting room ... 52

15. Marked blank; roughed plate 54

1 6. Smoothed plate; polished plate , 55

17. Edenhall goblet ; Libbey hunting bowl . , 57

1.8. Amelung chalice ; engraved goblet ........ 58

19. OMiara napkin ring; Monroe wine decanter; early engraving . 61

20. Rare engraved drinking glasses 63

21. Etched pitchers by Joseph Locke 66

22. Wheeling pitcher; etched pitcher; early American compote , * 68

23. Etched punch cups; blue chalice; champagne pitcher ... 69

24. Brandy jug; claret pitcher; Uncle Remus glass and pitcher . . 71

25. Bottom of Portland vase; Chinese cameo snuff bottles 74

26. Reproduction of Portland vase -75

27. Pegasus vase ; cameo vase . . 77

28. Cameo scent bottles: John Northwood plaque ..... 79

29. Intaglio plates; bud vase 81

30. Goblets from Middle Period; New England wineglass ... 85

31. Cased, glass vases; apothecary jar ........ 86

32* Lincoln wine service; colored wine glasses ...... 88

33. Colored glass bottle, candleholder; whisky tumbler .... 91

34. Waterford compote ; American compote .100

35* Waterford decanter; two American decanters; American compote 104

36. Irish compotes . . * . . , . ... . . 105

[9]

ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE . PAGE

37. Stiegel bottles; whisky glass; flip; wine glass m

38. Stiegei flip; Stiegel mug; Early American pickle dish . . .112

39. American syllabub glasses; sweetmeat glasses 1*4

40. Early decanters IX 5

41. Rodney decanters ; celery vase ; champagne glass ; Amelung chalice 1 1 7

42. Early Philadelphia glass ; O Hara tableware ; star wine glass . . 1 18

43. Clinton tumbler; Bakewell pieces H9

44. Birmingham glass I21

45. Stourbridge glass I22

46. Early American cut glass I2 4

47. Decanter and celery vase, New England Glass Company . .125

48. Andrew Jackson decanter; Bakewell glass 127

49. Sandwich, New England, and Wheeling pieces 128

50. Bakewell cruet; whisky tumbler; early Pittsburgh bottles . . 129

51. Curling decanters 130

52. Philadelphia pitcher 131

53. Early champagne glasses, pitcher, and carafe 132

54. Bloomingdale glass 133

55. Gilliland sugar bowl 134

56. George Dummer firing glass ; Gilliland butter dish .... 135

57. Gilliland decanter and plate 136

58. Decanters from Pittsburgh area 140

59. Pieces from Centennial Exhibition 142

60. Flute-cut decanters 144

61. Wheeling glass, flute-cut pitchers 145

62. Sweeney glass, celery vases, decanters 146

63. Sweeney glass; Ritchie glass 147

64. Presentation pitchers, Wheeling and New England Glass Company 149

65. Berry bowls ; Ritchie punch bowl 150

66. Early American cut glass ; engraved bowl 152

67. Castor bottles; epergne; butter tub ; decanter and vase . . .153

68. Ice-cream tray ; pieces in Russian pattern ; plate 158

69. Dorflinger pitcher 162

70. Libbey glass, Brilliant Period 164

71. Hob-star cutting, Dorflinger service; Libbey glass . . . .167

72. Rajah compote; pickle dishes; late Brilliant pieces .... 169

73. Fry glass; Gillinder nappy 171

74. Hawkes plates 173

75. Hawkes plate; H. C. Fry bowl, compote, and jug . , . .177

76. Rochester bowl and pedestal; cruets and other pieces . . 179

77. Saint Louis bowl with punch glasses 180

78. Russian, Pattern i 185

79. Cobweb, Pattern 2 189

80. Parisian, Pattern 3 191

[10]

ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE PAGE

81. Strawberry-Diamond and Star, Pattern 4 194

82. Leighton s Bowknot, Pattern 5 196

83. Middlesex, Pattern 6 198

84. Angulated Ribbon, Pattern 7 201

85. Russian and Pillar, Pattern 8 202

86. Grecian, Pattern 9 204

87. Old-fashioned Hobnail, Pattern 10 206

88. Devonshire, Pattern i; 210

89. Baker s Gothic. Pattern 12 212

90. Florence, Pattern 13 216

91. Louis XIV, Pattern 14 218

92. Brazilian, Pattern 15 220

93. Richardson s Pitcher, Pattern 16 222

94. Stratford, Pattern 17 224

95. Strawberry-Diamond and Fan, Pattern 18 226

96. Macbeth, Pattern 19 230

97. Venetian, Pattern 20 232

98. Chrysanthemum, Pattern 21 234

99. Wedgemere, Pattern 22 236

100. Kimberly, Pattern 23 239

101. Rattan, Pattern 24 243

102. Sea Shells, Pattern 25 245

103. Coronet, Pattern 26 247

104. Columbia, Pattern 27 249

105. Isabella, Pattern 28 252

1 06. Bristol Rose, Pattern 29 254

107. Golden Wedding, Pattern 30 256

1 08. Bergen s White Rose, Pattern 3 1 258

109. Corning, Pattern 32 260

no. Croesus, Pattern 33 262

111. Imperial, Pattern 34 264

112. Princess, Pattern 35 , 267

113. Harvard, Pattern 36 270

114. Nautilus, Pattern 37 273

115. Prism, Pattern 38 275

116. White House, Pattern 39 277

117. Corinthian, Pattern 40 280

118. Aberdeen, Pattern 41 283

119. Victoria, Pattern 42 285

1 20. Dunkirk, Pattern 43 286

121. Bull s-Eye, Pattern 44 288

122. Pinwheel, Pattern 45 292

123. Comet, Pattern 46 294

124. Lily-of-the-Valley, Pattern 47 296

ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE PAGE

125. Plain Flute, Pattern 48 298

126. Kaiser, Pattern 49 32

127. Cornflower, Pattern 50 3O4

128. Merry-Go-Round Bowl 3o6

129. Modern White House service; intaglio plate 3^9

130. Steuben pieces designed by Sidney Waugh 3 11

131. Modern Libbey tableware 3*3

132. Audubon plate 3 1 5

133. Steuben vase designed by Marie Laurencin 3*7

134. Steuben vase designed by Henri Matisse 3^8

135. Candlesticks 321

136. Girandole 3^3

137. Early chandeliers 3 2 5

138. Chandelier made at Franklin works, Gillinder and Sons . . -3^7

139. Whale oil and camphene lamps 33

140. Astral lamp; Sandwich lamps 333

141. Kerosene lamps 335

142. Lamp shade 337

143. Decanters cut in Early American Period 34

144. Decanters popular after 1880 34 2

145. New England decanter; early decanter: Sweeney brandy set . . 344

146. Dorflinger decanters 345

147. Cologne bottles popular after 1880 34&

148. Cologne bottles, Early, Middle and Brilliant periods . . . 348

149. Cruets; salt shakers; gemel bottle 349

150. Glass boxes 351

151. Glass baskets 353

152. Glass knife rests 355

153. Plates; horizontal prism-cut pitcher 358

154. Plates; nappy; oval bowl 359

!55- Toilet-water bottle ; claret decanter 362

156. Strawberry-Diamond and Fan pieces 363

157- Tumblers; miniatures; small pieces . . . . , . 364

158. Wine service from Greenpoint Works 366

159. Early American cut glass dish 368

1 60. Engraved tumbler ; engraved wine glasses ; Bowl in Morgan pattern 370

161. Wine glasses from Sandwich; covered compote from Dummer . 371

Appendix :

162. Motif Chart 373

163. Motif Chart 374

164. Trade-marks 384

165. Trade-marks 385

[12]

Mankind resemble glass; they are, like it,
For use or fashion, show or service fit;
So?Jie bright and fair, some dull and more obscure,
These prized as good, those, es timed poor;
To grace a kitchen, or a parlour made,
As use is most consulted, or parade;
But all as various; and eke they are,
As frail, as brittle, and as keen a ware.

Their bases differ, as our chemists say,
This made of sand, that fashioned out of clay
Yet shall we, in both compositions find,
Similitude in beauty, use and kind.
To ?nan, tis true, some small objections lie
In point of texture and transparency,
But though tve grant him, in material blind,
Yet lacks he not transparency of mind,
And we no surer faults in each detect
By rays of light, than rays of intellect.

So nice the processes the art requires,
So pure th* ingredients, so intense the fires,

Such just connection li?iks the several parts,
That let one fail, and vain are vitric arts.
Hence faults arise- such faults in. glass there be.
And all perfection is but in degree.
So men are good, or evil, just and wise,
Compared to devils or to deities,
And this a good and pious man we call,
Opposed to that, who lacks the virtues all
None are quite perject, and the best I wot.
Heaven mend them! may display a flaw or spot
And the whole question j talk it o er and o er,
Is who has fewest foibles to deplore.

GLASS, a poem by HENRY ROWE SCHOOLCRAFT,

Lake Dunmore, 1814, from a manuscript in the
Library of Congress

PREFACE

IN THE years that this book has been in preparation, the one
question asked me most frequently has been, "How did you be
come interested in cut glass?" And often the inflection is much the
same as though I had taken up sword swallowing or bee keeping.

The answer is very simple. I was born interested in cut glass.

My grandmother, whose tastes were molded and pretty well
fixed in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, lived in a large
and very ugly house in a small and very pretty town in Iowa, In
her dining room was a china cupboard about six feet high with
curved glass sides and door. On the bottom shelf was the fish-and-
game set. On the next shelf was the hand-painted china, including
the mayonnaise bowl with the purple grapes and gold border that
my mother painted for Grandmother one Christmas. This belongs
to me now and it pleases me to notice, whenever I use it, that
Mother must have got a little bored with the whole thing before
she finished because the saucer has the gold border but only the
outline of the grapes.

On the three shelves above the hand-painted china was the cut
glass. There were plates and bowls, bottles and tumblers, salts and
butters, cruets and nappies, goblets and water pitchers but no
decanters. Grandmother had inherited some nice decanters from
her mother, but they had been sold at the Methodist rummage sale
the year Granddaddy unexpectedly was elected an honorary mem
ber of the W. C.T.U.

My grandfather was a lawyer. And Grandmother was a very
good cook. Sometimes when court was in session, Granddaddy in a

[15]

PREFACE

burst of generosity would invite the visiting judge home for din
ner, which we had in the middle of the day.

The day that Granddaddy chose to bring the Judge home would
be the day that Grandmother had spent the morning with her quilt
scraps and was not prepared for company. All we would have on
such a day were boiled limabeans (the dry kind), country sausage
(seasoned highly with sage and red pepper and a lot of other
things people have forgotten the use of), johnnycake, baked ap
ples, crisp fried mush, and a dried peach pie, hot out of the oven
with the juice bubbling out around the edges.

Grandmother was always in the kitchen when Granddaddy got
home from the office. For one reason, that s where he liked to
find her and for another, that s where she was busy getting din
ner. So Granddaddy would plunk the Judge down in the Morris
chair in the library and hand him Ovid s Ars Amatoria; Epistnlac
Heroidum which he knew full well the Judge couldn t read but
would be too proud to refuse. Then he appeared beaming at the
door that led from the pantry down a little ramp into the summer
kitchen.

And Grandmother would turn toward him, squinting her blue-
grey eyes and tilting her fat little body on her tiny feet, like a wren
about to surprise a big fuzzy caterpillar. "Papa I" she d say in
what amounted to a muted shout, for Granddaddy was very hard-
of-hearing, "Who is in the library?"

"Martindale!" he d announce, as though he had just netted a
rare species of Brazilian butterfly, "and the old fool s making out
like he s reading Ovid!"

"Papa! I haven t got a thing for dinner but some boiled beans!"

"Oh, that s all right," he d say, as he picked up the water bucket
and started for the well. "Just put on all the cut glass and open up
some of your strawberry preserves and watermelon pickle and he ll
never know the difference."

That s how I came to be interested in cut glass.

I must say that my interest was a latent one until one summer
several years ago when a chance incident fanned the spark into
flames. My husband and I were spending a glorious golden month
touring the Atlantic beaches. We arrived in Savannah on our wed-

[16]

PREFACE

ding anniversary and walked around to an antique store to buy us
an anniversary present. We thought we d like some cut glass finger
bowls to use for ice-cream dishes.

The antique store had some all right, as well as other very nice
pieces of cut glass, all of which might as well have been solid gold.
When we hinted that the price was a bit high, we were informed
that on the contrary it was cheap for "English glass. " It seems that
every piece of glass in the shop was English or Irish.

I picked up a vinegar cruet and asked, "This, too?"

"Every piece I have," the proprietor insisted.

Her vinegar cruet was the twin of the one that Grandmother had
used to confound Judge Martindale on Limabean Day, and Grand
mother s cruet had most certainly come from Pittsburgh.

The innocence of the Savannah lady was in no way singular to
antique dealers. And she had thus, unwittingly, given me the
premise for this book.

Collectors and some glass manufacturers have long shared the
idea that there was little "old" American cut glass extant in this
country, even though statistics clearly show that a great deal of
fine lead glass was cut here in the early years. When I declared my
intention to dig out all the available information about our Ameri
can cut glass and consolidate it in a book of reference for col
lectors and students, several authorities gloomily shook their heads,
"Where angels fear to tread!" they warned. Others declared flatly
that all cut glass found in this country obviously not of the late
nineteenth century was English or Irish.

It seemed to me that our cut glass deserved more consideration.
Mr. M. S. Dudley Westropp, formerly curator of the National
Museum, in Dublin, Ireland had written a fine book about Irish
glass. Mr. W. A. Thorpe of the Victoria and Albert Museum in
London had done the same for English cut glass. Surely our own
cut glass, which is in many ways finer than either the Irish or the
English, should have some record.

The research that followed was tedious and often disappointing.
Many early pieces have been labeled Waterford for so long that it
was difficult to establish their true source as American. There are
available only a half dozen catalogues of glasshouses showing cut

[17]

PREFACE

glass patterns, and only two of these were published before 1880.

That this first book on American cut glass is far from faultless,
I know only too well. There are lapses of time, missing places and
patterns, simply because at this point too little is known about
either the factories or the glass they produced in localities not
mentioned.

England and Ireland have been collecting, documenting, and
cataloguing their cut glass for over a hundred years. A century
from now the knowledge of our own cut glass will probably be
correspondingly accurate and complete, but until such time as other
material, catalogues, memoranda, and authenticated pieces come to
light, we shall have to do with what we have and try to make a
beginning, thus belatedly, on the documentation of American cut
glass.

In the preparation of this manuscript, I have been fortunate in
having the assistance, guidance, criticism, and encouragement of
many wonderful people. I am particularly grateful to Mr. Wes-
tropp, now retired from the National Museum of Dublin, who
still retains his keen interest in cut glass. Mr. Westropp has been
kind enough to check many doubtful examples of early cut glass
from our own National Museum, the White House collection,
Mount Vernon, and other repositories of heirloom glass.

Dr. Alexander Silverman, Head of the Chemistry Department
of the University of Pittsburgh, an internationally famous author
ity on ceramics, graciously made available to me his numerous
papers and articles on American glass, and in addition answered
hundreds of questions regarding methods, techniques, and the sci
ence of glassmaking.

Mr. Samuel Hawkes, of Corning, New York, gave me sugges
tions, help, and guidance during all the years this book has been
growing. Mr. Hawkes is directly responsible for the identification
of many of the more important patterns.

Mr. Frank L. Bryant of Tiffin, Ohio, came to my rescue in the
early days with catalogues, suggestions, and answers to problems
that seemed to me then almost unsolvable.

Mr. C. U. Fauster of Toledo, Ohio, has been unfailingly gener-

[18]

PREFACE

ous with material from his meticulously indexed scrapbooks and
reference files.

Miss Rose Demorest of the Pennsylvania Room at the Carnegie
Library in Pittsburgh has given much time and thought in helping
with the outline and research on the text. Miss Catherine Hay and
Miss Martha Barnes of the Carnegie Library staff have hunted
down obscure references and traced old documentary material. The
brunt of searching patent office records and other labyrinths of
public information fell upon the slim shoulders of my sister, Mrs.
Howard Dobson of Alexandria, Virginia. Without her tireless,
willing, and able help, the manuscript could never have been com
pleted.

Mr. Herbert Sanborn, Director of Exhibits at the Library of
Congress, first called my attention to the Schoolcraft manuscript on
"Vitreology," and Mr. Willard Webb, Director of Stacks there,
made my research immeasurably easier by his interested assistance.

Many museums, and libraries, and historical societies have con
tributed to this book; and I am particularly grateful to Miss Car
men Wilson, Assistant Reference Librarian of the John Crerar
Library in Chicago, for her diligent search of the files of the
Crockery and Glass Journal for the last half of the nineteenth
century.

Special mention must be included here also of many individuals
who have given time for interviews, and shared with me letters,
family records, and special notes. Mr. Ralph Heller, of Monti-
cello College, Alton, Illinois, graciously permitted the use of his
thesis, u Edward Drummond Libbey." Colonel Harry C. Fry of
Pittsburgh gave me my first lessons in the manufacture of glass and
startled the wits out of me by making me my first Prince Rupert
drop. Mr. William Anderson of Pittsburgh, Mr. C. W. Meredith
and Mr. Leman W. Dolby of Rochester, Pennsylvania, Mr. Henry
Fisher of Tiffin, Ohio, Mr. Edward F. Gebhard of Uniontown,
Pennsylvania all contributed anecdotes and personal reminiscences.
Mr. J. Fletcher Gillinder furnished much of my material on
Gillinder glass. Mr. Thomas A. Tripp gave me information on the
Pairpoint Manufacturing Corporation and its antecedents. Mr.

[19]

PREFACE

Charles Messer Stow of the New York Sun, has repeatedly made
clippings and photographs available. To Mr. Frank Semple of
Sewickley, Pennsylvania and Mr. Milton V. Burgess, of Pitts
burgh, I am indebted for the loan of valuable and irreplaceable old
reference books. Mr. John M. Graham, 2nd, Curator of Decora
tive Arts at the Brooklyn Museum; Mr. Louis C Madeira, IV, of
the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Miss Nell L. Jaffe of the Toledo
Museum of Art; Mr. Hayward S. Ablewhite, Director of the Edi
son Institute Museum; Mr. Charles J. Milton, Museum Director
of the Oglebay Institute, Wheeling, West Virginia; Mr. H. W.
Krieger of the Smithsonian Institution and Mr. John J. O Connor,
Jr., and Dr. E. R. Eller of the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh
have been ever helpful and willing to supply photographs, acquisi
tion records, and other essential data for tracing the history of
glass.

A kindly fate also introduced me to Mrs. Bella C. Landauer of
the New York Historical Society, whose collection of mercantile
catalogues, cards, and advertising memorabilia was put at my dis
posal and proved invaluable in tracing factories and dates.

Mrs. Henry C. Lewis of Philadelphia, Mrs. Henry R. Rea of
Sewickley, Dr. Florence Kline and Mr. Lowell Innes of Pittsburgh,
Miss Elizabeth Wightman, Miss Mary Wightman, and Mrs. Lau
rence Gouverneur Hoes of Washington, D.C., Mr. Jerome Strauss,
Mr. J, A, Lloyd Hyde, of New York, Mrs, Adolph Schmidt, Mrs.
W. S. Stimmel, Jr., Mrs. S. N. Benham, Mrs. Lida Snowdon Hen-
esey, and Mrs. John M. Feeney graciously permitted the photo
graphing of prized pieces from their private collections.

To these and to all the other good people who have given so
freely of their time, their interest, their encouragement and have
listened so endlessly to the story of American cut and engraved
glass I am deeply and humbly grateful.

DOROTHY DANIEL
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
December,

[20]

CHAPTER I

: ,4/V AMERICAN HERITAGE

TODAY we think of cut class as the popular tableware of fifty
years ago. At first marvelously beautiful, it declined at last to
such grotesque forms that even popular taste was outraged and its
early beauty has since been almost forgotten. Actually those hideous
specimens of the 19005 were but the tag ends of an art practiced in
America for nearly two centuries. The time has now come to appre
ciate our heritage and at long last to safeguard the many exquisite
pieces of cut glass that remain.

Amerian glass was first decorated by cutting at the American
Flint Glass Manufactory of Henry William Stiegel at Manheim,
Pennsylvania, in 1771. Since that date there has never been a year
when glassmakers somewhere in America were not cutting and en
graving glass, some of it simple in form, handblown from metal of
indifferent quality, and ornamented with panels and flutes, other
pieces of luxury quality designed for the sideboards of- the wealthy
and the tables of important people of the day.

Cut glass is decorated by a moving wheel. Engraved glass is,
properly speaking, cut glass left unpolished. Metal (glass in a state
of fusion) that is to be cut deeply or engraved must be of high
quality, composed of heavy lead flint or of a fine grade of potash,
and should be either handblown or blown-molded. The cutting is
always done by hand. Pieces vary in value and importance according
to the purity of materials used, the skill of the manufacturer, and
the artistry and talent of the cutter or engraver. All cut glass is
good glass but some pieces are better than others.

American cut glass has a distinguished inheritance, both ancient

[21]

PLATE I

Jar for ointments, &lt;5J4 inches high. Rare piece of ancient glass, probably made
in Egypt 668-626 B.C. Concave circle motifs in cut decoration identical to
modern bull s-eye. Panel cutting on neck similar to modern flute cutting.

(Toledo Mus. of Art)

CUT GLASS: AN AMERICAN HERITAGE

and modern. Ancient or antique glass, as it is sometimes called,
dates from an undetermined time some two thousand years before
the birth of Christ. The earliest known cut glass may have been
made five or six hundred years before the Christian era. Pieces have
been found of Assyrian, Egyptian, and Roman origin for that pe
riod (Plate i).

Modern glass begins with the sixteenth century when the art of
cutting and engraving was revived in southern Europe, and devel
oped four styles, the Oriental, Continental, Anglo-Irish, and Amer
ican. The American is directly descended from the Anglo-Irish
fashion of metal founding and wheel decoration. While such early
manufacturers as Stiegel and Amelung were so influenced by their
native traditions that the glass produced at their houses resembled
the Continental of the same period, the general character of Amer
ican glass remained closer to the English and Irish.

American glass is either "white," or "green." White glass (the
technical term for clear not to be confused with milk-white) re
sembles rock crystal. It is clear, transparent, and is produced with
out a coloring agent. Grades are determined by how closely they
approach the ideal of clear crystal. White glass is usually intended
for tableware or windowpanes.

Green glass is cheaper, being composed of common sand and
other inexpensive ingredients. Little effort is made to obtain clarity
or transparency. Green glass is used chiefly for beer and pop bottles
or for preserving jars; in the early days it served for milk dishes
and window glass.

There are four types of American glass blown, cut, pressed,
and painted. All technical terms unavoidably used in this and later
chapters will be found defined in the Glossary.

Blown glass is decorated offhand while the metal is still hot and
in a viscous condition. Either it is manipulated into varioi&s forms
or small pieces of hot glass are added to the original vessel. Trail
ing, pinchering, applied decoration, teardrops, some overlay, and
twirling are possibilities for blown glass.

Cut glass comes second in point of time. Glass is cut after it has
been fashioned, annealed, and thoroughly cooled. A finished piece

[23]

PLATE 2

UPPER, LEFT: Crystal cup, sixteenth century, German. Pillar motif copied by
Anglo-Irish and American cutters. RIGHT: Rock crystal chalice, sixteenth cen
tury, Italian. Wheel engraving. (Metropolitan Mus. of Art) LOWER: Punch
cup with arched motif; compote with turned lip. Rare cut glass of Early
American Period. (Dr. E. R. Eller)

CUT GLASS: AN AMERICAN HERITAGE

which has not yet been applied to the cutter s wheel is called a cut
glass blank.

Pressed glass was the latest of the four decorative processes used
on American glass. The design is actually pressed on by a plunger
and a glass press while the metal is in a viscous state.

Painted glass never attained the popularity here that it enjoyed
in Italy, Germany, and Bohemia, but some fine pieces have been
produced in America. StiegePs enamels belong in this category and
the glass decorated at Sandwich. Gilding, such as that practiced by
the Brooklyn glasshouses, and modern stained glass are all appli
cations of this technique in which luster stains or enamels are ap
plied to cold glass later fired in a kiln to set the decoration.

PERIODS OF AMERICAN CUT GLASS

Modern collectors are most familiar with the glass cut during the
Brilliant Period. This was of heavy lead with fine luster and clarity.
It was miter-cut in deep splits to form squares, diamonds, and stars
in patterns. While such ware was cut extensively from 1880 on, it
represents but one of three classifications in American cut glass.

The Early American Period begins about 1771, when according
to the well-known authority, Frederick William Hunter, StiegePs
glasshouse at Manheim, Pennsylvania, was entering its most suc
cessful period. It ends in 1830, the year the Baldwin bill for the
collection of port duties became effective and a high tariff excluded
importations.

The Middle Period started in 1830, when a national style of
glass was beginning to evince itself, and continued to about 1880.
This period reflects the simplicity of contemporaneous life in the
popular flute decanters, dishes, tumblers, and compotes. (See Plate

Methods of manufacturing colored lead glass were developed

and fine-line cuttings became popular. The originality and skill of
engravers increased. After 1865 it is doubtful if the cut glass indus
try could have survived the competition of pressed lime glass if the
manufacture of lamp shades and chimneys had not come to the res-

PLATE 3

Heavy lead glass compote, flute-cut through purple flashing. io J /2 inches high.

Rare Pittsburgh glass of Middle Period, Credited to O Leary, Mulvaney and

Co., 1843. (Mrs. Lida Snoiuden Henesey)

CUT GLASS: AN AMERICAN HERITAGE

cue of the leading companies. The bonanza that followed the revo
lution in illumination tided the industry over until 1880, when the
cut glass of the Brilliant Period created the greatest market the in
dustry has ever seen.

A combination of fortuitous circumstances brought about the
Brilliant Period : new and better glass sands were discovered, natu
ral gas was harnessed as a fuel for furnaces, and electricity was
applied to the wheel lathes. Most important of all, prosperity ar
rived so that almost every family in America could afford cut glass
for the dining table. Cut glass had long been the symbol of elegance
and leisure. Now it became the hallmark of social prestige. In 1840
there had been eighty-one glasshouses in operation, according to
U.S. Census reports. Thirty-four cutting shops employed over a
thousand men to make cut glass. In 1876 only eight glasshouses
exhibited at The Centennial Exhibition, but by 1900 there were
well over a hundred, and the cutting shops running full tilt employed
more than three thousand glass blowers, cutters, and engravers. Cut
glass became again the standard wedding present, the gift supreme!

REASONS FOR COLLECTING AMERICAN CUT GLASS

Old American cut glass is irreplaceable. It has historical impor
tance, and decoratively, it belongs with the fine furniture of our
early years. American cut glass also has very real intrinsic value. A
nine-inch berry bowl which cost thirty-five dollars in 1900 would
cost one hundred dollars to reproduce today. Labor and materials
have so increased in cost that the large-scale production of fine
handmade and hand-cut lead glass is no longer profitable. Indeed, it
is unlikely that cut glass will be available to most of us again unless
we search out what still remains and collect it.

Much fine old cut glass is still treasured in American homes. Be
cause it is fragile and likely to be broken in moving from place to
place, the greatest treasures of the early period are in homes of old
established communities where there has been continuity of fine
living for generations. New England and the South Boston,
Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Natchez are all paradises

[27]

PLATE 4

UPPER, LEFT: Goblet cut for Dorflinger exhibit, Centennial Exposition, 1876.
Anns of Maryland engraved in medallion, Crescite t k t MultiplicamlnL
(Philadelphia Mus. of Art) RIGHT: Stiegel flip, Type i. (N.-Y. Hut. Soc.)
LOWER: Wine glasses with flashing, cutting, engrafting, and etching. Cham
pagne glass, extreme left, excellent example of gold-ruby flashing. (Author s

Collection)

-*
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PLATE 6

UPPER, LEFT TO RIGHT: Decanters showing progression of form. Early Amer
ican, fluted; Middle Period, partitioned cutting, bull s-eye motif; Brilliant
Period, champagne type, hob-star motif. LOWER, LEFT: Compote, Brilliant
Period, with tear drop. RIGHT: Two-way compote, Stourbridge works, 1830.

(Author s Collection)

CUT GLASS: AN AMERICAN HERITAGE

for the collector of cut glass. Fine glass can still be found also in
the neighborhoods of the old factories in Pittsburgh, Wheeling,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and certain cities in Massachusetts and
Connecticut.

Glass from the Middle Period is not so plentiful as that of the
later Brilliant Period, but there is still fine colored and engraved
glass to be discovered in shops and private homes throughout the
country. When such pieces turn up they should be treasured for
cabinet collections. This is particularly true of engraved glass of the
Middle Period.

Cut glass of the Brilliant Period is easily identified and there is a
quantity of it unappreciated, and perhaps forgotten, tucked away
on the top shelves of cupboards in old houses. Once the value of
these pieces is realized they will doubtless be brought to view and
cherished again. Although the motifs are familiar to most collectors,
it is remarkable that in the seventy years since brilliant cuttings first
were made, so little information regarding patterns and motif com
binations has been recorded.

In this book I have identified and classified fifty patterns of the
Brilliant Period with their variations. Some of these patterns are
fairly common. Others are rare. Examples of this glass are to be
found in all parts of the United States, Central America, Mexico,
Cuba, and South America. You, yourself, may have glass of the
Brilliant Period stored away in attic or basement. As is the case
with cut glass of other periods not all the pieces will be of equal
excellence, but some of it will probably be very fine and worth pre
serving for posterity as examples of an art in which American
craftsmen once excelled all others in the world.

This book, the first on the subject, must due to limitations of
space confine itself to the obvious guides to classification and identi
fication of American cut and engraved glass. The beginning collector
should first classify his own pieces according to period. Those of the
same period should then be studied comparatively with reference to
metal, form, cutting, motif, pattern, and general excellence of execu
tion. Crude glass should not necessarily be considered early glass.
Some early pieces are far better by every standard than those of
later years.

[31]

. PLATE 7

UPPER: Twelve-inch berry bowl, cut in variation of Russian pattern. Dis
played at Columbian Exposition, Chicago. (Carnegie Mm.) LOWER: GMct
and saucer champagne, Russian, with engraved crest; cut for White House,
1886, T, G. Hawkes Glass Co, (White House}

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

A collector may find that a fine specimen in his collection cannot
be identified with any of the illustrations or descriptions given in
this text. So much the better ! The cutting of glass is a handcraf t. It
thrived on individuality and originality. The piece that does not
conform to these broad primary classifications gives the collector an
opportunity to identify it through study and comparison and some
times by luck until his piece forms another link in the chain of
knowledge being forged on this early craft and its craftsmen.

Actually this book endeavors only to state the case to lay the
groundwork for the development of a field of collection hitherto
known to few collectors. These for lack of background information
have had to approach the largest classification of American glass
with the least adequate yardstick of evaluation. Today s careful but
enthusiastic collectors are building, piece by piece, the foundation
and assembling the documentation for one of the finest heritages of
early industry and craftsmanship American cut glass.

[34]

CHAPTER II
o o o o o o o &lt;&gt; -o -o o o &lt;&gt; o -o o

//OH/ rO DETECT IMITATIONS

ALL THAT glitters is not gold, but most glass that sparkles is
ji\. fairly certain to have been cut. This prismatic brilliance of cut
glass is its most distinguishing feature and the one most difficult to
imitate. Many manufacturers seeking a less expensive but just-as-
good product have tried. Because cut glass has always been the
aristocrat, sparkling on the tables of kings and presidents, it has
been a natural target for imitation. Glass sold as cut-glass-type has
been the result.

So far as the collector of cut glass is concerned there is no glass
that is just as good; glass is either cut or it is not cut. Yet some
times difficulties stand in the way of identification.

Four types of glass were originally designed to copy cut glass:
blown-molded, pattern pressed lead, pattern pressed lime, and glass
cut on fire-finished pressed blanks. The first three classifications have
become separately collectible so that for the collector of cut glass
there is little danger of confusion with them. Only the fourth is
likely to give difficulty: glass cut on fire-finished pressed blanks re
sembles true cut glass in weight and pattern and lacks only its essen
tial brilliance and sharpness of cutting.

Blown-molded glass is glass which has been blown into a mold on
which a pattern has previously been carved or cast. While the pat
tern on many of the early blown-molded decanters, flips, and bottles
copies early cut glass patterns, it will be apparent that the outline of
the design is too smooth and rounded to have been produced by
cutting. Furthermore, these early blown-molded pieces are now so

C 35 J

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

rare and so prized by collectors of the type that there is little danger
of their turning up to confuse the uninitiated.

Pressed lead glass was made before 1827, the date usually given
for the invention of the pressing machine ; but pressed lead glass did
not become a serious competitor of cut glass until after this date.
The early patterns copied cut glass designs faithfully, but lead glass
was so "lazy" in the press that the edges of the patterns came out
soft and rounded, not at all sharp as when cut. Pressed lead glass
has the ring of cut glass but it lacks the sharpness of decoration and
the prismatic luster. It is usually of low color, grey or smoky. Sand
wich lacy is a pressed lead glass.

Pressed lime glass was made after 1865 in great quantity and in
a profusion of patterns. Many of the earlier patterns were designed
specifically for the press and could not have been cut into lead glass
by means of the wheel because of the complicated nature of the
design. After 1880, however, when the great vogue developed for
brilliant cut glass, some manufacturers did press lime glass into pat
terns that were exact copies of those used on cut glass. The most
obvious copy was the Daisy and Button which duplicated the Star
and Hobnail of early lead glass, producing a pressed-glass imita
tion of the Russian pattern of fine cut ware.

Glass cut on fire-finished pressed blanks can usually be distin
guished from fine cut glass by slight ridges or raised places on the
inside of the piece directly opposite the deeper incisions on the out
side. These bulges in the glass are inherent in the method of manu
facture. The finest pieces of cut glass are made of good lead glass
blanks which have either been blown offhand or blown into a paste
mold with no decoration whatever. The inner or refractory surface
of such a blank sets in the air. Nothing touches this surface from
the time the blank is first made by a glass blower until it is com
pletely cooled and taken to the cutting room. Here the broader
aspects of the design, the deep incisions, are made by a rougher.
Then a smoother works over the deep incisions and adds the little
extra cuttings with the smaller stone wheel. Roughing and smooth
ing are expensive operations which contribute to the high cost of
a piece of fine cut glass.

When a pressed blank is used much expense is saved. A pressed

[36]

PLATE 9

UPPER: Celery boat, White House pattern. Bread tray in fine line cutting f
Middle Period. CENTER: Flat-bottojn, 10-inch berry bowl, partitioned design
from early Brilliant Period, and standard Q-inch bowl, chair-bottom and hob-
star. LOWER, LEFT TO RIGHT: Rare, /-inch, Strawberry-Diamond and Fan
plate; 6-inch plate; q-inch plate. (Author s Collection)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

blank already carries the first deep incisions of the decoration.
These have been pressed while the glass was molten. The pressing
process was developed to save the manufacturer the cost of hand
labor on each and every vessel, the employment of the rougher to
cut the first incisions, and the loss of metal resulting from the pri
mary cutting. Some large pieces of cut glass, such as punch bowls,
lose as much as a third of their weight in cutting. At least half of
this waste was saved by pressing. Pressing, however, left its mark.
When the plunger of the press made contact with the hot glass, it
destroyed the refractory surface.

Glass that is cut on a pressed blank should probably not be in
cluded in a collection of fine cut glass because in a way it is an
imitation, the product of a short cut. It is usually of inferior metal,
although it does contain lead and will ring. Glass cut on a pressed
blank does not have the prismatic luster of true cut glass. The edges
of the cuts especially the deeper ones are soft, rounded, and
smooth. There is lacking that sharp definition of "snap" to the cut
ting typical of true cut glass. Furthermore, glass cut on pressed
blanks gathers dust quickly, fogs more readily, and cannot be pol
ished as brightly as true cut glass. Usually in bowls, nappies, or
vessels large enough for such examination those slight ridges or
raised places on the inside of the piece are easily felt. They are
definite proof that the blank was pressed and fire-finished before its
final cutting.

POSITIVE TESTS OF FINE CUT GLASS

When you are in doubt as to whether a piece of cut glass has been
completely cut, partly cut, or not cut at all, but decorated by some
other means, test it for ring, sparkle, sharpness, and weight. These
four tests will also help you to determine the relative quality of the
piece of glass you are examining.

i. Ring. Strike a piece of cut glass lightly with the side of a
pencil or snap it with your fingers and it will ring like a bell. This
will always happen unless the piece has a closed top as is the case
with carafes, decanters, perfume bottles, and other vessels where

[38]

PLATE 10

UPPER: Berry bowls, g-inch, Hawkes; 8-inch, Libbey. CENTER, LEFT TO
RIGHT: Nappies, hob-star and curved split; broken split; relief cutting in dia
mond band, New England Glass Co., 1825. (Author s Collection) LOWER:
Wine service, same company, 1865-1868, sharp-diamond motif, for Maj. Gen.
Judson Kilpatrick. (Smithsonian Inst.)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

the nature of the piece smothers the ring. Not all pieces ring alike,
la fact, two pieces from the same batch of metal may not ring in
the same pitch. Nor is it necessarily true that the finer the glass the
longer the ring. Among connoisseurs the ring of cut glass is consid
ered one of its more attractive characteristics and is due to the lead
and saltpeter used in its manufacture.

Since American cut glass is usually made of lead, the rule of ring
may be almost generally applied, but there are three notable excep
tions :

(a) Early pressed glass, designed to copy cut glass, is made
of lead, too, and will ring, although it is not cut. It includes the early
pressed lead glass pieces of the New England Glass Company,
Sandwich lacy pressings, and some early Bakewell. These pieces are
few compared to the great amount of standard pressed glass made
of soda lime, which has no ring at all. Pressed glass that does ring
is easily distinguished from cut glass by the smooth rounded con-
tours of the design and its grey color.

(b) Early Arnelung, Philadelphia, and Maryland glass pieces
sh6w cuttings aac} - engravings but the ring is short, sharp, and brit
tle, evidence that lead is lacking as a basic ingredient

(c) Luster-stained potash glass, sometimes called Bohemian,
is frequently decorated with shallow surface cutting. This is cut
glass, although it gives when struck the short tinkle of potash glass
rather than the bell-like ring of lead glass.

2. Sparkle. Hold a piece of fine cut glass to the light and notice
the refraction made by the cutting. Only fine cut glass of high lead
content has such brilliance. It is this quality which is destroyed by
pressing and which manufacturers endeavored, without success, to
restore by fire-finishing. Nothing can replace the refractory surface
that lead glass establishes in air.

The degree of refraction depends on the ingredients of the metal
and the kind and amount of cutting in the design. Glass made and
cut in America after 1880 readily refracts light because of the crys
talline purity of ingredients used in manufacture and the quick
fusion made possible by the adaptation of natural gas as fuel. The
refraction is less in Early American pieces due to impurities in the
metal and less perfect fusion.

[40]

How TO DETECT IMITATIONS

The deep miter cuttings of the Brilliant Period tend to make glass
sparkle more than the flatter panel cuttings of the Early or Middle
Periods. The copper-wheel engravings of the Middle Period being
unpolished have a white surface which does not refract light at all.
However most pieces of engraved glass also have cut stems, lips, or
bases which are polished to catch the light.

3. Sharpness. Run your fingers over the cutting. If the edges are
sharp, the glass is cut; if they are smooth, the chances are the design
has been pressed, or cut over a pressed blank. The roundness of a
cut edge is not to be confused with the deliberate and exquisitely cut
and polished smoothness of certain fine cut pieces made in the Early
American Period. The Robinson decanter (Plate 45) is an example
of the polished cutting of pillar and ring motifs. These are always
cut on heavy glass of unmistakable lead content and are so combined
with sharp diamond or block cuttings that there can be little ques
tion of type.

The feel of this sharpness is a more reliable guide than its visual
appearance. Run your fingers over the tops of nailhead diamonds or
along the edges of deep miter cuttings. The points feel sharp ; the
sides of the cuttings feel smooth and polished, the edges also have a
sharp definition not easily confused with the minutely uneven surface
and edge left by the pressing mold.

4. Weight. Because of high lead content, cut glass is usually
heavy. Approximately sixty pounds of lead were used for every
hundred pounds of sand in the manufacture of the blanks for cut
glass during the middle and late years of the nineteenth century. It
is understandable then that a decanter, compote, bowl, or goblet
made of such blanks will be noticeably heavier than the same-sized
piece made of glass of no lead content.

However, Amelung and some other pieces of Maryland and Phil
adelphia glass are exceptions to the rule of weight. These are un
usually light due to the calcined seaweed or barilla which was used
as the potash ingredient.

Cut glass is, in the final analysis, good glass. Whether a wine
glass made by James O Hara in 1804 as bar-ware, a butter dish
made by one of the Fisher brothers in New York City in 1825, a
goblet engraved by one of the Leighton family in 1850, a decanter

[41]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

cut for Mrs. Abraham Lincoln by Dorflinger in 1861, a punch cup
cut for the Russian Ambassador by Hawkes in 1886, or a bowl
engraved for Princess Elizabeth by Steuben in 1947, American cut
glass is first, last, and always fine glass the best glass of its time.
Much glass was cut or engraved in individual pieces, particularly
goblets and finger tumblers. Decanters were often cut in pairs,
(Plate 1 1 ) but glass has also been cut in sets since the beginning of
the craft in America. Presidents Monroe and Jackson had complete
sets cut for the White House (Plates 19, 48) and there is record of
other early sets. During the Brilliant Period sets of Russian, Kim-
berly, Corinthian, and Strawberry-Diamond and Star were relatively
common, yet each piece in such sets was an individual achievement.
It may have been cut to match other pieces, to give unity to a table
setting, but because it represents a handcraft and an artistic skill, it
has an individual meaning. It is this that makes the collecting of cut
glass such a joy and, in itself, an art.

[42]

PLATE II

Fine matched pair of decanters showing sharp-diamond band. Credited to
Boston and Sandwich Glass Co. Stoppers are Mown and cut. Necks are flute-
cut. Almost identical to decanters of same period by New England Glass Co.
(Photographs, courtesy Charles Messer Stow, New York Sun)

.CHAPTER III

o o &lt;&gt; -o- -o o o- o o o -o- -o o -o -O" o o o o o o o- -o o

THE MAKING OF GLASS

T is easy to make glass. Volcanoes do it almost every day, but to
^ make fine glass requires skill, experience, and talent. In the early
days of glassmaking luck also played a part. Today with modern
methods of manufacture nothing is left to chance.

Glass is a fairly stable composition, the result of melting sand
with an alkali. There is nothing mysterious about the process, yet
man has been trying for four thousand years to perfect it. A col
lector of cut glass should be able to follow the struggle toward
perfection in the pieces he selects. He should know enough about
the essential nature of glass to judge for himself whether a piece is
wheel-scratched lime glass, fine potash engraved on a wheel, or
heavy lead of high or low degree.

Two kinds of metal are used for cut or engraved glass : Bohemian
or German flint and lead or English flint. Both have been made in
America at various times. Either can be excellent or inferior, de
pending upon workmanship.

Bohemian or German flint is a soda potash glass which contains
no lead. It is usually thin, although it need not be. The thinner
pieces give a tinkling sound when struck. Potash or ..Bohemian flint
is mostly of good color but as in some of our early American pieces,
it may be slightly low in color and often is noticeably grey. The
decoration on such pieces is usually wheel engraving and is rarely
polished.

Lead glass or English flint has lead as an essential ingredient. It
is soft and can be made in sufficient thickness to absorb the vibration
and pressure of the miter wheel. Lead glass has been manufactured

[44]

O k,

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fr

-U O

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CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

in America since the eighteenth century. In this discussion all pieces
are assumed to be of lead glass unless otherwise designated because
lead glass was the standard American metal for fine cut ware after
1808. We inherited our formulas from the English and Irish and
then improved upon their techniques until by the close of the nine
teenth century, American manufacturers were making as high qual
ity metal as the world had ever known.

COMPOSITION OF LEAD GLASS

If it were possible to obtain absolutely pure materials to melt
under ideal conditions and anneal to perfection, there would be
small pleasure in the pursuit of fine old cut glass. Henry Rowe
Schoolcraft, writing on the subject of glassmaking in 1812, knew
how to make perfect lead glass. Here is his recipe for double flint
glass recorded in his own handwriting in his manuscript, "Vitre-
ology or the Art of Smelting" :

u Sand 1 20 pounds (nett)

Potash 30 pounds

Red lead 90 pounds

Nitre 4 pounds

Arsenic 2 pounds

Manganese .... 3 ounces"

He adds, "If the materials be such as I have represented they
should be, and they be carefully and well prepared, this mixture will
produce, so far as depends on the composition, a glass, possessing
strength, the weight, the lustre, the purity, density and whiteness of
the richest European cut glass." Such perfection was rarely possible
during the first hundred years of our glassmaking and for that
reason collections present fascinating comparative studies. Early
Bakewell glass shows striae, indicating that Bakewell used too much
lead and that his fires were slow. Pieces made by George Dummcr
have air bubbles showing that the fires were too hot. Perhaps this
was due to the acceleration of the heat with resin knots, a trick that

[46]

5. \

^ e

H .

g .
o "

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

was patented in 1828 by Dr. Thomas W. Dyott, although the proc
ess had been in general use in New Jersey glasshouses many years
before that date. Glass made in New England colored down to grey
before the use of the Berkshire sands around 1826. All these points
are of concern to the collector.

MONKEY POTS AND OPEN TANKS

Glass may be melted in a monkey pot or in an open tank. A
monkey pot is a closed cylindrical vessel usually about five and a half
feet high with a hole in one side about a foot down from the top.
Six or eight or more of these pots are arranged in a circle (the
openings facing out) on the floor of a cone-shaped furnace which is
usually fired from a pit below the floor. The fire surrounds the pots
and the glass is charged and drawn out through the side openings in
the pots. Lead glass is made in this manner in order to keep the
molten metal free of carbon fumes and other gases of oxidation
created in the fire chamber. Lead glass can be made in open tanks
and frequently was, but the result is a poor quality of grey or muddy
color.

Open pots look like thick-walled wash tubs. They also rest on the
floor of a furnace, the fire surrounding them, with the difference
that the intense heat passes over the top of the melting glass, thus
speeding fusion but also contributing impurities which discolor the
metal. Modern tank furnaces are built on the same open-pot prin
ciple, except that a tank is larger than a pot.

THE BLOWING OF GLASS

When the ingredients of glass have reached a certain tempera
ture, approximately 2400 degrees Fahrenheit, the molten metal is
ready to be worked. At each pot or furnace opening is a "chair," a
term that may be applied both literally and figuratively. The chair
is a heavy square, wooden seat, with a back and arms extending for
ward beyond the chair itself. This is the blower s seat. He is the

[48]

THE MAKING OF GLASS

head man of a group of workmen, usually four, who constitute a
shop or a chair, the unit of labor necessary to work each glass pot.

The first man to begin the operation collects a small ball of
molten glass called the "gather" on the end of the blowpipe, which
is a hollow tube about four feet long. The gatherer puffs a little
breath of air into the ball of glass, twirling it the while, and when
it has cooled several hundred degrees he rolls the hot glass on a
"marver," the metal slab designed to consolidate the metal. The
gatherer then delivers the blowpipe to the blower. By blowing and
whirling his blowpipe back and forth on the arm of his chair, and
by working with tools as ancient as Rome, this man fashions the
glass into the desired shape. When the metal becomes too cool to
work, he hands it to the servitor, who reheats it in the glory hole,
an opening in the furnace made for this purpose.

If the glass is to be flashed, or decorated with an overlay, the
servitor brings the blower little globs of colored metal which he
drops onto the outside of the hot glass from which the vessel is
fashioned.

If the blower is to finish the rim, the servitor attaches a long
flat-topped iron rod called a pontil to the end of the vessel by means
of a small wad of molten-glass, the blowpipe is cracked off, and the
workman continues to fashion the vessel holding it now by the pon
til. The glass may be reheated many times in the process of hand-
fashioning but when it is finally completed the pontil is cracked off
leaving the familiar pontil-mark or scar. An apprentice, called a
carry-in boy, lifts the vessel on forked sticks or asbestos-covered
pinchers and carries the glass to the annealing oven. If a footmaker
is to make handles or feet, he works on the glass before it is de
livered to the carry-in boy.

MOLD BLOWING AND ANNEALING

Much glass intended for cutting is blown-molded. This it not to
be confused with pressed glass, since the mold used is not compara
ble to a glass press. The early molds were made of cherry or apple
wood; later iron molds were used, coated with a paste of resin and

[49]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

beeswax. These were called paste molds. Molds were carved to the
general proportions desired for bowl or tumbler. Instead of blowing
the glass offhand, the blower first blew the glob of glass slightly,
then lowered the glass which adhered to the pipe into a mold sus
pended in a bucket of water. By blowing and rotating the pipe be
tween his palms he quickly achieved a vessel of perfect symmetry.
Because no force other than that of his breath touched the molten
inner surface of the vessel, the refractory surface was maintained,
thus giving prismatic luster to the finished piece.

Even when perfect materials are melted under controlled condi
tions, glass will "fly" unless it is annealed, that is, cooled gradually.
If glass is cooled quickly, inner tensions are set up which may later
be released on contact with a sharp point or even at a slight change
in temperature. Then glass explodes or flies to pieces. Glass is an
nealed in long ovens through which a continuously moving belt
carries the pieces slowly from one end where the working tempera
ture is about 1400 degrees Fahrenheit to the other where finished
pieces are removed to be packed at room temperature. Even mod
ern annealing lehrs (ovens heated by natural gas) require several
hours to complete a satisfactory cooling process.

The undecorated vessel as it is taken from the annealing oven is
known as a blank and is stored until needed by the cutter.

[50]

CHAPTER IV

o -o- o o o &lt;&gt; o- o o o o o o o &lt;&gt; &lt;&gt; o- o &lt;&gt; o -o o o -o

CUTTING, ENGRAVING, ETCHING

IT IS true that all cut glass has been decorated by application to
a moving wheel, but there are wheels and wheels, and operators
vary greatly in skill. Engraving differs from cutting in the size of
the wheel used and consequently in the type of decoration possible.
When a piece of glass is engraved, it is held under the wheel and
pressed upward toward the engraver and against the wheel. In cut
ting, the glass is held between the cutter and the wheel and pressed
down against it. In both cases the wheels are revolving at high
speed. In etching, the decoration is made by the application of a
corrosive acid, not by cutting.

The speed of the wheel controls, to some extent, the type of cut
ting. The earliest power used in England for cutting lead glass was
a treadle. The cutter sat or stood at a bench and turned the cutting
wheel by pumping a treadle under his right foot in much the same
way that grindstones are operated for sharpening axes. Treadle-
cutting was confined to more or less simple motifs, such as panels
and relief diamonds. A little later apprentices were used to turn the
lathes by means of a flywheel, but the boys were not too steady at
their work and sometimes lagged behind or got tired and the speed
of the wheel was erratic. Even so, the motifs developed a- sharper
line and some crosshatching was possible ; but the lunar slice, favored
in England, or the vesica and festoons of Irish decoration did not
come until water power was used to speed up the cutting wheels.
It is possible that water power was used in Syria and Egypt for
cutting glass two hundred years before Christ, since panel scoops
and miter squares appear on very early glass (Plate i).

[5*]

HI IOW UOOM OF THE OUASS WORKS.

PLATE 14

UPPER: Cutting rooms of the New England and of the Libbey glass compa
nies. LOWER: Show room of New England Glass Co. (Ballous Pictorial
Drawing Room Companion, January 1855.) Epergnes, hanging lamps, coin*
s, cruets, and apothecary jars were in stock. (Libbey Glass Co.)

CUTTING, ENGRAVING, ETCHING

All the methods for turning lathes were used in America (Plate
14). It is particularly likely that water power was used at the Ken
sington glasshouse in Philadelphia in 1790. Our glassmen were also
quick to use steam power for the lathes and Bakewell s glasshouse
probably used it as early as 1817. With the help of steam American
motifs became deeper, better polished, and sharper than English
and Irish cuttings, because foreign glasshouses were slower to adopt
new methods. The deep miter cuttings of the Brilliant Period were
not made extensively until lathes were equipped with electric motors.

THE CUTTING AND POLISHING OF GLASS

When the vessel to be cut is brought from the storeroom it is
first marked by the designer with outlines of the decoration (Plate
1 5 ) . A rougher next holds the blank against a large, rapidly moving
iron wheel, but the wheel does not actually do the cutting. The glass
is cut rather by a stream of fine wet sand that drips from an over
hanging funnel onto the edge of the wheel and thence to the surface
of the glass. The rougher, following the designer s marks, makes
the first heavy incisions (Plate 15) and in pushing the glass down
against the whfeel, he is blind to the contact of wheel and glass. If he
sees the work at all, it is through the glass, from inside to outside.
There is always danger in miter cutting that the wheel will penetrate
the vessel and ruin the blank. In panel cutting, such as that of con
cave flutes, plain flutes, relief diamonds, or bull s-eye motifs, there
is less danger of penetration since the wheel is not so sharp as that
used for miter cuttings.

After the rougher has finished with the deep incisions, the glass
goes to the smoother. He uses a stone wheel (usually called a craig-
leith, the name of the natural stone used) to refine the rough first
incisions. The smoother also cuts the small lines or motifs indi
cated by the design (Plate 16).

Deep fine cutting is done with a very narrow wheel or splitter. A
slightly flattened splitter may be used for cutting panels, hollows,
and circles, but a craigleith miter wheel is more generally employed.
The strawberry-diamond motif is produced with the miter wheel as

[53]

PLATE 15

UPPER: "Blank" of a 1 2-inch plate, with penciled design to guide "rougher"
LOWER: Second process. Plate has been "roughed" or cut with first deep inci
sions. The cut surface of the design is still grey-white from contact with either
an iron or a steel wheel and abrasive. Photographs made at T. G. Hawkes

Glass Co.

PLATE I 6

UPPER: Third process. Plate has been "smoothed" that is, the stone wheel has
been applied to deeper incisions, producing a finer finish. Details of design have
been cut in, LOWER: Plate has been polished by application to a wooden wheel
with rottenstone abrasive. Add polishing was not in general use before IQOO.

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

is the prism, which is made by applying the glass to the sides of the
miter. Prisms become the edges of facets in a diamond pattern by
another movement. Square-cut stars as well as diamonds with three
to eight sides are completed merely by moving the piece of glass in
various directions against the miter. Buds are made by gently rock
ing the glass as it is held against the wheel. Outlines of flowers and
leaves are perfected by a peculiar rolling motion acquired only by
long practice. Serrated or scalloped edges are cut by a panel wheel
which acts like a saw in producing right angles. Apprentice boys are
first put to work cutting edges since there is no danger of penetrat
ing the metal. Their next job is to cut flute panels.

After the smoother finishes with the design, the surface of all the
cut lines is grey-white as in an unpolished engraving. Before 1900
glass was polished on wooden wheels which were made from willow,
cherry, or other soft woods which gave a lustrous appearance and
left no imperfections on the gleaming surfaces. Rottenstone and
pumice were also used for polishing. After 1900 cut glass was often
polished with acid, but many collectors feel that hand polishing gives
a softer luster than the quicker acid process (Plate 16). In the early
days all processes of designing, roughing, smoothing, and polishing
were done by a single operator. This slower process is sometimes
followed even today by cutters working on special pieces intended
for their own use or as gifts.

THE ENGRAFING OF GLASS

Copper-wheel decoration is unquestionably one of the most beau
tiful types of glyptic ornamentation. It requires more time, skill,
training, and natural talent than cutting and compares with cameo
sculpturing in its esthetic appeal. Fifty or more small copper wheels
are used in engraving. The work is so minute that fine engravings
are often studied under a magnifying glass to catch all the exquisite
detail. Instead of using a water-and-sand abrasive as in cutting, en
gravers use a mixture of linseed oil and pumice. Most engravings
are left unpolished. The grey-white surface of the engraving ap-

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PLATE I 8

LEFT: New Bremen covered chalice. Made by John Frederick Ameiunq in

Frederick-town, Maryland, between 17841791. (Metropolitan Mu$. of Art)

RIGHT: Goblet engraved with a view of Mount Fernon about 1876 by the

Dithridge Flint Glass Co. (Smithsonian Inst.)

CUTTING, ENGRAVING, ETCHING

pears to be in relief against the clear crystal of the vessel. The hunt
ing bowl (Plate 17) is a notable exception.

Engraved glass has always been expensive and many presentation
pieces like the Amelung chalice (Plate 18) have been cut with a
medallion, inscription, initials, or date. Not all engraving is of equal
quality. The early scratchings were fairly simple decorations on
Bohemian or potash-flint glass, which would not take the heavier
incisions of the cutting wheel; but the later copper-wheel engrav
ings, such as the Edenhall goblet (Plate 17), or modern Steuben
pieces (Plate 130) show a perfection never surpassed in the history
of glass decoration.

The collector who is not familiar with the technical differences in.
the pieces of his collection loses much of the story discernible in
glass. Knowledge of metal and workmanship helps greatly in plac
ing a piece of glass in its proper locality and period. Some pieces
defy classification, it is true, but others have a history to tell to
those who can read it. Even if the dates of the three pitchers on
Plate 5 had not been established by family record, an astute col
lector could be fairly certain that the first pitcher was made during
the early American period, probably at the Bakewell factory, be
cause of the thin metal of high lead content showing striae, the
offhand modeling, and the steel-blue shading of the glass in the thick
portions. On the other hand he would place the center pitcher con
siderably later in the Middle Period since the metal is heavy,
clear, and free of any defect. Although of good color and fine model
ing, it lacks the characteristic brilliance of the third pitcher which,
by the luster of its metal, as much as by its form and cutting, is
easily identified as a product of the Brilliant Period.

It is fun to be a glass detective. Start with your own collection.
It will pay you dividends !

CUTTERS AND ENGRAVERS

Cutters and engravers had a pronounced influence on the form
and designs of our early glass. Lazarus Isaacs signed a contract
with Stiegel in 1773 to cut glass at the American Flint Glass Manu-

[59]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

factory, the Manheim glassworks in Lancaster County, Pennsyl
vania. He was employed as a cutter and flowerer and his work
reflects the influence of an engraving style then popular in Germany
and Bohemia. Isaacs was to have the sum of 5 los monthly as pay,
a house to live in, a piece of land for a garden, and firewood sup
plied at five shillings per cord. The contract shows that Isaacs was
better paid than most workmen of his day and that he was a man of
standing in his community. The finer Stiegel pieces of the later years
are credited to him.

Peter William Eichbaum was another colorful German glass cut
ter who left his mark on early American glass history. He was the
descendant of a family in Allemand, Westphalia, which had been
glass cutters for generations. When Louis XVI started his ill-timed
industrial revival in France, he asked Eichbaum to come to Paris to
revive the lost craft, and Eichbaum is said to have been one of the
founders of the glass village later known as Saint Louis, a com
munity named for the patron king. It was from the glasshouse there
that glass was furnished for the chandeliers and mirrors of the
Palace of Versailles.

After the fall of the Bastille, Eichbaum escaped to America
through Amsterdam and, because of his friendship with the late
Benjamin Franklin, got employment with Robert Morris at the
Schuylkill Glass Works in Philadelphia. In 1797 James O Hara and
Isaac Craig seem to have induced Eichbaum to go to Pittsburgh
to take charge of their newly erected glasshouse. Eichbaum was not
successful as a superintendent. He was a cutter by profession and he
was too lenient with the workmen, who criticized him for not being
well-informed on glass founding. After a time he leased the works
with Frederick Wendt (sometimes written Wentz) but this partner
ship was short-lived.

Although Eichbaum was interested in the glass business in Pitts
burgh for many years, he decided in 1800 to conclude his arrange
ments with Craig and O Hara. He opened a hotel and tavern u At
the Sign of the Indian Queen" on Front Street near Market Street
where in addition to his duties as host, he carried on a business of
cutting tumblers and decanters to order. Eichbaum also made chan
deliers at his shop, usually from pieces of O Hara pot glass (Plate

[60]

PLATE

UPPER, LEFT: Napkin ring, early Pittsburgh glass, cut in large diamond.
Probably by one of Eichbaums for Mary, daughter of James O Hara. (Alex
ander Siherman) UPPER, RIGHT: Decanter and champagne, Bakewell, en
graved by Jardel for James Monroe, i8ig. (White House) LOWER, LEFT TO
RIGHT: Amelung wine; early Pennsylvania goblet, enscribed Out of Love;
early Pittsburgh wine glass. (Jerome Strauss)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

137 ). After George Robinson and Edward Ensell began making lead
glass, Eichbaum bought his blanks from them, preferring the softer
lead metal. The napkin ring (Plate 19) was probably made from
Robinson glass by Eichbaum as a present for Mary O Hara, daugh
ter of his good friend and associate, James O Hara. It was Eich
baum who introduced the German kugeln, or bull s-eye motif into
cut glass decoration in America and also the hexagonal diamond-
panel cutting on bottles which he named the "Saint Louis neck."

A. Jardel was another of the famous early engravers. He was a
French glassworker who came to Pittsburgh in 1818 and opened a
store. He advertised "to engrave and execute everything that may
be wished in his line at a moderate price." His advertisement adds :
"He has on hand, and will constantly keep an assortment of elegant
glassware of every description." When business wasn t too good at
first, a postscript appeared : "A few gentlemen can be accommodated
with genteel boarding."

Later Jardel pieces became recognized as superb examples of the
craft and it became a fad to own anything engraved by him. He no
longer took in boarders. The vases presented by Bakewell to La
fayette on his visit to Pittsburgh in 1825 are signed by Jardel and
the wine glasses and claret jugs made at the Bakewell glasshouse for
the White House at the order of James Monroe were cut and en
graved by him (Plate 19).

Louis Vaupel, who came to the New England Glass Company in
1856, is one of the spectacular engravers of the Middle Period. His
work is similar to that of old Bohemian engraving and depicts hunt
ing scenes, trees and flowers, animal groups, and naturalistic land
scapes.

Henry S. Fillebrown was one of the skillful engravers employed
at the New England Glass Company from 1 860 to 1 880. There is a
more characteristic American motif in the Fillebrown engravings
than in those by Vaupel. Fillebrown used the grape, ivy, strawberry,
and wild rose motifs in addition to birds and fishes.

Several of the Leighton family were talented engravers. Lura
Woodside Watkins, in her book on Cambridge Glass, mentions a
set of heavy tumblers engraved by Henry Leighton. One of these
carries the Leighton coat of arms. The William Leightons, Senior

[62]

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CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

and Junior, were engraving glass at the Hobbs, Brockunier glass
house in Wheeling, West Virginia, during the late years of the
Middle Period.

While there were many other fine engravers about this time and
during the early years of the Brilliant Period, the work of only two
has been definitely identified. Joseph Locke s engravings and cameo
work for the New England Glass Company are museum pieces.
William O. Bowen, a student of John Northwood, also engraved
glass of exquisite beauty.

William H. Morse, whose work is more recent (1915 to 1925)
than the Brilliant Period, was one of the most skillful engravers in
American history. Contemporary engravers for the Hawkes and
Steuben companies carry on the fine tradition. Many modern pieces
are unexcelled in American glass history.

ETCHED GLASS

Etched glass is not a type of cut glass, but it is of interest to the
collector who needs to understand the etching process in order to
distinguish it from engraving. Etching and engraving are by no
means the same thing. Etched glass is not cut. Unlike engraved
glass which is decorated by a moving wheel, etched glass is made by
the application of a corroding acid. We might say that etching is a
matter of surface deterioration, but that hardly seems a fair de
scription of the method in the hands of such skilled craftsmen as
Joseph Locke, some of whose exquisite pieces are shown on Plate
21 ; nor does it do justice to the work of the English master, John
Northwood, whose replica of the Portland vase was done in part
by etching. The trouble with the etching of glass in America seems
to have been that except for Locke s work, it was not developed
here as an independent art, but used as an imitation of cutting.

Etching was described as early as 1812 by Schoolcraft, who
called it "engraving" in his manuscript on Vitreology : "When a vine
or flower is required upon the surface of a glass this [is] done by
simply using a copper wheel of the size of a cent, with water. These
ornaments are, however, most accurately engraved by the fluoric acid

[6 4 ]

CUTTING, ENGRAVING, ETCHING

which is used in the same manner upon glass that aqua fortis is upon
copper; the surface is first covered with a coat of wax and rosin, and
the figures drawn, by sharp instruments, that cut through and re
move the coating. The liquid acid is poured on, and immediately
corrodes the glass. When deep enough its effects are stopped by
pouring on water." The early American compote from the collection
of Lowell Innes (Plate 22) is a rare example of the early technique
of etching. Bleeding of acid under the edge of wax resist is clearly
shown. The etched surface has been cut through with wheel en
graving.

All etching is done by exposing glass to a corrosive agent, usually,
but not always, some form of hydrofluoric acid. The process of
etching varies according to the type of "resist" or wax used to cover
areas not to be exposed for decoration, the method of applying the
pattern, and the kind of acid used to fix it. The various qualities of
etching depend entirely on the use and composition of these three
factors.

NEEDLE ETCHING

The simplest technique of etching employed a sharp instrument
to mark the design and an acid vapor to fix it. This method known
as needle etching was followed by many American glasshouses in
cluding those at Sandwich, Cambridge, Pittsburgh, and Wheeling.
In Reminiscences of Glass-Making Deming Jarves gives this de
scription: u The glass to be operated upon is first coated with a
ground of wax and the design to be etched is then traced through
the wax with a sharp instrument. In a shallow lead basin some pow
dered fluor spar is then placed and a sufficient quantity of sulphuric
acid poured upon it to convert it into a thin paste. The glass to be
etched is now placed in the basin to which a gentle heat is applied
when the vapor of the acid is disengaged and attacks the traced lines
from which the wax has been removed. The operation is completed
in a few minutes, the glass is removed and the wax cleaned off with
warm oil of turpentine. All those parts which have remained covered

[65]

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CUTTING, ENGRAVING, ETCHING

with wax are now clear as before while the other parts drawn by
lines have a frosted appearance."

These early etchings can be distinguished from engravings by the
needlelike tracery of the pattern. This is never deep, and the lines
are often disconnected because little pieces of wax have escaped the
needle and held the acid from the glass. Wine glasses, finger bowls,
tumblers, and other lightweight bar and tableware were often deco
rated with needle etching in conventional designs of loops and
scrolls with a multiplicity of fine lines. Early freehand pieces of
original design are worth while, but the later pieces with machine-
traced patterns are of little value.

PLATE ETCHING

Plate etching in its simplest form was patented in 1859 by James
Napier, who had learned the method in Glasgow, Scotland. Napier s
idea was to fix a print or lithograph with printer s ink to the surface
of the glass by an ordinary starch paste. After the applique was dry,
he subjected the entire piece to acid three times, and washed it with
water. The Napier method was not reliable and was soon improved
upon in the American development of plate etching, but pieces with
early Napier etchings are priceless. They were frequently made of
flashed glass (glass coated with a film of another color). The pic
ture appears as a colored outline against a white frosted back
ground.

Plate etching has been done continuously in America since the
development of Napier s patent. It is used to etch crests, shields, and
elaborate designs on goblets, tableware, and bar-ware. In this type
of etching the master pattern is first made on a metal plate. This is
covered with wax and the excess scraped off. A tissue is then laid
over the plate and pressed down so that when it is removed, the
wax adheres, covering it except where the etched lines have ap
peared on the master plate. The tissue is then placed on the piece of
glass to be etched, and the uncovered section of the glass is coated
with wax inside and out. It is then exposed to acid according to the
Napier method (Plate 22).

[67]

PLATE 22

UPPER: Ritchie and Wheat pitcher, Wheeling, W. Va. t 1830, and Pittsburgh
pitcher with applied handle and acid-etched landscape, about /poo. (Author s
Collection) LOWER: Early American compote, 6^/4 inches high, hand-molded
stem, folded rim on foot. Decorated by early etching process and wheel

cutting* (Lowell Innes)

PLATE 23

UPPER LEFT: Punch cups, oriental scenes, etched by Joseph Locke. (Harry C
Fry) LOWER, LEFT: Crystal chalice cased with blue. Overlay of silver filigree
Cut stem and foot. Made in Pittsburgh by Locke in early igoos. (Hist Soc
of W. Penn.) RIGHT: Champagne pitcher etched by Locke. (Smithsonian Inst.J

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

FREEHAND ETCHING

The finest etching results when a skilled artist cuts the pattern
through the wax resist without stencil or pattern to guide him.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century there were a number of
talented freehand etchers at work in America, among them Joseph
Locke, friend and associate of Edward Drummond Libbey. Locke
developed his own technique and his own resists for etching. Several
of his pitchers are illustrated on Plate 21. One is of Amberina glass,
a heat-treated metal which Locke invented and patented along with
Pomona and Peachblow glass, while he was with the New England
Glass Company. Many of his pieces show both engraving and etch
ing, but their distinguishing characteristic is the evidence of two and
three layers of etching which makes parts of the design appear in
relief. The edge of a leaf or the outline of a pattern will be more
pronounced than the rest of the design. Locke used only hydro
fluoric acid to get the bright, deep, triple-edged outlines, but for the
mat and satin etchings he used hydrofluoric acid with alkali or am
monium fluorides. The chalice (Plate 23) is a most unusual Locke
piece. It is a crystal glass cased in blue and then decorated with a
partial silver overlay. The foot was cut on a lathe, but the silver
was applied in a filigree etching. Locke made a number of these
chalices, only two of which are known to exist. They represent a
degree of craftsmanship rarely attained by any glassworker in any
country.

Fine examples of etched glass such as the best Locke pieces are
rare and should be treasured as samples of a specialized art craft
(Plate 24), but the average acid-decorated ware was of little value
when it first came on the market and is of no greater value to the
collector. Today a potash glass finger bowl with a needle-etched bor
der may be bought for ten or fifteen cents, but a lead glass finger
bowl engraved with the same pattern is worth ten or fifteen dollars.

[70]

PLATE 24

UPPER: Brandy jug, engraved by one of Leightons, and claret pitcher, George

and P. C. Dummer, 1825-1830. (Authors Collection) LOWER, LEFT TO

RIGHT: Etched Uncle Remus glass and pitcher with marine scene, wine glass

with typical wheel cutting. All by Locke. (Alexander Silverman)

CHAPTER V

CAMEO AND INTAGLIO GLASS

A FEW very beautiful glass ornaments made in America were
sculptured from glass of two or more layers with engraver s
tools. These pieces are known as cameo glass when the outside coat
ing usually white opaque glass is carved or etched away from the
colored undercoat to leave the desired figure in cameo relief. Cameo
glass is the direct opposite of intaglio cutting in which the decoration
is incised or sunk into the background. Since the sculpturing of glass
requires quality metal and considerable artistic skill, both expensive
necessities, no great number of pieces were cut and those that remain
are highly valued.

The technique of cameo cutting was not used extensively in Eng
land until the late years of the nineteenth century and has never
been commonly practiced in America, but the method was developed
centuries ago. The famous Portland vase was very likely cut in the
early years of the Christian era, since it is believed to have been
the burial urn for the ashes of Roman Emperor Severus who died
235 A.D. Then the secret of the technique seems to have been lost.
Nothing similar appeared in modern times until Josiah Wedgwood s
reproduction in 1790. Today the collector of cameo glass does not
seek utilitarian tableware but brooches, pendants, plaques, scent bot
tles, jewellike snuff boxes, jars, vases, and rose water bottles deco
rated with cameo medallions.

It requires the combined skills of designer, glassmaker, and
sculptor to produce a piece of cameo work. The process is intricate.
For example, when a vase is to be made the design must first be out
lined on paper. This is given the glassmaker who then prepares a

[72]

CAMEO AND INTAGLIO GLASS

cup of white opaque glass of the required size. In this cup he places
a mass of dark blue or green or whatever color is desired for the
background of the vase. He must take care to drop the colored glass
into the very bottom of the cup and to push the mass down care
fully until the cup is filled. If this operation is not managed skill
fully, air blisters will form between the background and the opaque
casing. Next the entire mass is marvered or rolled on a metal slab
after which it is blown into the desired size and shape and most
carefully annealed, for if there should be the slightest internal strain
the piece will fly under the sculpturing pressure. After annealing, the
opaque shell is carved away from the background leaving the design
in white relief. It is supposed that Chinese cameo glass (Plate 25)
was carved in this manner, and authorities believe that the Portland
vase was made the same way.

ARTISTS IN CAMEO GLASS

Cameo artists of the late nineteenth century developed a method
combining etching and carving techniques. John Northwood, Joseph
Locke, and Frederick Carder all produced pieces with this revised
process. John Northwood s work was outstanding. He applied the
etching principle to cased glass (made with layers of different col
ors) which he covered with a bituminous resist. On this he drew
the outline of the design. Then he cut away the coating from the
background and put the glass into a bath of hydrofluoric acid. In
the bath the white top layer of glass was etched away until only the
blue background remained. At that point the design looked like a
silhouette. Using copper wheels and a combination of emery and oil
as an abrasive, Northwood ground down the design to give it a
rough modeling. He finished off the cameo cutting with engraver s
tools. For his reproduction of the Portland vase he had made special
mushet steel tools varying from one-eighth to one-sixteenth inch in
thickness and ground to give three cutting edges.

The original Portland vase, probably the most famous piece of
cameo glass in the world, is only ten inches high and seven wide.
On it appears the story of Bacchus and Ariadne in white carved

[73]

PLATE 25

UPPER: Bottom of Portland Vase with figure of Paris. LOWER: 3^2-111 ch t

Chinese, cameo-glass snuff bottles with stoppers. Opaque white glass. Blue

overlay on left; rose amber on right. (Alexander Silver man)

PLATE 26

Reproduction by Wedgwood of Portland Vase in jasper ware. Original^ in
British Museum, is the most famous piece of decorated glass in the world. A
cameo frieze of white glass is carved against a dark blue background and rep
resents the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. (Alexander Silverman)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

glass against a dark blue background. The vase was found in 1630
in a marble sarcophagus under Monte del Grano near Rome by a
member of the Barberini family and was sold to Sir William Hamil
ton, who in turn sold it to the Duchess of Portland for whom it is
named. In 1786 the third Duke of Portland bought the vase at an
auction of his mother s art treasures for 1029. It was lent to the
British Museum in 1810, and because cameo sculpturing in glass
was not known to craftsmen of that day, the vase was supposed to
have been carved from stone. One day a madman struck it with a
cane. When it shattered there was no doubt that it was made of
glass. After restoration it was placed in the Gold Room of the
British Museum, where it remained for one hundred and nineteen
years. In 1929 it was offered at auction in London by Messrs.
Christie, Manson & Woods. The high bid of $143,000 was refused
and the Portland vase was returned to the British Museum, where
it is today.

In 1790 Josiah Wedgwood made the first reproductions of the
Portland vase (Plate 26) in blue and white jasper ware (a type of
porcelain perfected by him in 1775), which is translucent when thin
and yet hard enough to grind and polish. He is believed to have
made fifty copies. Not more than twenty are now known to exist, of
which some may have been made after his death. The original
pieces sold for fifty guineas each, a sum insufficient to pay for the
manufacture. One of the original reproductions sold in 1892 for
215 $s. It was John Northwood who made the first reproduction
in glass and Philip Pargeter, a fellow workman, who cased the blue
glass for him in an opaque white enamel glass shell.

The Pegasus vase (Plate 27) was also carved by Northwood. It
was exhibited with decoration obviously unfinished at the Exposition
Universelle in Paris in 1878. It is now part of the Gellatly Collec
tion of the Smithsonian Institution. The Northwood vase (Plate
27) is distinguished by a green background, and traces of basic color
have been left in the cameo. This piece is from the Alexander
Silverman Collection.

Three contemporaries of John Northwood came to America and
were associated closely with the glass industry here. Joseph Locke,
whom we have already mentioned, made many fine cameo pieces.

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CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

Notable are his brooches, plaques, and scent bottles. Frederick
Carder was a master craftsman in the art of cameo, applying the
technique to scent bottles (Plate 28). William O. Bowen, a pupil
of John Northwood, set up shop in South Brooklyn in 1883. Unfor
tunately some of Bowen s work was sold as imported "Northwood"
cameo glass, although it was made from American metal and in
this country. Bowen employed several sculptors and was himself
prolific. They cut small vases, scent bottles, cologne bottles,
brooches, and plaques. The small bottle in the Alexander Silver-
man Collection is believed to be a Bowen bottle.

IMITATIONS OF CAMEO GLASS

Because it was costly, rare, and beautiful, cameo glass was cop
ied. In the real article the cameo is carved from glass and is an
integral part of the vase or box. In the imitation, the cameo is cast
of white china and pasted to a piece of colored glass to achieve the
cameo effect. Careful examination of the place where the cameo
joins the background will reveal the fraud, since the carved cameo
blends almost bevels into the background. A piece of white glass
or china which has been pasted on will show a definite line of de
marcation when scrutinized under a magnifying glass.

The familiar encased silhouettes were also not produced by the
cameo technique. Collectors will see these mounted in old door
knobs, ash trays, paperweights, inkwells, drawer pulls, and tiebacks.
Popular during the middle years of the nineteenth century, they
were made in profusion by the Bakewell company. The material
was china clay and supersilicate of potash, a mixture which could
withstand the 1400 degrees Fahrenheit or the working tempera
ture of the lead metal in which they were encased. The Clinton
silhouette (Plate 43) is an example.

Sometimes colored pink and blue bottles and decanters are found
with clay silhouettes encased in the glass. These pieces have fre
quently been credited to glassmakers in Bristol, England, but since
many are labeled Shrub and shrub was primarily an American drink,
and since our glassmakers were adept in the use of the clay sil-

[78]

PLATE 28

UPPER, LEFT TO RIGHT: Rare pieces of cameo glass. "Yellow-green scent bottle
with fern and butterfly in white cameo, probably by William 0. Bowen-, 1885;
beige glass, cameo cwt, by Locke; blue scent bottle, white overlay, swan s-head
form, by Frederick Carder. LOWER: Head of John Northwood cast by Carder.

(Alexander Silver man)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

houette, it is possible that many so-called Bristol shrub bottles are
American products. Of course, these clay silhouettes should not be
considered as cameo glass since they are not in themselves made of
glass nor are they sculptured.

INTAGLIO CUTTING

Many collectors consider intaglio cutting the finest of all deco
ration for glass. This Italian process, which produces the opposite
effect from cameo carving, is also done with engraving tools and
small copper wheels. Designs are usually left with a dull silvery
grey finish, but intaglio cuttings may also be polished. The finer
the shading in the sculpturing and the greater the precision with
which the parts are cut into one another, the better the piece. The
artistic composition, as well as the execution of the design, is im
portant. The majority of American intaglio cuttings are worthy of
cabinet collections, but some pieces should command higher prices
than others.

Intaglio pieces are not common. Usually they are decorative
objects such as mantel ornaments, candlesticks, sweetmeat jars,
cologne bottles, cigarette, powder, and candy boxes. As with cameo
glass the cost of intaglio was so great that tableware was rarely
cut. The few berry or center bowls, decanters, finger bowls, and
sandwich plates which have appeared are highly valued.

Intaglio work was popular about 1900, particularly the fruit de
signs cut on crystal blanks. These had to be of first quality and
heavy to take the deep incisions. The slender square vase made by
the Fry company (Plate 29) is a fine example of an intaglio cut
ting in which the design is well adapted to glass. The workmanship
is exceptional. The intaglio plate (Plate 29) is a Hawkes piece.
Intaglio cutting was also done by the J. Hoare Company in
Corning and by the L. Straus Company of New York City, but
little of it appeared in America until near the end of the Brilliant
Period. Then cutters adopted the intaglio method in an effort to
save their failing fortunes. Although intaglio was well received, its
popularity was not sufficient to save the cut glass industry.

[80]

PLATE 29

UPPER: Intaglio-cut dish, gold and red paint fired over the design. Dugan
Glass Company/ 1905. (Philadelphia Mus. of Art) LOWER, LEFT: Hawkes
plate cut with intaglio Iris pattern, miter-cut leaves and star. (Smithsonian
Inst.) RIGHT: Intaglio cut vase by H. C. Fry Glass Co. with fine adaptation
of design to form. (Harry C. Fry)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

As with cameo cutting there were no definite patterns for intaglio
work. Each piece was the individual creation of the cutter-designer,
and designs were adapted to the articles on which they were cut.
Usually the decoration was realistic rather than geometric. Some
intaglio cuttings are classed together as fruit, flower, or figure pat
terns, but there are no identifying pattern names.

[82]

CHAPTER VI

COLORED CUT GLASS

RED, blue, violet, green, yellow, and amber pieces of glass made
and cut in America are valued by collectors and are not so
rare as has commonly been believed. But collecting colored cut glass
requires even more knowledge than collecting clear glass and is an
expensive business, if you limit yourself to genuine pieces. In fact,
Czechoslovakia has reproduced the old glass so extensively that
even a pair of rare Pompadour luster candlesticks with sparkling
prisms from the Sandwich Glass Company rather loses distinction
from having been copied so much. There is, however, undeniable
beauty in a collection of colored cut glass. The majority of the
pieces were designed to be ornamental rather than useful, although
a number of bases for whale-oil lamps have been found.

Many pieces were made for the mantel, the sideboard, or the
side table. Vases, mantel and apothecary jars (both with covers)
are prized pieces. Choice decanters can be found in amber, green,
or red, with or without matching wine glasses of one color or of
red with white overlay. A collection of wines and cordials makes a
brilliant cabinet, but the glasses are rare, particularly the early ones.
Some finger bowls in the Lincoln set with green bands and similar
sets with red bands and casings may be found, and a few plates.

Colored and cut perfume bottles, however, were made in profu
sion, particularly at the time of The Centennial Exhibition in 1876.
The earlier ones are, of course, hard to find. They were made of
yellow, amber, and ruby glass at the Boston and Sandwich Glass
Company as early as 1827. During the Middle Period, salve and
powder jars and smelling-salts bottles were also cut.

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

There are four types of colored glass: one color all through,
two or more colors cased together, one color flashed or overlaid
with another, and glass of one color to which a luster stain has
been applied. Of these, cased glass is the finest; cut glass of one
color, the rarest; flashed or overlaid glass the most common; and
stained glass of least value. All four kinds were cut and engraved.

Colored glass was essentially a product of the Middle Period,
although some pieces appeared earlier and later than that time.
Before 1830 the New England Glass Company made red wine
glasses which are interesting because they show the use of etching
during the Early American Period, but it was not until between
1827 and 1830 that Deming Jarves started making a variety of
pot metals for cut glass blanks at the Boston and Sandwich Glass
Company. His colored glass remained preeminent until 1880. How
ever all .the colored glass did not come from Sandwich. Much of it
was made also at Cambridge, Pittsburgh, and Wheeling.

CUT GLASS OF ONE COLOR

Both single Bohemian flint and double lead flint were used for
pieces of one color. Sometimes red glass goblets were mounted on
white glass stems and feet, or yellow pitchers were given either
crystal or opaque white handles. If the body of the vessel is all one
color, the piece is said to be of one color regardless of foot, handle,
stem, cover, or other additions. The amber goblet (Plate 30) is
an example of cut glass of one color. The cutting on such glass is
usually a repetitious use of a simple motif such as bull s-eye, flute,
fringe, flat or nailhead diamonds.

CASED GLASS

Glass with layers of different colors is called cased glass, since
one color actually encases another. Theoretically any number of
casings can be made. Usually but two colors are used, three are
sometimes found, four or five are rare. Only fine metal is used for

PLATE 30

UPPER, LEFT TO RIGHT: Middle Period poblets (i) panel cut (2) amber with
flat diamond (3) blaze with step-cut foot (4) American application of vesica
motif (5) modified rummer. (Author $ Collection) LOWER: Wine glass, New
England Glass Co. Red-gold encased in crystal with crystal stern and foot.
Flute cutting. (Toledo Mu$. of Art)

COLORED CUT GLASS

casing and the best pieces are offhand. The color for the outside
case is blown first to the size and shape of the finished vessel. This
piece is transferred to the pontil and cracked off from the blowpipe.
Then a second gather of another color is made, which in glass of
two casings, becomes the inside color. The second color is blown
into the outer shell until the two blowings are exactly fitted to one
another, or encased. If a third or fourth color is used, the process
continues with each additional color being encased in the one pre
viously blown. The same process is followed when glass is cased in
a paste mold. The outside layer is blown first into the mold and
the inner one blown into it.

Before 1890 it was considered essential for the layers of cased
glass to be of the same nature: lead glass was cased only with lead,
potash only with potash. After 1890 copper ruby was sometimes
cased on a lime glass body. Since lead glass requires less coloring
and has a natural luster lacking in lime glass, the difference in
metals can usually be detected in the varying brilliance of the layers.

The casing of glass requires considerable skill. It is essential that
the different gathers be worked at the same temperature and that
annealing be done with utmost care to avoid splitting. After a
cased piece has been annealed it may be either cut or engraved
(Plate 31). A red-over-crystal or green-over-crystal casing offers
an effective background for the delicate designs of wheel engraving
(Plate 32). Costly pieces involving so much skill in making and
decorating were usually destined for presentation or exhibition
purposes.

FLASHED AND OVERLAY GLASS

In flashing a gather of glass of one color is covered, while hot,
with a thin layer of another color. This double gather is achieved
by dipping the first quickly into the hot metal of the second. The
metal is then worked out on a marver or metal slab and blown and
worked as though it were originally of one piece. In flashed glass
the thin layer is on the outside, whereas in cased glass the two
layers are of almost equal thickness. (When overlay glass is cut,

[8 7 ]

PLATE 3 2

UPPER: Service, with 17. S. coat of arms, ordered by Mrs. Lincoln from Dor-
flirt ger. LOWER, LEFT: Blown, gold-ruby wine glass, 4^. inches, engraved by
Louis Vaupel, New England Glass Co. (Brooklyn Mus) RIGHT: Wine glass,
replacement to Monroe service. Engraved green bowl on crystal stem and foot.
(Both services., White House)

COLORED CUT GLASS

this difference in thickness is easily detected.) In flashed glass the
two layers are actually blown together as a unit, in cased glass one
is blown into the other. Flashing implies the use of glass of differ
ent colors. Casing may be of different colors, but the term is also
used to designate two or more casings of the same color but of
different composition.

Overlay, with which American collectors are familiar, is an appli
cation of the technique of flashing. True overlay originated with
early Bohemian and German workmen and was introduced to Amer
ica at the Boston and Sandwich works. First a gather of glass, either
crystal or colored is made. Then small pieces of a contrasting color
are applied and spread over the surface. Finally the glass is re
heated and the vessel shaped as one piece. This was the method
used for much of the Sandwich overlay in opaque colors (Plate 33).

While flashing and overlay are not technically the same, the
methods are so similar that the terms are often used interchange
ably. In flashing the entire outer surface of a piece is originally
covered with a thin coating of a contrasting color. This is then cut
away, leaving the design; in overlay the outside color is applied in
streaks or patches and worked out from there, the decoration usu
ally being made by cutting on a wheel.

LUSTER-STAINED GLASS

Any of several metallic stains may be applied to cold glass after
it is fashioned and annealed. A luster stain is applied as a varnish
to the inside or outside of the glass which is usually clear and of
indifferent quality, After it is painted the glass is heated in a kiln
to fix the color. Usually a copper luster is used, which stains the
outside red; but purple, green, yellow, or blue may also be ob
tained. The decoration on such pieces usually consists of super
ficial cutting of poor design and careless workmanship. Luster-
stained ware was a cheap imitation of fine cased glass.

[8 9 ]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

METHODS OF COLORING

Glass is colored by the introduction of small amounts of certain
metallic oxides into the clear batch. Manganese in varying quanti
ties produces pink, blue, or purple. Antimony and oxides of cobalt
and copper also produce blue. Iron and carbon turn glass yellow
or amber. Uranium and copper make it green. The intensity and
clarity of color varies with the proportions of the oxides and the
purity of the materials. It was discovered that the character of the
metal also has a bearing on the color. Lime glass, for instance,
requires a stronger agent than lead. Rate of fusion and purity of
ingredients also affect color. Batches that result in fine clear flint
also produce fine colored glass. Each manufacturer had his own
recipes which he guarded carefully, keeping them secret sometimes
even from his superintendent. A simplified color chart is given
below, but it is only suggestive :

Blue glass . . . oxides of cobalt, copper, antimony, and manganese
Yellow glass . . . silver, carbon (coke or anthracite), sulphur, iron,

chromium, and uranium
Green glass . . . chromium, protoxide of copper, protoxide of iron,

uranium, or combination of blue and yellow glass
Violet glass . . . binoxide of manganese, oxide of gold, or a combi
nation of red and blue glass

Red glass . . . oxide of gold or suboxide of copper
Black glass . . . excess of manganese, or iron, or other oxides
Opaque or Opal glass . . . cryolite, fluor spar, feldspar, borax

In the early days it was the practice to melt first a batch of pure
flint. A small quantity of clear glass was dipped out, cooled, and
pulverized. The coloring oxides were added to this powdered glass
and after thorough mixing, the oxides and clear crystal glass were
remelted in the original batch. This laborious method was followed
at the Bakewell and Page plant and at the New England Glass
Company before the formulas of the Leightons came into common
use. The earlier method was tedious and expensive and in reheat-

[90]

PLATE 33

LEFT: Barber-shop bottle, emerald-green with white opaque overlay. Probably
Sandwich. (N.-Y. Hist. Soc.) TOP, RIGHT: Sandwich candleholder, opaque
white over crystal, over sapphire-blue. (Mrs. Lucy E. Marshall) LOWER,
RIGHT : Rare whisky tumbler. Grape design applied in pulverized white glass.
Ne-w England Glass Co., Early American Period. (Toledo Mus. of Art.)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

ing, colors often lost considerable intensity. It is interesting to note
that while the glass recipe book kept by Thomas Leighton and his
son John is still intact, its contents are the secret of the Leighton
descendants.

The formulas used at Sandwich, for amber, gold, blue, opal,
crystal, white, and Pompadour or pink enamel had been devised by
George L. Fessenden and William E. Kern. In a series of articles in
the Glass Industry Magazine for 1936, these formulas are dis
cussed by the eminent authority, Dr. Alexander Silverman. He had
known Kern, who was a gaffer at Boston and Sandwich Co. from
1852 until 1867. According to Dr. Silverman, the Fessenden amber
used nutgall as an agent: "Nutgall is the gall from young twigs of
certain plants which grow in Syria and Turkey. The accumulation
on the twigs is caused by eggs which are deposited by insects. The
excretion contains two to four percent of gallic acid and fifty to
sixty percent of tannic acid." Such an analysis indicates to what
lengths the glassmen of the Middle Period went to secure the right
coloring agent for their batches.

The Kern formula for the familiar olive-green employed uranium
and green chrome. Lamps were frequently made of this green glass
combined with an opaque casing or overlay. Such pieces may be
later than 1867 but usually they date from 1850 to 1866. The
canary-yellow and yellow enamel overlay pieces were Fessenden
colors used at Sandwich between 1866 and 1885.

RUBY GLASS

Red or ruby glass has long been a favorite with collectors, and
many recipes were used to produce the various types the blood-
ruby for casing lead glass; copper-ruby, pot and gold-ruby for
casing French flint without lead; and gold-ruby for casing the best
English lead flint. Gold-ruby is brighter than copper-ruby, which
absorbs light. The copper has a purplish cast while the gold is more
scarlet than crimson (Plate 33).

There is a story told of the Leighton boy who on his way to the
glasshouse stopped each morning at the bank to pick up twenty-

[92]

COLORED CUT GLASS

dollar gold pieces to throw into the batch. Of course, the process
of obtaining ruby-glass was not so spectacular. The first Leighton
recipe appears in the books of the New England Glass Company
for 1848, but red glass was made at Cambridge long before that
time, the earlier pieces being copper-ruby, the later ones gold-ruby.
The opaque Pompadour pink enamel so popular at Sandwich for
use on luster candlesticks was made with gold and oxide of tin. The
champagne glass from the author s collection (Plate 4) is an excel
lent example of gold-ruby flashing.

QUALITY OF COLORED CUT GLASS

Pieces of colored cut glass are first judged in the same way as
pieces of clear cut glass. Are they heavy, brilliant in the light, and
are the patterns sharp to the touch? Do the open pieces ring when
struck? If the glass passes these primary tests of fine lead quality,
it should then be scrutinized for clarity of color.

Lead glass takes a more brilliant hue than glass of any other
composition. When different colors of lead glass are cased, the
result is a piece of first quality. Value increases with the number
of casings, and is also affected by the craftsmanship revealed In the
cutting or engraving. Cased glass is, of course, worth more than
stained glass. If you are in doubt as to whether a piece has been
cased or stained, examine the bevel edges left by the cutter s wheel.
Notice the bleeding of one color into another. Bleeding is proof of
casing or heavy flashing and reveals thickness of layers. Glass
stained with a luster has a flat tone. Any cutting shows a definite edge,
a straight line, since the luster is of minute thickness and does not
bevel out under the wheel. Luster staining on old pieces will show
signs of wear not to be confused with indications of poor work
manship. Actually very little stained glass was cut in America.
Almost all stained cut glass was made in Bohemia, but pressed
stained glass was made in America.

Evidence of surface gilding on a fine piece of cut glass does not
detract from value. Gilding was fashionable during the middle
years of the nineteenth century. When the heat in the kiln was not

[93]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

sufficient to fix the gilt paint, it wore off with the years. Traces of
gilding are usually indications of age and authenticity.

MAKERS OF FINE COLORED CUT GLASS

Colored cut glass from the Brilliant Period is rare, although
some was made in Pennsylvania by the Phoenix Glass Company at
Monaca (largest producer 1880 to 1890), by C. Dorflinger & Sons
at White Mills, and by Gillinder & Sons of Philadelphia.

During the Middle Period many houses produced fine colored
cut ware, but the following companies manufactured it in quantity :

Bakewell, Page and Bakewell Company, Pittsburgh, Penn
sylvania

Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, Sandwich, Massachu
setts

Brooklyn Flint Glass Works, Brooklyn, New York
Cape Cod Glass Company, Sandwich, Massachusetts
C. Dorflinger & Sons, White Mills, Pennsylvania
Fort Pitt Glass Works, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Hobbs, Barnes & Company, Wheeling, West Virginia
Jersey City Flint Glassworks, Jersey City, New Jersey
Joseph Stouvenel & Company, New York City, New York
Mulvaney and Ledlie Glass Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsyl
vania
New England Glass Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts

[94]

CHAPTER VII

o o o o o o o o -o -o o -o &lt;&gt; -o- &lt;&gt; -o o o- -o- -o- o o

ENGLISH, IRISH, OR AMERICAN?

IN THE years that I have been collecting Early American cut glass,
I have found but two pieces of English and three of Irish, al
though I have examined thousands of items not previously identified
in catalogued collections. It is true that many of the pieces were
represented as English or Irish, but further investigation proved
them to be unmistakably American. Mr. Westropp, formerly of the
National Museum of Dublin, reports similar experience. In an
examination of a hundred or more photographs of glass identified
in American collections as English or Irish, he found only two
pieces that might possibly have been made in his country. All others
he declared were not Anglo-Irish.

Even before 1830 our production of cut glass was far greater
than that of either England or Ireland. And our wares stayed at
home because of the ready market here and also because of the
prohibitive foreign duties. In view of the established facts of do
mestic production and of the foreign records of exportations, it
appears conclusive that any piece of cut glass known to have been
in this country before 1830 can be accepted as American until
proved to be English or Irish.

The possibility of English origin is particularly remote. Single
pieces, either family heirlooms or gifts, were doubtless brought to
this country from England by individuals. Today these pieces are
usually documented by family records and are thus catalogued in
private collections or in museums. In the last twenty-five years some
antique English cut glass has been imported duty free under the
customs exemption for commodities made before 1830. Such glass

[95]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

is generally expensive and so expertly catalogued that it is unlikely
to confuse the collector of Early American cut glass.

According to Mr. W. A. Thorpe, curator in the Victoria and
Albert Museum in London and a foremost authority on English
glass, almost no English cut glass was exported to the Americas. It
went instead to the Continent. This left the glass export trade to
the West solely to the Irish, who were politically more compatible
with their American customers.

IRISH EXPORTS AND AMERICAN PRODUCTION

American records of imports before 1827 are unreliable, but the
Irish export figures were carefully kept. These figures, compared
with our records of production, indicate that before 1830 three
times as much cut glass was made in America as was imported from
Ireland. The Irish export figures which establish this ratio are those
recorded by Mr. Westropp in his book, Irish Glass. Figures on
American manufacture have been taken from contemporaneous sta
tistics. There are, of course, no completely accurate figures for the
Early American Period. At the time, many manufacturers did not
report their production. Some reported but did not classify their
products as tableware, cut, or plain. Furthermore, industry was
scattered and communication difficult so that many houses doubt
less did a thriving business of which we have at present no knowl
edge. If information comes to light on more manufacturers who
were cutting glass before 1830, the ratio of three to one in favor
of American origin may conceivably be doubled or even tripled.

In any case we do know that from 1809 to 1812 no glass entered
our ports legally, that after 1830 very little was imported because
of the increased tariffs, and that twenty years later Irish glass*
houses ceased to operate.

The first Irish customhouse record of Irish glass export to
America is dated 1784 when 1,200 tumblers were shipped to Phila
delphia and 5,136 to the Carolinas. In 1785 more glassware (not
tumblers or bottles) was exported to the value of 204/10$. In
1786 the factories of Waterford shipped 215 and other Irish

[96]

ENGLISH, IRISH, OR AMERICAN?

houses 28 worth. In 1787 some 1,200 tumblers were sent to New
York City and 8,240 more in 1788. The following year New Eng
land, presumably Boston, imported 4,416 Irish tumblers. Appar
ently very little glassware other than tumblers was shipped before
1790. At the end of the ten-year period, 1784 to 1793, before any
effective tariff measure had been adopted here, Ireland had sent
88,684 tumblers to Pennsylvania; almost as many to New York;
66,871 to New England; approximately 5,000 to the Carolinas
247,231 in all. The total value of other glassware for this ten-year
period was 6,877, or approximately $30,908.26 at the then current
rate of exchange.

In the next ten years from 1794 to 1803, New York imported
almost twice as many tumblers as all other states during the pre
vious ten years. The value of glassware (other than tumblers and
bottles) imported from Ireland from 1794 to 1803 was within a
hundred pounds of the figure for the previous ten years, or 6,978.
But the total number of tumblers imported soared to over a million
and a half. Not an inconsiderable number of tumblers ! However,
when we consider their mortality and compare this figure with that
of the Rochester Tumbler Company, whose output less than fifty
years ago was two million tumblers every two weeks (of which
only a very few survive), we can be sure that the chance of any
considerable number of Irish tumblers from this ten-year period
lasting through the intervening one hundred and forty years is, to
say the least, remote.

By 1810 our manufacturers were in active competition with the
Irish importers. No drinking glasses were shipped that year to
Pennsylvania or to New England although New York imported
205,200, the Carolinas, 144,414, and Maryland, 20,160. The total
value of other glassware imported from Ireland in 1810 was
4,932. The same year the Pittsburgh glassworks produced lead
glass to the value of $30,000, and American dominance of the
industry had begun.

After the War of 1812 fewer tumblers and more glassware of
other types were imported. For American manufacturers the three
"bad" years of which contemporary critics complained editorially
were 1815, 1816, and 1817, when Irish and English manufacturers

[97]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

were sending shiploads of merchandise into America from stocks
built up during the war. Irish export figures show that cut glass was
a large item in Ireland s bid for American trade. In 1815 we im
ported 577 tumblers and 7,774 worth of other glassware; in 1816,
4,320 tumblers and 27,962 worth of glassware; in 1817 only
i, 600 tumblers and 22,991 worth of other pieces. In 1818 no
drinking glasses were imported and the value of other glassware
was only 20,651. (See Appendix VI for the complete Irish Export
Chart.)

Upon such slender figures as these has grown the legend that all
old cut glass found in America is Waterford. As Mr. Westropp
says in Irish Glass, "It seems curious that out of the vast quantities
of old Irish glass that has been broken, such a very large amount
of the Waterford glass should have escaped destruction! 7 And in a
recent letter to the author he comments, "The important thing to
remember regarding genuine Irish glass is that it is rare anywhere,
even in Ireland."

Over a longer span (1812 to 1822) the total imports as shown
on the Irish Export Chart were approximately 132,000, not in
cluding drinking glasses and bottles. Although this is not such a
tremendous amount it sufficed to frighten American glassmakers
into taking measures to check Irish competition. In 1827 our tariff
laws became effective, manufacturers breathed easily once more,
built new chimneys, and imported additional workmen from Eng
land and Ireland.

However, even during the earlier lean days our records indicate
that American manufacturers of fine cut ware produced more than
the three-to-one ratio shown by exporters invoices. Using the base
total (in round numbers) of 132,000 from the Irish Export Chart
and allowing the rate of exchange then current of $4.45 per , we
find that the value of the imports over the ten-year period, 1812
1822, would be approximately $587,400.

Meanwhile in America, Pittsburgh makers alone produced $i 10,-
ooo worth in 1817. The New England Glass Company s output was
$65,000 in 1818. The Hamilton works at Albany, New York, were
also in production until 1815, Isaac Duval made fine decanters in
Wellsburg, Virginia, after 1813. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft was

[98]

ENGLISH, IRISH, OR AMERICAN?

making cut glass whisky tumblers at Lake Dunmore, Vermont, at
approximately the same time. The Fisher brothers and John Gilli-
land produced fine glass in New York City for the last two years of
the period, and the South Boston Crown Glass Company was still
in operation. For these several glasshouses an estimated annual pro
duction of $25,000 is most conservative. If we add this low esti
mate to the larger known figures, we find that America s average
annual production of cut glass from 1812 to 1822 may easily be
reckoned in excess of $200,000.

The Irish figures include exports to the Indies, Nova Scotia, and
Newfoundland. Even so, the average annual export value in dollars
would be roughly $58,740, or considerably less than one-third the
value of cut glass that we know was produced in this country. We
can conservatively conclude, therefore, that pieces of early cut glass
found here are three times as likely to be American in origin as
Irish.

DIFFERENCES IN COLOR

In the color or tinct lies the main difference between Irish and
American glass. Tinct in clear lead glass results either from impuri
ties in the sand or other ingredients, faulty fusion of materials, or
lack of balance in the ingredients. English or Irish glass is assumed
to be clear glass unless otherwise specified. Colored glass pieces
red, blue, yellow, cased, flashed, or stained were Continental inno
vations. Colored glass was never made in any appreciable quantity
in either England or Ireland until after 1 830.

Early American cut glass is clearer than either Irish or English.
Our sands contained fewer impurities than those available to Irish
manufacturers and so required less manganese in the batch as de
colorizing agent. When glass of high manganese content is exposed
to sunlight for a period of years it takes on the blue tinct known as
high color.

On the other hand, glass fired by a slow uneven fire becomes a
victim of slow fusion and ages down to grey or is said to take dark
color. Because American glasshouses adapted coal to the furnaces

[99]

PLATE 34

UPPER: Oval, cut glass compote, 8 inches high, late eighteenth century, Irish,

probably Waterford, slightly blue-white. (Mrs. Henry R. Rea) LOWER:

Typical American compote. Round, g-inch diameter, crystal-clear, leaf border,

no cutting on stem. About same period, Bakewell, 1825. (Carnegie Mus.)

ENGLISH, IRISH, OR AMERICAN?

early in the nineteenth century fusion was rapid enough, along with
our clean sand, to produce crystal-clear glass of good color. It is
true that some of our early lead glass does age up to blue or down
to grey, and some even shows characteristic lead striae; but it is
generally and predominantly clearer than Irish glass of the same
period. As Mr. Westropp remarks in Irish Glass, "Most of the
Irish glass has a rather dark color . . . genuine Waterford glass is
decidedly the whitest [i.e. clearest ed.] of the later Irish glass.
The idea has long existed that Waterford glass is always to be
known by its dark or bluish tint, but every piece of genuine Water-
ford glass that I have seen has no trace of dark tint. Waterford
glass will not have the same whiteness and brilliancy as modern
cut glass, but compared with other contemporary Irish glass, it
appears white."

DIFFERENCES IN WEIGHT AND FORM

Early American pieces are generally of lighter weight metal and
consequently of more graceful form than Irish pieces, and they
rarely have the turned lip so often seen on Irish compotes and
bowls. Two compotes of almost identical date illustrate these dif
ferences (Plate 34). The round Bakewell piece is deeply cut in
the English Strawberry-Diamond pattern. It has a hand-made foot.
The color has greyed only slightly with age and striae are visible.
The Irish piece has a curved flat-prism cutting, sometimes called an
inverted arch, combined with perpendicular blazes. The shape is
oval, which is typical of Irish footed bowls or compotes, and the
foot has been molded and then cut over, also characteristic of Irish
pieces. It is blue-white and looks solid and heavy; beside it the
American piece appears light and graceful. Although both pieces
are made of metal of high lead content and both ring well, it is
difficult to see how their national identities could be confused.

[101]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

DIFFERENCES IN QUALITY

There are, of course, many fine family pieces of English and
Irish glass in private collections and museums in America, but on
the whole those of which Mr. Westropp speaks in the text support
ing the Irish Export Chart were not of first quality glass. In fact,
the finer pieces of early cut glass found in this country are more
likely to be American; the pieces of cheaper quality lead metal with
scratched decoration can usually be identified as part of the Irish
export shipments. Deming Jarves makes this point clear in his
Reminiscences of Glass Making when he refers to these same ex
ports from Ireland.

"At that time [before 1812] the articles of flint glass imported
by the earthenware trade were confined to a very few articles, such
as German straw tumblers, cruets, salts, and plain decanters of
cheap fabric; of the finer articles, to cut finger tumblers, sham
diamond-cut dishes, and Rodney decanters; a quality of glass and
cutting that would not at the present day command one-fifth of
their then cost." What Jarves refers to as a German straw tumbler
is a goblet with a stem; a finger tumbler is a short, wide-bottomed,
six-ounce whisky tumbler; sham diamond cutting refers to the con
cave diamond known in England as the flat-relief diamond; Rodney
decanters are those sturdy everyday decanters with mushroom tops,
no neck rings, and broad flat bottoms, which were in common use
in taverns, inns, and on shipboard. These articles of glassware did
not compare favorably with the deeply cut, fine glass tableware
being made contemporaneously in America.

DIFFERENCES IN MOTIF

Early American glass, with the exception of that produced by
manufacturers of German apprenticeship, copied the lead glass of
England and Ireland. This was natural since manufacturers, crafts
men, and customers were predominantly British. The cutting fol
lowed the English and Irish system of motifs, hence the erroneous

[ 102]

ENGLISH, IRISH, OR AMERICAN?

assumption that all glass cut with the English strawberry-diamond,
fringe, or flute motif was of English or Irish origin. The most
important single motif used in Irish glass of the early nineteenth
century was the large double-cut diamond, known as the English
Strawberry-Diamond (Plate 35). In English glass it appears in
narrow zones or horizontal chains of diamonds. In Irish glass, par
ticularly frorrpCork, it was combined with chains of vesica-shaped
curves.

English and Irish patterns often partition the design, and by
1830 it appears overcrowded with a tendency toward miniature
cutting of the old motifs. In America this trend did not appear.
Cutters took the English strawberry-diamond, the blaze (which we
call fringe), and the nailhead-diamond motifs and worked them
into patterns to please themselves. Although the English continued
with the miniature treatment until 1851, generally using the same
motifs and the same application of pattern, America had changed
styles completely by 1830.

The vesica motif was used extensively in Irish glass, almost
never in American cutting. The large lozenge-shaped panel typical
of Cork glass was copied extensively by American cutters but in
combination with other motifs like the pillar and flute. The arched
cutting, the pendent semicircles of fine diamonds, the inverted arch,
sometimes called swag (Plate 36), with star and splits were favo
rite designs in Irish factories, but rare in American.

Where American cutters used the flat-panel cuttings they applied
them to band designs such as combinations of the Saint Louis (con
cave diamond) cutting with fish-scale motifs and with large squares.
The claret-pitcher (Plate 24) illustrates panel cutting as used in
America. This piece is believed to be from the glassworks estab
lished by George Dummer in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1824. It
is of good color and a heavier metal than was used by Pittsburgh
or Boston glasshouses of the same period. The small dish (Plate
10) shows the American use of the diamond band. It was made at
the New England Glass Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
about 1818.

The decanter (Plate 35) shows the kugel, a polished circle about
half an inch in diameter. The kugel is perhaps the most character-

[ 103]

PLATE 35

UPPER, LEFT: Madeira decanter, probably Waterford. CENTER: American
decanter, Kensington works. RIGHT: American, BakewelL LOWER: American
compote, English strawberry-diamond motif. Presented to Washington by
George Mason. Probably Kensington, about ijgo. (Bakewell decanter,
Harry C. Fry; other pieces, Mount Vernon Ladies Assn.)

PLATE 36

UPPER: Boat-shaped bowls on molded stems, Irish, early nineteenth century.
(Metropolitan Mus. of Art) LOWER: Boat-shaped bowl cut in leaf and swag
motifs. Molded foot. Irish, late eighteenth century. (Mrs. Henry R. Rea)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

istic motif of early Bohemian and German cutting; it rarely appears
on early English pieces. Later the figure was used on English and
Irish glass and was known as the roundelet, puntie, or printie.
German cutters used this round figure extensively on American
pieces, combining it with the partitions and strawberry-diamond
bands pleasing to their English employers. This decanter is the
work of one of the Eichbaums, either Peter William or Arnold,
who, as his father s student, used the kugel extensively. The motif
became very popular in America and was later known as the Bull s-
Eye.

To sum up, it is well to remember that there is almost no early
English glass in America which has not already been catalogued,
or imported in recent years, and that Irish glass, while more plenti
ful than English, is rare. (See Plate 36.) Anglo-Irish and American
glass made before 1830 are alike in essential ingredients of metals
and types of wheel cutting, but pieces differ individually in quality,
color and use of pattern motifs. If collectors of American cut glass
will become familiar with the authenticated pieces of Anglo-Irish
glass in art galleries and museums, they will be less likely to confuse
our own fine cut glass with that of another country.

[106]

CHAPTER VIII

o- -o- -o- o -o- -o- -o &lt;&gt; &lt;&gt; o -o o

EARLY AMERICAN PERIOD, 1771-1830

THE Early American Period is the most interesting to many
collectors since it presents challenging problems of identifica
tion. The pieces have particular appeal because of the indomitable
personalities of their makers who worked at a time of fierce com
petition with English and Irish rivals. Collectors treasure them as
examples of a craft in which our country excelled very early.

Although there is considerable evidence that glass was made and
cut in America before 1771, there are no records before that year
and no specimens of cut glass known to have been made earlier. We
must therefore start the chronology of American cut glass with the
output of the Stiegel glassworks at Manheim, Pennsylvania, in
1771. Later perhaps cut glass of both potash and lead formulas
will be found dating back to the middle of the eighteenth century.
Such glass may come from the first Philadelphia glasshouse, com
monly called The North Liberties Glass House.

Meanwhile, the Early American Period begins in 1771 and
closes in 1830 with the Federal tariff restrictions against imported
glass and the subsequent boom in domestic glass manufacture. This
coincides with the beginning of a national reaction against foreign
styles in decoration and the resulting development of American
design.

TYPES OF EARLY AMERICAN CUT GLASS

There are two kinds of early American cut glass. This is not true
in the later periods. The early glass may be thin, Bohemian or

[107]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

German flint, or it may be the so-called double-flint or heavy
English lead glass.

The Bohemian flint has some resonance, but it is not at all like
the heavier English lead glass. Bohemian flint is usually not as good
color as lead glass. It will not take deep cutting but it has been used
successfully for wheel scratching and engraving. Stiegel glass was
made from a formula combining the techniques of t both German
and English glassmakers. It was definitely a potash glass, but it
contained some lead although not enough to make it a true English
lead glass. Amelung glass was Bohemian flint of the soda barilla
type, a trait that accounts for its lighter weight.

Other Philadelphia and Baltimore companies making glass of
potash formula adhered more strictly to Bohemian-German tradi
tions. One collector told me that he had a rule of thumb for identi
fying Early American glass: "If it isn t as light as Amelung and
isn t as heavy as Stiegel, then it must be either Philadelphia or
Baltimore." This is neither infallible nor scientific, but it is a prac
tical guide for a beginner.

English flint or lead glass was the standard American metal used
for the cut glass with which we are familiar. It was used in Phila
delphia before 1800, and after 1830 almost all American cut ware
was of lead glass. Not all early lead glass was blown in double-flint
thickness, however. Bakewell s, George Robinson s, and other early
glasshouses such as those of Trevor and Ensell of Pittsburgh, the
Johnson works in Maryland, and Vermont and New York glass
houses with which Henry Rowe Schoolcraft was associated, blew
thinner pieces which they nevertheless cut on miter and panel wheels.
These pieces have the characteristic ring of true lead glass.

COLOR AND PATTERNS

Early American cut glass may be considered to be clear crystal
unless otherwise specified. Although some colored glass was manu
factured toward the end of the period such as that credited to
Isaac Duval of Wellsburg, Virginia (later West Virginia), or
Jarves of Sandwich, Massachusetts these colored pieces were not

[108]

THE EARLY AMERICAN PERIOD, 1771-1830

commonly cut but were blown and decorated offhand. Colored cut
glass is principally a product of the Middle Period.

Generally the metal of the early glass is of good quality, although
some of it will show bubbles, also striae due to high lead content.
While the American metal is clearer than that of foreign glass, it
still has a mellow r ness that shades to silver or grey in the shadows.
It is not of the same luster as glass of later periods. This greying
down is due to age, impurities in the ingredients, and poor condi
tions of fusing prevailing before 1830.

The patterns resemble the English and Irish, but they are ap
plied in a way that is distinctly American. The frequent use of the
roundelet or kugel on Pittsburgh pieces of this period, the single
star made with parallel miter splits on the bottoms of articles made
by the Dummer brothers, and the panel curves and crosshatched
fields of the New England Glass Company, are indications of
American originality in adapting foreign patterns. The shapes of
vessels for this period also indicate a creative attitude. The pieces
are hand polished on wooden wheels so that they have a soft luster
quite different from the later brilliance obtained by wheel polishing
at high speeds or by acid baths.

While the value of glass from the Brilliant Period can be fairly
well reckoned by multiplying the price in 1880 or 1900 by three, no
such evaluation is possible for cut glass of the Early American
Period. Pieces are rare, which adds considerably to value, and they
are irreplaceable defying duplication.

We have at this point records (see Appendix V) of over thirty
glasshouses that were in production during the Early American
Period. Undoubtedly others may be discovered as time goes on and
research continues. Only a listing can be made of many glasshouses
of this period since no example of their cut glass has been identified.
In the case of Stiegel, Amelung, Bakewell, and the New England
Glass Company, however, there are a number of well-documented
pieces. The important houses from which we have either tangible
evidence of work or important clues to output are discussed below.

[ 109]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

STIEGEL S MANHEIM GLASS WORKS, 1771-7774

According to current records, the first American cut glass was
made at the American Flint Glass Manufactory where, between
1771 and 1774, workmen were scratching leaves, birds, and flowers
on the quite unique Stiegel metal. Many collectors are familiar with
the texture, color, and patterns of this glass. During the three years
that the works were in operation they turned out a quantity of
exceptionally interesting pieces which do not fit usual classifications
of American glass.

Stiegel himself knew little of the technicalities of manufacture.
He hired workers from England, Ireland, Italy, Germany, and
Bohemia, and the glass produced by these men combines their vari
ous traditions. Stiegel glass is a Bohemian flint, relatively thin. Cut
and engraved pieces are usually clear, of low color tending to grey.
The metal does, however, contain some lead which Bohemian flint
customarily does not. The decoration of tulips and birds is German
rather than English, and the flips and case bottles often follow
English forms. Other Manheim pieces are of the Italian school of
handblown decoration. The finest Stiegel cuttings were made by
Lazarus Isaacs of Philadelphia, who worked at Manheim from
June, 1773, until the closing of the factory in 1774.

Stiegel workmen used engraving and diamond-point scratching in
their decorations. Many pieces have a diamond-engraved mark, a
letter, or a series of two or three letters cut into the glass, an indi
cation of true Stiegel, although not all Stiegel pieces have such
marks.

The primary authority on Stiegel glass is Frederick William
Hunter, whose book, Stiegel Glass, was privately printed in 1914.
This book is rare but is available in the art rooms of most libraries.
Hunter lists fourteen basic motifs for Stiegel glass. (See Appendix
III.) Several of the more common Stiegel patterns are illustrated
(Plates 37 and 38).

[no]

PLATE 37

Stiegel engravings. UPPER, LEFT: Bottle with tulip pattern (Hunter, Type
III). CENTER: Flip (Hunter, Type III). RIGHT: Covered flip, engraved with
flower spray (Hunter XI). LOWER, LEFT: Bottle, engraved with two-handled
basket containing plant (Hunter, Type VIII). RIGHT: Wine glass (Hunter,
Type XIII). (Metropolitan Mus. of Art)

PLATE 38

UPPER: Stuff el pieces. LEFT: Flip with flower. RIGHT: Mug with handle ,
engraved with love birds and heart enclosed in sunburst (Hunter, Type X).
(Metropolitan Mus. of Art) LOWER: Pickle dish with crude G.W. on base,
used at Mount Vernon in Washington s time. (Side view, Plate 12.) Probably
cut 1772 to 1775 at Kensington works* (Mount Vernon Ladies Assn.)

THE EARLY AMERICAN PERIOD, 1771-1830

PHILADELPHIA GLASSHOUSES

There were at least three manufacturers of tableware in the
Philadelphia district during the early period. The Northern Lib
erties Glass Facture (later sometimes called the Kensington works,
though not to be confused with Elliotts Kensington Glass Works)
advertised in 1772 for broken flint glass or cullet and for workmen.
Some authorities believe that this house dates back to 1691. It was
probably purchased in 1820 by a group of workmen from the New
England Glass Company, who about that time established the
Union Glass Company for the manufacture of fine flint ware.

The Kensington Glass Works was owned by John Elliott and
Company of Philadelphia. The Elliott brothers and their associate,
Isaac Gray, probably produced glass of double flint similar to that
being made in England. The pickle dish and custard cups from the
Mount Vernon Collection (Plates 38, 39) may possibly have been
made by the Elliotts. The metal is clear and of good color. The
cutting follows Irish motifs but the shapes are distinctly American.

The third Philadelphia glasshouse was believed to have been
founded about 1780 by Robert Morris and John Nicholson who
erected kilns and other buildings on the west bank of the Schuylkill
River below the bridge near the falls of the Schuylkill. This is
where Eichbaum was first employed on escaping to this country. It
is believed that the works were situated at the falls to obtain water
power for turning lathes. Since Eichbaum was primarily a cutter
and not well versed in manufacture, it is likely that the Schuylkill
Glass Works used a simple potash formula similar to that of
Stiegel s, except that it contained no lead. Many decanters accred
ited to Amelung and similar to those on Plate 40 were probably
made either at Northern Liberties or at Schuylkill Glass Works.

AMELUNG S NEW BREMEN GLASS WORKS
AT FREDERICK-TOWN

Amelung, like Stiegel, was German. His conception of flint glass
was Bohemian glass, but he was a skilled artisan who followed his

PLATE 39

UPPER: Syllabub glasses from Mount Vernon. Stemmed cups with diamond
band } probably 18251830, Pittsburgh. Cup on right probably by Isaac Gray
at Elliott works in Kensington* late eighteenth century, LOWER: Sweetmeat
glasses, probably Philadelphia, late eighteenth century. (Mount Vernon

Ladies Assn*)

PLATE 40

Amelung decanters. Non-lead metal,, low color in thicker parts. Flute cutting

around botto?n. Swag and rose design. Shape similar to that of more common

Rodney decanters of the same period f late eighteenth century. Original

stoppers. (Mrs. Adolph W. Schmidt)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

own formulas. Amelung glass is noticeably light in weight and is
generally of better color than Stiegel. Only the decoration is simi
lar, the same light-wheel engravings suited to Bohemian flint.

There are two kinds of Amelung glass, both rare. One is exem
plified by the fine chalice, the other in the more common commer
cial Rodney decanter on Plate 41.

Amelung came to Maryland from Germany about 1784 and
established the New Bremen Glass Works at Frederick-town in
Maryland. There he set up a fine village with schools for the chil
dren. His glassworks are an important link in the history of Amer
ican cut glass. Some of his workmen came from Stiegel s glasshouse,
and later, after Amelung s failure, went West, thus continuing the
early tradition in glassware manufacture.

Amelung was one of the first to plead for protective tariff, and
he was tireless in his efforts to promote home industry. He earned
the respect of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Pennsylva
nia s Governor Thomas Mifflin, and Charles Carroll, an early
Maryland statesman, who spoke in defense of Amelung and his
Frederick-town glasshouse in the first Congressional debates on
taxation.

Amelung failed and in 1796 the fires at the New Bremen Glass
Works were drawn. But the plant was not a complete loss until
1 804, when it was sold at receiver s sale. Young Frederick Amelung,
who had worked with his father, then became an employee of
James O Hara in Pittsburgh.

GLASSWORKS AT PITTSBURGH

Col. James O Hara established the first glassworks west of the
Alleghany Mountains in 1795, for the manufacture of porter
bottles. The project was not successful and the works were soon
torn down. The following year, however, O Hara entered into
partnership with Isaac Craig for the manufacture of green glass
and built a new glasshouse across the river from Pittsburgh at Coal
Hill, producing the first bottle at the new works in 1797. I n 1800
he employed William Price, an English workman, to manufacture

[116]

PLATE 41

UPPER, LEFT TO RIGHT: Rodney decanter with Saint Louis neck, celery vase,
stemmed champagne glass, all cut in Early American Period. (Dr. Florence
Kline) LOWER, LEFT: Chalice, engraved with arms of Pennsylvania. Amelung,
17841796. RIGHT: Rodney decanter, concave diamond or Saint Louis neck,
attributed to Philadelphia, late eighteenth century. (Metropolitan Mus. of Art.)

PLATE 42

UPPER: Whisky tumblers and brandy glasses. Probably early Philadelphia
glass, similar to Amelung. (Dr. Florence Kline) LOWER, LEFT: Only authen
tic pieces of clear tableware by James O Hara, "Pittsburg" works, 1800.
Flute cut. (Hist. Soc. of W. Penna.) RIGHT: Wine glass cut in Philadelphia
for Washington. (Smithsonian Inst.)

PLATE 43

UPPER: Rare tumbler with clay silhouette of De Witt Clinton. Made by
Bakewell while his hero was governor of New York and had hopes of presi
dency in 1829. (N.-Y. Hist. Soc.) LOWER: Typical Bakewell glassware of the
same period with English strawberry-diamond motif. (Dr. Florence Kline)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

cut glass at the Pittsburgh Glass Works. Only three pieces of
O Hara tableware are authenticated (Plate 42). Other pieces, ac
cording to the O Hara letters, were sold to taverns and inns along
the National and Philadelphia pikes. After Benjamin Bakewell en
tered the lead glass field in Pittsburgh, O Hara discontinued the
manufacture of tableware.

In 1807 George Robinson and Edward Ensell built the first
closed-pot furnace for the making of flint glass in Pittsburgh. They
were in partial production when Benjamin Bakewell, an Englishman
whose importing business had failed in New York following the
Jefferson embargo, came to Pittsburgh and bought out Robinson s
interest. A year later he also bought Ensell s share and the firm
name was changed to B. Bakewell and Company. It was controlled
by the Bakewell, Page, and Pears families until 1882.

Until around 1850 Bakewell s was one of the leading manufac
turers of lead cut glass in the country. The metal was clear and
bright, although thinner than that made by the New England Glass
Company, the Elliotts, or the Dummer brothers. Cuttings usually
followed English and Irish patterns with emphasis on the English
strawberry-diamond and similar crosshatching. Due to the great
influence of the Eichbaum family (by now proprietors of their own
cutting shop) on the apprentice cutters at BakewelPs, German
motifs such as the kugel cutting were also much used { Plate 43 ) .

After he had been bought out by Bakewell, Edward Ensell joined
forces with Frederick Wendt, who had worked with Eichbaum at
O Hara s glassworks in Pittsburgh, to form the Pennsylvania Flint
Glass Works. This company, which was in operation at Pittsburgh
under a succession of different partners from 1810 to 1895, made
lead glass handblown into interesting shapes. The metal was thin
and the decoration followed the German style of wheel engraving.
Designs were left unpolished. Probable examples of Pennsylvania
Flint Glass Works tableware are shown on Plate 44.

John Robinson, a gentleman glassmaker of Stourbridge, Eng
land, came to America at the suggestion of the Bakeweli family
who had offered him an interest in their booming glass business.
However, on his arrival the arrangements were not agreeable to

[120]

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PLATE 45

LEFT: Authenticated decanter from Stourbridge works, 1823. Unusual short
pillar ^cutting and horizontal pillars around neck. (Misses M. and E* Wight-
man.)" UPPER, RIGHT: Whisky tumbler with polished flute cutting. LOWER,
RIGHT: Decanter of heavy metal and fine pillar cutting &gt; probably Stourbridge,
(Philadelphia Mus. of Art)

THE EARLY AMERICAN PERIOD, 1771-1830

Robinson who organized his own company and went into production
in 1823 under the firm name of the Stourbridge Flint Glass Works.
The company was never large and was not rebuilt after the great
Pittsburgh fire of 1845, but the heavy glass produced here is of
interest to collectors because of its exquisite quality and precision of
cutting. The decanter on Plate 45 is an authenticated piece of Robin
son glass; note the use of pillars and half pillars, a distinctive Stour
bridge motif in American glass of this period.

NEW ENGLAND GLASS COMPANIES

Deming Jarves credits Thomas Caines with introducing the man
ufacture of lead glass into New England. In 1812 Caines induced
the proprietors of the South Boston Crown Glass Company, of
which he was superintendent, to erect a six-pot furnace in part of
their large unoccupied manufactory in South Boston. Their output
was probably much the same as that known to have been made
later by the New England Glass Company at Cambridge and the
Boston and Sandwich Glass Company at Sandwich.

About this time Samuel Swift, Epaphras Jones, and Milo Cook
obtained the exclusive right to manufacture clear flint glass in Ver
mont and hired Henry Rowe Schoolcraft as technical advisor.
Schoolcraft built a glasshouse at Salisbury, Vermont, where he was
superintendent until the winter of 1814, when he went to Keene,
New Hampshire. He made all kinds of decanters, tumblers, and
wine glasses at the Vermont Glass Factory. His pieces were flute or
fringe cut with deeply ground-out bottoms.

The New England Glass Company, organized by Deming Jarves
and his associates at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1817 had the
longest continuous history of any glass company in America. It was
in production under the same name until 1888 and its successor, the
Libbey Glass Company, is still in business. Generally pieces from
the New England Glass Company are heavier than Bakewell glass
and are cut in solid panel and miter patterns, wheel-polished. The
small salt dish (Plate 46) is a fine piece. The relief cutting is similar
to that used later by the Boston and Sandwich Company, but a

PLATE 46

UPPER: Three Boston and Sandwich pieces. LEFT: Honey jar with plate ,
sharp-diamond motif, 1825-1830. (D.A.R. Mus.) CENTER: Bonbon dish to
fit silver basket. Sharp-diamond band with arched pillars. (Mrs. L. G* Hoes)
RIGHT: Salt dish, 2% inches high. Polished diamond band, scalloped top.
(Smithsonian Inst.) LOWER: Early New England decanters. (Smithsonian

List.)

PLATE 47

LEFT: Decanter with cut rings on neck and repeated pattern of triple-miter

crosshatching, about 1827. Probably not original stopper. (Toledo MILS.)

RIGHT: Celery vase, iSjo, said to have belonged to the Bradford family of

Massachusetts. Both cut by New England Glass Co. (Smithsonian Inst.)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

family record establishes this piece as having come from the Cam
bridge glasshouse.

In 1825 Deming Jarves left the New England Glass Company to
establish his own works, the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company
at Sandwich, Massachusetts. His cut Sandwich closely resembles
glass from the company in Cambridge, and in many cases cannot be
distinguished from New England Glass Company products. The
metal is heavy and of fine color and the cutting is characteristic of
the period (Plate 49).

GLASS COMPANIES IN THE FIRGINIAS, NEW YORK,
AND NEW JERSEY

In 1815 in Wellsburg, now in West Virginia, but then part of
Virginia, Isaac Duval operated one of the first works to specialize
in fine lead glass and especially in the making of cut decanters in
color. The half-pint decanter (Plate 143) is believed to be a Duval
piece.

Fourteen years later, in 1829, John Ritchie opened a glasshouse
in Wheeling, West Virginia. Their metal was clear and solid. For
tunately we have enough authentic specimens to be able to identify
Ritchie patterns with some accuracy. Note the use of the panel and
flute with roundelet (Plate 49).

Before the end of the Early American Period several glasshouses
had been established in New York and New Jersey. In 1820 the
Bloomingdale Flint Glass Works was founded in New York City
by Richard Fisher, a skilled English glasscutter who had come to
America in 1810. Because it was against the law for glassworkmen
to leave England, Fisher was smuggled into America in a barrel,
He first became a member of the firm of Emmet, Fisher and Flow
ers (1815-1817), which failed and sold out to Jarves and his
friends who founded the New England Glass Company. Richard
Fisher with his brother John established the Bloomingdale works on
land along the east bank of the Hudson River between what are
now Forty-eighth and Fiftieth Streets. Here the Fisher brothers
made cut glass of superb quality. The metal is not so heavy as that

[126]

&H ^

H **

PLATE 49

UPPER, LEFT: Pickle dish, Boston and Sandwich, 1830. RIGHT: Pickle dish,
New England Glass Co., 1825. (D. A. R. Mus.) CENTER: Syllabub cups and
whisky tumbler, Ritchie glasshouse, Wheeling, W. Va., 1830. LOWER: Wine
glasses, John and Craig Ritchie. Heavy metal, polished flute cutting.

(Oglebay Inst.)

PLATE 50

UPPER, LEFT: Small cruet, cut in hexagonal diamonds. (Carnegie Magazine)
RIGHT: Whisky tumbler, star-cut, used by Washington at Mount Fernon.
Late eighteenth century, probably from Philadelphia. (Smithsonian Inst.)
LOWER: Salt cellar, decanters, and oil bottle, probably from Stourbridge, by
John Robinson, 1825-1830. (Dr. E. R. Eller)

PLATE 51

Flute-cut decanters with trailed neck rings, unusual in American decanters of

this period. Made by R. B. Curling and Sons, Pittsburgh, 1828. Mushroom

stoppers with knob are interesting. (Carnegie Magazine)

PLATE 52

Pitcher authenticated by family record as having belonged to Thaddeus Chad-
wick, Washington, D. C. Believed to have been made in Philadelphia at the
Elliott glasshouse. English sir aw berry -diamond motif with fan&gt; typical of glass
cut in America before 1827. (D. A. R. Mus.)

a 5

PLAT

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PLATE 55

Cut glass sugar bowl and cover attributed to Brooklyn Glass Works, 1823,
established by John L. Gilliland. Glass is of high lead content, fine workman
ship, and good design in English rather than Irish tradition, (N.-Y* Hist. Soc.)

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THE EARLY AMERICAN PERIOD, 1771-1830

from the Elliott, New England, or Dummer glasshouses, but it is
of good weight, follows rather elaborate Irish forms, and is well
cut (Plate 54). One of the partners in the Fisher brothers glass
enterprise in Bloomingdale was John L. Gilliland. He withdrew
from the company in 1823 to establish the Brooklyn Glass Works
in Brooklyn, New T York. This manufactory was in production for
many years and the glass was heavy, clear, and cut in designs similar
to those used by the Fishers or by Bakewell, except that Gilliland
employed the heavy fan scallop long before it was in general use.
It is doubtful if this motif was ever used so successfully by any other
company (Plates 55, 56).

Another early glassmaker, George Dummer, started in business
in New York at Albany. Apparently he learned the glass business at
the Hamilton works there. Then in 1824 he set up shop as a glass
broker and importer at no Broadway in New York City and
opened his own glassworks across the Hudson in Jersey City, with
his brother, P. C. Dimmer, as partner. There were forty-four
wheels run by steam in the cutting shop. The metal was heavy,
handblown, of good color, free of bubbles. The Dummers cut the
single star on the bottom of pitchers and decanters as shown on the
claret pitcher on Plate 24. They also used curved splits, which was
unusual for such early ware.

PROBLEMS OF IDENTIFICATION

Most of us hope to identify our pieces with one locality, or glass
house, or in the case of engraved or beautifully cut ware, with an
individual cutter. But such knowledge is not requisite for the enjoy
ment of early American cut glass. Almost any early piece is worth
cabinet space whether it came from Cambridge, Pittsburgh, or
Wheeling. Possibly, in days to come, additional information will
come to light to make positive identification possible. It was not
until 1927 that we knew very much about John Frederick Amelung
and his ware. The Robinson pieces (Plate 45) were not identi
fied until 1948. The fact that a piece fails to fit into a classifica
tion in this book or look like one of the illustrations does not make

[137]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

it less valuable as an example of early American cut glass. I have
chosen such pieces as could be credited with some authority to spe
cific localities and in some cases to specific glasshouses. These illus
trations are intended only to serve as guides to the cataloguing of
other pieces of the same general period, metal, design, and pattern.

CHAPTER IX

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THE MIDDLE PERIOD, 1830-1880

FOUR kinds of cut and engraved glass are identified with the
Middle Period. First in point of time are the pieces with flute
cuttings. First in intrinsic and artistic value is the engraved glass.
Probably first of all in interest to the beginning collector is the
colored, flashed, and cased ware, and first in rarity are the pieces
with so-called fine-line cuttings.

The Middle Period is identified with a new feeling of national
ism. During the Early American Period we were an infant country
with newborn industries to foster. We followed the fashions of our
forefathers and imitated styles popular in the mother countries. As
a result, there was great similarity in metal, designs, and patterns
between American glass and that produced contemporaneously in
England, Ireland, and on the Continent. By 1830 there was a re
action in the thinking of our manufacturers, statesmen, and people
against foreign ideas. Tariffs became effective. By sponsoring do
mestic crafts and shutting out foreign competition, manufacturers
developed and protected new industries in young America. The glass
industry in particular prospered under tariff protection. New glass
houses were built and established works prospered as never before.
(See Glasshouse Chart, Appendix V.) With industrial independ
ence came a preference for domestic styles and designs. The sim
plicity of the flute-cut decanters, compotes, and pitchers suited
Americari customers and heavy cut glass articles appeared on every
well-appointed table. Because of this popularity it is still possible to
find intact many fine pieces of fluted glass from the Middle Period.
Indeed, decanters with diamond-cut rings and steeple stoppers are
relatively common (Plate 5 8 ).

[ 139]

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THE MIDDLE PERIOD, 1830-1880

The evolution of American industry did not stop with the impetus
of tariff protection. American enterprise and originality discovered
short cuts and produced less expensive wares both for export and
domestic sale. Pressed glass, a typically American product, flooded
the market, first in lead glass, later in pieces of lime glass. While
the difference between a fine cut piece of lead glass and a pressed
imitation was obvious, the imitation spoiled the market for the
higher priced cut pieces. To avert disaster, manufacturers of fine
glass either converted to pressed ware or made cut pieces which the
pressing machine could not duplicate. Some houses, notably in Pitts
burgh, went the commercial w r ay and produced the less expensive
pressed ware in quantity. Others, particularly the New England and
Brooklyn houses, refused to yield and developed the engraved tech
nique for quality glass.

Colored glass was the child of the engraving art for it was soon
obvious that if engraving on crystal w r as beautiful, it was infinitely
more so when cut through a color. Such was the status of the glass
industry at the time of The Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia
in 1876. Fine pieces exhibited there illustrate the best in glass deco
ration of the Middle Period (Plate 59).

The period closed on a definite note of industrialism. Between
1876 and 1880 new fuels were used to produce a brighter glass
fused under controlled conditions. Lathes were speeded up. Mate
rials were more accurately weighed, purified, and founded, and the
end of the Middle Period came simply because the Brilliant Period
had begun.

FLUTE CUTTINGS OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD

Flute cutting, sometimes called Colonial Flute, is identified with
the Middle Period because of the quantity of glass cut in this pat
tern between 1830 and 1880. Actually the flute was cut before 1830
and can even be traced back to the panel cuttings of the eighteenth
century, but for every one example of Early American flute-cut glass
there are hundreds from the Middle Period. After 1830 the style
becomes more ornate on heavier, brighter crystal like the half-pint

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THE MIDDLE PERIOD, 1830-1880

decanter (Plate 60) accredited to the Sweeney glasshouse in Wheel
ing. Notice that the decanter was apparently blow r n for flute cutting
and that it has the typical tapering neck. The steeple stoppers were
a development of the flute style.

Flute cuttings were made by practically every glasshouse in busi
ness between 1 830 and 1 845, and pieces have been found from all of
them. The West Virginia houses were particularly adept in design
ing fluted tableware as is shown in the Sweeney and Ritchie pieces
(Plates 61, 62, 63). In time flutes were combined with engraving
and other decoration as show r n in the pitcher on Plate 5. This piece
is later, probably about 1850, and while it retains the flute style, it
also has a wheel cutting which has been left unpolished. The bottom
is engraved in a pattern to match that on the shoulders. This pitcher
is accredited to the O Hara works of the James B. Lyon Glass Com
pany of Pittsburgh, a descendant of the old Union Flint Glass
Works established by Hay and McCully in 1829.

An old invoice gives the price in 1858 of one dozen, hollow T ,
flute-cut goblets at twelve dollars a dozen. One dozen flute-cut
champagne glasses sold for eight dollars. A cut scalloped-top spoon
glass cost three dollars, and a cut square-top celery dish sold for
three dollars. A seven-inch bowi with a bull s-eye cutting and a flute-
cut stem cost five dollars.

ENGRAVED DECORATION

Glass was engraved in America in the later years of the eight
eenth century. It is still being engraved in the twentieth, but the peak
of production and popularity was reached during the Middle Period.
The earliest pieces of this era are of clear glass and the engraving
is unpolished. Later, engraving was used on glass of two colors
(usually blue on white or red on white) or on glass of three colors
blue, yellow, and white.

American metal of the Middle Period was predominantly lead
glass. The glass used for engraving in the Early American Period
was thin and usually soda-potash. Foreign glass engraved in the
middle nineteenth century was customarily high-grade potash. De-

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PLATE 62

UPPER: Pair of celery vases, Sweeney Glass Co., Wheeling, W. Fa., about

1840. Typical cutting on foot. LOWER: Sweeney decanters with flute cutting

adapted to heavy lead glass. Sweeney glass rivals quality of modern crystal.

Does not color down like other early f heavy lead glass. (Oglebay Inst.)

PLATE 63

UPPER: Sweeney glasses, 1840, with characteristic foot cutting on first two.
(Oglebay Inst.) LOWER: Wine glasses with pillar cutting, Ritchie and Wheat,
Wheeling, W. Fa. Champagne Glass, at left, also shows Ritchie technique of
overpolishing until diamonds are as rounded as in early molded patterns.
(Philadelphia Mus. of Art.)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

termining the type of metal helps in the identification of pieces of
engraved glass.

Middle Period engravings are on the whole delicately fine and
precise. The themes are usually historical or mythological. The
earlier engravings are of conventional patterns with broader wheel
marks and a sketchier delineation than that of the minute, exquisite
work found in the copper-wheel engravings of the Middle Period.
These, seen a little way off, actually seem to be sculptured in relief.
The pieces most commonly engraved were decanters, bottles, wine
glasses, cologne bottles, cruets and pitchers (Plate 64).

COLORED, FLASHED, AND CASED GLASS

Colored glass of the Middle Period was elegant and costly. Fine
examples may still be found but they are more rare than pieces of
crystal glass. Red was favored and the New England Glass Com
pany made much crystal flashed with gold-ruby which was then cut
through in diamonds, stars, and prisms, or engraved in pictorial de
signs. Blue and green were also popular. Dorflinger glass was world
famous for its clear green flashing.

FINE-LINE CUTTINGS

Fine-line cuttings of the Middle Period are very rare. Notice on
Plate 65 the double cutting, the pattern cut through the crosshatched
bands. This is a typical fine-line cutting for the period. It is some
times called a triple cutting because the field has been cut all the
way round in fine lines on a triple miter. It was then cut in the
opposite direction on the same wheel to make a field of miniature
diamonds. Finally the flower or vine or other design was cut into the
crosshatched field on a panel wheel. Classmen used fine-line cuttings
in an effort to compete with the pressed glass imitations of miter-
split patterns. It was difficult, almost impossible, to get a fine-line
reproduction with a press. Only the triple miter wheel could cross-
hatch flowers, leaves, and bands. Decanters, tumblers, goblets, wine

PLATE 65

UPPER, LEFT: Unusual berry bowl with fine-line crosshatching cut through in

floral pattern, Middle Period, RIGHT: Bowl with partitioned design, early use

of hob-star. (Author s Collection) LOWER: Ritchie punch bowl, unusual piece

for this house, resembles Gilliland technique. (Philadelphia Mus, of Art)

THE MIDDLE PERIOD, 1830-1880

glasses, bread plates, and bowls (Plate 65) were cut in fine-line
patterns.

Considerable difference will be noticed in the metal used by vari
ous manufacturers through the Middle Period. Much of the glass
was a clear lead crystal glass such as that of the pieces accredited
to the Dummers, the Sweeneys, and the New England and Brook
lyn companies. Glass with color was made by the New England
Glass Company, Hobbs, Barnes and Company in Wheeling, West
Virginia, as well as by the Mulvaney and Ledlie Company at Pitts
burgh. At Dorflinger s in Brooklyn, a thin glass of fine quality was
made and this w r as often colored and decorated with fine-line cut
tings.

The metal of the earlier pieces was usually slightly grey, with the
exception of those from Wheeling which were always of good color.
Later pieces have a clearer metal. Contrary to the usual rule, fluted
pieces of high color, that is with a light blue or more especially pink
tinct, are later than those showing grey.

GLASSHOUSES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD

Ten years after tariff laws made the manufacture of fine table
ware profitable in America there were eighty-one glasshouses in
operation. According to the census of 1840 there were thirty-four
cutting shops with ten to a hundred frames in each. The figures do
not indicate how many of the shops were run by the eighty-one man
ufacturers, but it is likely that each cutting shop represented at least
one manufacturer. In some cases two manufacturers supplied
glass to the same shop as was the case in Brooklyn when Joseph
Stouvenel manufactured his own glass but amplified production
with blanks from the Gilliland and Dorflinger works.

There were more than a thousand men cutting and engraving
glass from 1840 to 1855 and the annual product was worth over
$1,500,000. In New Jersey there were four cutting shops. Two
were out-cutting (i.e. independent) shops and two were associated
with glasshouses, the Jersey City Glass Company and the Camden
County works. In Pennsylvania there were fifteen cutting shops.

PLATE 66

UPPER: Wine glass, whisky tumbler, syllabub cup, early BakewelL (Lowell
Innes) Curling decanter. (Carnegie MusJ Compote, unusual Bakew ell,
cut with thumb print, engraved with leaf band, about 1832. (Author s Collec
tion) LOWER: Bowl inscribed Laura Flanders Crippen Westfield Chaut Co
New York 1855. Height 4% inches. New England Glass Co. (N.-Y.

Hist. Soc.)

SISSRSSSwJLii, LkAw
PLATE 67

UPPER, LEFT TO RIGHT: Castor bottles j New England Glass Co.; small en
graved epergne; wine washer, Pittsburgh area. (Author s Collection)
LOWER, LEFT: Footed decanter, Gillinder. (White House) RIGHT: Vase
inscribed, ff Presented by the officers and members of the Dorflinger Guards to
Mrs. Dorflinger, January 14, .1859". Height 17 inches. (Brooklyn Mus.)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

Many glasshouses of the Middle Period were descended from
those founded during the Early American Period. Some like Bake-
welPs, the New England, and the Boston and Sandwich companies
continued under the same names. Others changed hands a dozen
times in their forty or fifty years of existence, but the character of
the glass produced in the same place usually remained the same
because of the equipment in the glasshouse. Forty new companies
began the manufacture of cut ware about 1840.

By 1865, according to some authorities, there were only eight
houses engaged in the production of fine cut glass. These were the
New England Glass Company, the Mount Washington Glass Com
pany, the Bay State Glass Company, the Union Glass Company, and
the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (all in New England),
Gilliland s South Ferry Works, Christian Dorflinger s glasshouses
at Brooklyn, and the Dummers glasshouse in Jersey City. It is pos
sible that this figure is low for, in addition to these eight, there were
a few houses that were still producing cut glass in small amounts
after they had converted to lime glass.

There is a tendency to blame the invention of the lime glass for
mula for the decline of the cut glass business in America. The
popularity of pattern glass undoubtedly did have an effect on the
manufacture of luxury ware, but the War Between the States and
the resulting hard times that made the necessities of life more im
portant than elegant tableware were also factors. By 1860 there
were only two hundred and twenty-five cutters and engravers em
ployed in the eastern glasshouses, chiefly in New York, New Jersey,
Boston, and Philadelphia. In Brooklyn, E. V. Houghwout and Com
pany, Joseph Stouvenel, and Hoare, Burns and Daily were running
cutting shops. In Pittsburgh and Wheeling the glasshouses had for
the most part converted to the manufacture of pressed lime glass.

From 1865 to 1870 the larger manufacturers found it necessary
to reduce output because of the popularity of etched and sandblast
decorations for lamps, shades, and globes. Then the panic of 1873
all but ruined the remaining houses. Only J. Hoare survived as
an independent cutting shop, thanks to his close association with
Amory Houghton, Senior, of the Corning Glass Works.

In 1876 when The Centennial Exhibition opened in Philadelphia

THE MIDDLE PERIOD, 1830-1880

there were few exhibitors. The New England Glass Company, the
Mount Washington and Boston and Sandwich companies, Christian
Dorflinger, and J. B. Dobelmann of Brooklyn, were represented.
There were also a few pieces of cut glass and colored engraved
glass among the Hobbs-Brockunier pressed pieces. William Gillin-
der, whose Franklin Glass Works set up a complete production
exhibit, also showed cutting methods and sold souvenir cut pieces
along with his cheaper sandblast and stained wares. But out of the
slender showing of the once thriving industry blew the spark that
was to ignite again the mighty furnaces of America s cut glass in
dustry and start a boom in luxury tableware never before equaled
in this country or in any other.

CHAPTER X

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THE BRILLIANT PERIOD, GLASSHOUSES,

18801905

GUT GLASS reached the height of its popularity in America fol
lowing The Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.
Before this time and for a few years afterward American glass
cutters used the technique of fine-line cutting and copper-wheel
engraving, which distinguished the Middle Period. After 1880 and
until 1905 glass craftsmen designed the deep miter cuttings. These
decorations on heavy crystal became known as brilliant cuttings and
were produced in a profusion of patterns as late as 1915. But the
popularity and quality of craftsmanship were already on the decline
and reached an all-time low just prior to World War I.

Glass cut during the twenty-five-year span of the Brilliant Period
is characterized by crystal-clear quality of metal, deep and some
times curved miter cuttings called splits, and such motifs as the hob-
star, fan, notched prism, and single star. It is this glass which the
average American thinks of as cut glass. It is heavy, usually beau
tiful, and undeniably fine. It was always costly. This was our grand
mothers glass which we washed and polished on Saturday mornings
the glass sold unlisted in barrels at auction when it became moth
er s unhappy task to close up the home place.

Today it is possible to assemble fine collections of American cut
glass at a fraction of the original cost because value and growing
rarity are not yet realized. Only fifty-odd years ago cut glass still
had such a tremendous vogue that it was the preferred wedding and
anniversary gift, and the valued possession of millions of American
housewives. Before the turn of the century, women who had never
heard of Waterford, Bakewell, or Cambridge, acquired sets in pat-

THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

terns of Middlesex, Devonshire, Parisian, Russian, Polar Star, and
Kimberly. A standard table setting consisted of goblets, wines
champagne, claret, and sherry ice-cream dishes and plates with
ice-cream platter, finger bowls with plates, salts and peppers, can
dlesticks, butter patties, compotes, bonbon or nut dishes, celery
boats, one or two nappies of various sizes, berry bowls, punch cups,
and pickle dishes. In fact, during the Gay Nineties everything ap
peared in cut glass that could be served either at room temperature
or chilled. Heat was then, as it is now, the mortal enemy of cut
glass.

A complete setting in any one of the ornate patterns was so ex
pensive that most women acquired cut glass as they did silver: six
or eight pieces at Christmas, and six or eight more on the next
anniversary. Sometimes they had only a few dearly prized pieces
such as a celery boat, ice-cream platter, or punch bowl. Since quanti
ties of glass were cut, it is remarkable and perplexing that so little
of it appears today.

Consider a single pattern, the Russian, for instance. There is
scarcely a magazine article, newspaper story, or reference to cut
glass in the press of the late nineteenth century that does not men
tion the "popular Russian." Probably no other design was so well-
known or so generally used. In 1886 the White House ordered a
complete service of Russian from the T. G. Hawkes Glass Company
for the use of President Grover Cleveland, and additions were made
during the Benjamin Harrison and second Grover Cleveland admin
istrations. When Theodore Roosevelt moved into the White House
he found the supply inadequate and reordered, adding highball
glasses to the goblets, tumblers, wine and cordial glasses of the
original service. These were the first highball glasses to be ordered
for the White House. The same pattern continued in use for state
dinners until 1938 when, in the administration of Franklin D.
Roosevelt, replacements became too expensive and a complete serv
ice of a more modern but less costly pattern was ordered (Plate 68).

Indeed it would be difficult to estimate the quantity of glass cut in
the Russian pattern that was made and sold in this country during
the last twenty years of the nineteenth century. Yet today collections
of matched sets are few. They will continue to be difficult to assem-

[157]

PLATE 68

UPPER: Ice-cream tray. Libbey Glass Co. (Mrs. John M. Feeney) CENTER:

Finger bowl and sherry glass, Russian pattern engraved with coat of arms of

White House, 1886. (White House) LOWER: Twelve-inch plate. Venetian

Pattern, T. G. Hawkes Co. (See also Plate p?.) (Smithsonian Inst.)

THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

ble until women become aware of the possible value of the cut glass
ware packed away in the attic or forgotten on some dark shelf.

REASONS FOR POPULARITY

There were several reasons for the tremendous vogue of cut glass
during the Brilliant Period. Business conditions made it possible for
women to indulge in expensive tableware. The society of the eighties
and nineties was gay and given to dining in style. Cut glass was a
luxury suited to elegant and elaborate entertaining. Had it been
developed in the days of depression around the middle of the nine
teenth century, there would have been no market, and a house which
specialized in heavy cut ware would have failed.

After 1880 refinements in the industry itself made it possible to
cut glass more deeply and more accurately so that great brilliance
was achieved. Soon after the War Between the States, James Lyon
in Pittsburgh saw the advantage of converting his coal furnaces to
gas, and the industry was quick to follow his lead. Gas heat was con
trollable. Glass so manufactured could be fused more quickly and
completely. It came out clear, bright, and flawless. Lehrs or anneal
ing ovens heated with natural gas, the development of feeding-up
brushes for polishing, and other technical improvements during the
last two decades of the century replaced the primitive techniques of
the old glasshouses. Modern methods of preparing and measuring
heat and weighing ingredients created the means of making excep
tionally fine cut glass.

Undoubtedly The Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876
played a genuine part in popularizing American cut ware. Although
there had been local fairs and regional industrial exhibits before
this time, it was not until railroad travel became relatively common
that great numbers of American women were able to get about and
see things for themselves. Quite unexpectedly the exhibits of cut
glass at the Centennial proved to be the most interesting of all to
women. The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company exhibited their
Fern pattern. The Mount Washington and the New England Glass
companies both cut Centennial patterns. Christian Dorflinger from

[159]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

White Mills, Pennsylvania, had a large exhibit as did the Hobbs-
Brockunier Company of Wheeling, West Virginia.

By far the greatest attraction, however, was the complete glass
works set up and operated right on the exhibition grounds by
Gillinder and Sons of Philadelphia. Here could be seen the ac
tual processes of melting, blowing, annealing, cutting, and en
graving. Each woman visiting the exhibit was given a small souvenir
and most visitors bought additional pieces, many engraved with
initials or date. Of these souvenir pieces $96,000 worth were sold
and taken back to Iowa, Georgia, Ohio, and California to publicize
the new cut ware. Today a collection of such souvenirs would make
a most interesting cabinet. Slippers, leaves, hats, match holders, pin
trays, and bonbon dishes could all be included.

TRADE-MARKS AND OTHER IDENTIFICATION

Many collectors attempt to identify each piece of glass in their
collections with a specific glasshouse. There are three general clues
to sources of the Brilliant Period pattern, metal, and trade-mark.
Only the acid-etched trade-mark insignia may be taken as infallible.

Toward the close of the nineteenth century leading glasshouses
felt the need of identification for their fine ware not only to avoid
confusion with inferior domestic glass but to establish American
quality. Between 1895 and 1905 many trade-marks were registered.
Some were in use for only a short time. Many were printed on paper
and glued to the glass. These soon washed off or wore away. Houses
that adopted the acid stamp were not always consistent in its appli
cation, and of course much fine glass was cut before the trade-mark
came into common use. Many valuable pieces from the Brilliant
Period are marked, however, and it is a short cut to identification
to be familiar with the most common trade-marks (See Appen
dix IV).

Pattern and metal are indications although sometimes incon
clusive ones of source. Patterns such as Wheat (Fry), see Plate
75, Kimberly (Libbey), Croesus (J. Hoare), and Louis XIV
(T. G. Hawkes) may be catalogued with certain identification, but

[160]

THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

more common patterns such as Russian and BulPs-Eye were so
widely copied by all glass cutters that pattern does not give an
infallible clue to manufacturer.

While individual houses had certain characteristics, these cannot
be taken as absolutely reliable but only as general guides to the
work of various manufacturers. For instance, Dorflinger glass is
usually considered to be of lightweight, that is thinner, metal than
Hawkes, Libbey, or Fry; yet some fully credited pieces of Dor
flinger glass are a quarter of an inch thick (Plate 69) . These pieces
are the exception, to be sure; but similar exceptions may be pointed
out in the work of other glasshouses.

The bulk of the fine cut glass of the Brilliant Period was pro
duced by the better known and well-established glasshouses. How
ever, it is important to recognize that there were over a thousand
cutting shops in operation during the twenty-five years of the Bril
liant Period and not all of these turned out creditable work of last
ing quality. Some only recut pressed blanks. Others were in business
for so short a time that there is little record of their output.

Cutting shops bought their blanks from glass manufacturers, fre
quently on specification. The similarity of metal found in glass pro
duced by different cutting shops, as for instance the Buffalo Cut
Glass Company of Batavia, New York, and J. Hoare of Corning
is due to the fact that blanks were supplied to both by the Corning
Glass Company which had no cutting shop of its own. It is apparent
that two cutting shops such as Hope Glass Works, Providence,
Rhode Island, and Meriden Cut Glass Company, Meriden, Con
necticut, buying their glass from the same source in this case,
Pairpoint Corporation on the same specifications, produced con-
fusingly similar ware.

It is then, because of the similarity of metal, the widespread use
of identical patterns, and the inconsistent use of trade-marks that
only outstanding characteristics of the work of each glasshouse may
be considered typical.

[161]

PLATE 69

pitcher, 7% inches high, globe-shaped, partitioned design combining
American and English strawberry-diamond and fan -motifs. Made by Christian
Dorflinger in 1897 at White Mills. (Brooklyn Mm.)

THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

IMPORTANT GLASSHOUSES

The following glasshouses are listed in the order in which they or
their parent companies were established :

I. LIBBEY GLASS COMPANY, Toledo, Ohio

New England Glass Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
1817-1878

New England Glass Company, W. L. Libbey and Son, Pro
prietors, Cambridge, 18781888

W. L. Libbey and Son Glass Company, Toledo, 18881893

Libbey Glass Company, Toledo, 1893

Libbey glass is heavy, of thick metal, and deeply cut (Plate 70).
Even the smaller figures in the designs are well defined. The glass
is clear and flawless, does not age, but retains its sparkle and snap.
Libbey made much use of the hob-star motif which his cutters called
the "rosette" because of the many points and the raised center of
the star. After 1895 all of the larger pieces were marked with an
acid trade-mark stamp. Pieces made before 1904 are usually of good
form with sharp, well-defined cutting. The later vases, bowls, and
pitchers are heavy and ornate. After 1905 Libbey patterns made
much use of the pinwheel motif. Libbey never used pressed blanks.
The Libbey Glass Company, successor to the New England Glass
Company, carried on the fine traditions of craftsmanship and de
sign. The parent company had not been able to survive the lime glass
competition of the late Middle Period. After sixty years of opera
tion as one of the nation s leading cut glass manufacturers, it was
offered for sale in 1877. William L. Libbey, trained at the Mount
Washington glassworks in South Boston, was then the general man
ager. He obtained a lease on the company in 1878 and changed the
name to the New England Glass Company, W. L. Libbey and Son,
Proprietors.

After his death in 1883, his son, Edward Drummond Libbey, con
tinued to operate the new company through trying days of deficit
and labor strife. The fortunate incident of hiring a young English
man, Joseph Locke, an accomplished technician and etcher, helped

[163]

PLATE 70

UPPER: Creamer,, small, stemmed jelly dish, and sugar bowl, cut in simple
hob-star motif. Libbey Glass Co., ipoo. Brilliant Period. (Author s Collec
tion} LOWER: Ttvelve-inch plate, Harvard border _, flower center* Cruet and
decanter in various combinations of notched prism and hob-star motifs, also
Libbey, (Libbey Glass Co.)

THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

the company for a time, but even the popularity of his inventions
of colored art glass Amberina, Pomona, Peachblow, and Agata
did not prevent a deficit of $40,000 in 1888. That year E. D. Libbey
moved the company to Toledo, Ohio, where he hoped to meet com
petition through the use of natural gas as furnace fuel.

He reorganized as the W. L. Libbey and Son Glass Company,
Successors to the New England Glass Company, but two years later,
in 1890, it became expedient to drop the name of the parent com
pany and the New England Glass Company gave up the ghost and
surrendered its charter. In 1893, when fine cut glass tableware and
electric light bulbs had brought prosperity, the Toledo company
changed its name to the Libbey Glass Company and as such it con
tinued to make fine cut glass through the remainder of the Brilliant
Period. Although Libbey s have manufactured some fine cut glass in
recent years, they are not now producing cut glass tableware.

2. PAIRPOINT CORPORATION, New Bedford, Massachusetts

Mount Washington Glass Company, South Boston, 1837-1869
Mount Washington Glass Company, New Bedford, 1869-

1896

Pairpoint Glass Company, New Bedford, 18651896
Pairpoint Corporation, New Bedford, 1896-1938
Gundersen Glass Works, Incorporated, New Bedford, 1939-
The Pairpoint Corporation and its predecessors were all fortu
nate in having skilled designers. Considerable fine crosshatching ap
pears on their pieces (Plate 71 ) and frequently small areas of wheel
engraving will be found in combination with older motifs. Earlier
patterns tend to use older forms in modern combinations with fans
and stars. Late patterns used the bull s-eye, fan and prism, and
Saint Louis diamond, but even in the closing years of the period
when other houses were turning out hectic scrambles of half a dozen
motifs, Pairpoint patterns remain in good balance with studied
composition.

The Mount Washington Glass Company also supplied blanks to
other cutting houses including the Meriden Silver Plate Company
and the Wilcox Silver Plate Company of Meriden, Connecticut, and
later the J. D. Bergen shop. If you have an old plated silver castor

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

frame with cut glass bottles, it probably came from Meriden and
the glass was very likely cut on Mount Washington blanks. Much of
this metal, however, was of poor quality with air bubbles and
striae. It was not always well fused. Some ruby bowls for insertion
in silver frames were made by the Mount Washington company.
Generally speaking, pieces showing defects were made about 1865
to 1870 before the Brilliant Period and should be attributed to the
parent companies rather than to the Pairpoint Corporation.

The Mount Washington Glass Company was started by Deming
Jarves in 1837 for his son, George. It was at that company that
William L. Libbey learned the glass business. In 1860 he became
part owner and in 1866, after acquiring sole ownership, he moved
the company to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he later sold
out his interest. The new owners merged the older company with
its neighbor in 1896 to become the Pairpoint Corporation, which
produced much fine glass during the remainder of the Brilliant
Period.

The Pairpoint Corporation stopped making cut glass in 1938. In
1939 Robert M. Gundersen bought the old glasshouse and resumed
the manufacture of handmade cut and engraved glass under the new
name. Gundersen Glass Works, Incorporated, is still in operation.

3. C. DORFLINGER AND SONS, White Mills, Pennsylvania

Long Island Flint Glass Works, Brooklyn, New York, 1852

1863

Greenpoint Glass Works, Brooklyn, 1860-1863
Wayne County Glass Works, White Mills, 1865-1881
C. Dorflinger & Sons, White Mills, 1881-1921
Dorflinger glass is always of fine clear metal and excellent work
manship (Plate 32). Any genuine piece is worthy of a cabinet col
lection. Much of it was cut in colored and cased glass, the Dorflinger
green being a particularly fine bright color. It was frequently blown
thinner than contemporaneous pieces and cuttings were sharp. In
1883 John O Connor, cutting shop superintendent, designed the
Parisian, (Pattern 3) the first design with the curved miter split.
Repetitious use of this motif distinguishes Dorflinger cuttings of the
first ten years of the Brilliant Period.

[166]

PLATE 71

UPPER: Inverted berry bowl and pickle dish, with hob-star. ( Author s Col
lection) CENTER: Claret, tumbler, and sherry glass in Dorflinger J s adaptation
of New England Glass Co/s Middlesex (Pattern 6.) (Brooklyn Mus.)
LOWER : Celery vase in notched prism, butter dish in Harvard, compote in
Harvard with Rose. Pairpoint Brilliant Period. (Mrs. John M. Feeney)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

Christian Dorflinger, founder of the company, was one of the
truly great glassmen of America. An Alsatian by birth, he learned
his trade at Saint Louis, Lorraine, where more than fifty years be
fore him one of America s first glass cutters, Peter William Eich-
baum, had helped to establish the glass industry. In 1846, Christian
carne to America at the age of eighteen to enter the glass business.
In 1852 he started the Long Island Flint Works in Brooklyn for
the manufacture of chimneys and shades for kerosene lamps. Anx
ious to try his hand at fine flint and colored glass, he built the
Greenpoint Glass Works in Brooklyn in 1860 for the production of
cut glass tableware. It was at this factory that the Lincoln service
was made. In 1863, because of ill health, Christian sold his interests
in Brooklyn and retired to White Mills, Pennsylvania; but by 1865
he was back in business again manufacturing fine lead glass. He
formed a partnership with his sons, William, Louis, and Charles,
in 1 88 1 and with them made and cut fine glass during the entire
Brilliant Period. Christian died in 1915 and six years later the
company was dissolved.

4. GILLINDER AND SONS, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Franklin Flint Glassworks, Philadelphia, 1861-1868

Gillinder and Sons, Philadelphia, 1868-1871

Gillinder and Sons, Greensburg, 1883-1892, affiliate of the
United States Glass Company, 18921949

Gillinder Brothers, Incorporated, Port Jervis, New York,

1912-

Much glass of extra fine brilliance and cut in old English solid-
field motifs during the early part of the Brilliant Period is Gillinder
glass from the old Franklin Flint Glassworks. William Thynne Gil
linder, or Old Gillinder as his employees called him, specialized in
lamps, lamp shades, and chandeliers from the start of his American
venture in 1861. But many other pieces of fine metal and workman
ship were also made at the Franklin works (Plate 67), where he
prided himself on being an expert glassman. William Gillinder had
written a book about glass which was published in England in 1851,
and he was considered an authority on metals. He did not approve
of the newfangled curved split, hob-star, and rosette motifs so

[168]

e5 ~

U ^

^ s

I 5!

EJ o *-

W ^r^
O ^ S

e -2

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

his Franklin works cut the old-fashioned solid fields of hobnail,
strawberry-diamond, and single star and block which he had known
in England until competition forced adoption of modern patterns.

In a letter from the late James Gillinder, Jr., grandson of the
founder, the work of the company is described: u The first cuttings
made were copies of the Irish [English?] Bristol. The factory did
.... considerable .... cutting, particularly .... lighting glass
ware. We did cutting through a frosted surface producing the
Colonial designs of grapes, etc. Sandblasting was not invented until
1876 by Telghman of Philadelphia. The method we used [for
frosted glass] was to apply the sand by means of a wire brush to a
rapidly rotating piece of glass on a spindle of a lathe."

William, the founder of Gillinder and Sons, was born at Gates-
head, England, in 1823. At seven he went to work in the glass fac
tory at Mexborough. After becoming one of England s most
prominent glassworkers and head of the British Friendly Society,
a labor organization, he came to America in 1854, to become super
intendent of the New England glassworks. The job did not turn out
as promised so with his ,wife and five children he started for the
West by way of Pittsburgh. At Saint Louis, he was employed at
the bottle works of George W. Scolley.

Like his contemporary, Christian Dorflinger, Gillinder was quick
to see the possibilities of the kerosene lamp and in 1861 he opened
a small glasshouse on Maria Street in Philadelphia. When the
neighbors complained of the soot from his furnace, he moved to
Oxford Street. In 1863 he took into partnership Edwin Bennett, one
of the founders of the Bennett Potteries in East Liverpool, Ohio,
but five years later Bennett sold out to William s two sons, James
and Frederick, and the company became known as Gillinder and
Sons.

After William s death in 1871 the company was moved to
Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in the early years of the Brilliant Period,
and in 1892 it became an affiliate of the United States Glass Com
pany. In 1912 two of William s grandsons established a glasshouse
in Port Jervis, New York, under the name of Gillinder Brothers,
Incorporated. The company is still in operation although they are
making no cut tableware today.

[170]

PLATE 73

UPPER: Pieces from CoL Harry C. Fry s collection made by his father in

Rochester, Penna., early in twentieth century, LOWER: Seven-inch nappy, cut

at Franklin Works of Gillinder and Sons Co., Philadelphia. Overornament

had already appeared in

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

5. T. G. HAWKES GLASS COMPANY, Corning, New York, 1880-
(Steuben Glass Company, 1903, subsidiary of the Hawkes
company until 1918 when Steuben was sold to Corning Glass
Company.)

In 1889 two patterns of the T. G. Hawkes Glass Company, the
Grecian (Pattern 9) and the Chrysanthemum (Pattern 21), took
the grand prize at the Paris Exposition, thus establishing a record
and a reputation for American cut glass. Hawkes glass has been of
fine quality since the founding of the company. Pieces cut since 1895
are trade-marked, the smaller ones with an H, the larger ones with
a shamrock enclosing two hawks. Both marks are still used by the
company. (See Appendix IV.) This was the only company to mark
every piece (after 1895). The glass is heavy, being of high lead
content, and of crystal purity. Goblets made of thinner metal than
the other pieces ring for almost thirty seconds with a clear bell-
like tone.

Hawkes patterns are for the most part well-designed and sym
metrical with none of the scattered cutting found in cheaper ware.
Pressed blanks were never used, and no Hawkes pieces were ever
cut in Pinwheel.

Thomas G. Hawkes, founder of the company, was one of the
most distinguished glassmen in America. A descendant of the
Hawkes and Penrose families makers and cutters for five genera
tions in Dudley, England, and in Waterford, Ireland Thomas
came to Brooklyn, New York, in 1863 to practice the family trade.
In 1880 he set up shop in Corning, New York, cutting fine glass on
blanks made to his own specification by his friend Amory Houghton,
Senior, of the Corning Glass Company.

In 1903 Hawkes manufactured his own blanks for cutting and
with his son, Samuel, the present president of the firm, and Fred
erick Carder of Stourbridge, England, he established the Steuben
Glass Company in Corning, New York. Hawkes crystal was cut on
blanks manufactured at the Steuben subsidiary until 1918 when the
Steuben works were sold to the Corning Glass Company. The firm
name of the parent company was never changed and it continues in
operation today as one of the very few companies still cutting table
ware of exquisite quality.

[172]

PLATE 74

UPPER: Plate, unusual piece of Brilliant Period cutting with hob-star motifs
on strawberry-diamond field, LOWER: Plate, fine example of triple-miter cut
ting in bands. Medallions engraved with fruit baskets and cornucopias. Both
12-inch plates belong to the T. G. Hawkes permanent display at Smithsonian

Inst. t Washington, D C.

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

6. THE PHOENIX GLASS COMPANY, Monaca, Pennsylvania, 1 8 Be-
So much colored cut glass was made by the Phoenix Glass Com
pany that there is always danger of accrediting all colored cut glass
of the Brilliant Period to this Beaver County glasshouse. Organized
in 1880 the company specialized in cut glass of all colors as well as
in cased and flashed glass. Green over white was a favorite com
bination; amber, blue, and red glass were also cased and cut in pat
terns new at that time chair bottom, hob-star, and notched prism
combinations. Colors were usually very clear and brilliant and metal
always of lead. The overlay or colored casing was thick enough to
show considerable bleeding into the white, especially on the miter
splits, although the crystal glass was very much thicker than the
colored casing. Solid pieces included goblets in amber, blue, and red
with cut stems and Saint Louis diamond cutting on the Bowls, and
blue blown wine glasses with cut stems and feet.

The Phoenix Glass Company was founded in August, 1880, at
Monaca, called Phillipsburg in the early days. Just across the river
is the site of the old Rochester Tumbler Company and the H. C.
Fry Glass Company. Much fine engraved and colored glass of the
Middle Period had come from Phillipsburg. This prompted Andrew
Howard and W. I. Miller to organize the Phoenix glassworks for
the manufacture of cut ware in 1880 with a capitalization of
$30,000. So well did Phoenix colored cut glass sell that in 1887 the
capitalization of the company was increased to a quarter of a mil
lion dollars. By 1891, the capitalization was $700,000 and the
company began to make fancy hand-painted and stained lamp shades
which sold on the New York market for as much as five and six
hundred dollars for a single shade. The company is still in operation
but no longer makes tableware,

7. THE UNITED STATES GLASS COMPANY, Tiffin, Ohio

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 18921939

Tiffin, 1939

The formation of the United States Glass Company in 1892 was
an important factor in both the growth and the doom of cut glass
tableware. It is impossible to accredit accurately the work of any
one of the seventeen affiliating companies, as each participant lost

THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

its individuality in the merger. Although certain popular patterns,
such as the Kaiser (Pattern 49), were cut by the parent company,
the identity of the pieces was lost in the volume production of the
big holding company. Typical patterns are those which could be cut
in volume with very little small-wheel detail. (Plate 1 16.) This com
pany used pressed blanks and all possible short cuts in production.
While the glass is of fairly good quality, cutting bears the telltale
stamp of mass production. This does not deter some collectors who
find it easier to assemble a complete table setting of one of these
less exact but much produced patterns.

On the whole, cut glass from the United States Glass Company is
not comparable to that of the Libbey, Pairpoint, Dorflinger, or
Hawkes companies and did not command so high a price in the
contemporary market. However, collectors who have followed the
course of such fine companies as Bryce Glass of Mount Pleasant,
or Hobbs-Brockunier of Wheeling, Pennsylvania, may be interested
in the list of companies consolidated in September, 1892, to form
what at that time was the largest glass company in the world, and
the dead end of much fine individual production.

The holding company was formed on July I, 1891, but did not
function as a distributing agent until the next year. The follow
ing glasshouses became participating companies: Adams and Com
pany, Pittsburgh; Bryce Brothers, Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania;
Challinoir Taylor & Company, Tarentum, Pennsylvania; George
Dungan & Sons, Pittsburgh; Richards and Hartley, Tarentum,
Pennsylvania; Ripley & Company, Pittsburgh; Gillinder & Sons,
Greensburg, Pennsylvania; Hobbs Glass Company, Wheeling, West
Virginia; Columbia Glass Company, Findlay, Ohio; King Glass
Company, Pittsburgh; O Hara Glass Company, Pittsburgh; Bel-
laire Goblet Company, Findlay, Ohio ; Nickle Plate Glass Company,
Fostoria, Ohio; Central Glass Company, Wheeling, West Virginia;
Doyle & Company, Pittsburgh; A. J. Beatty & Sons, Tiffin, Ohio.
(The Hobbs Glass Company was what remained of the once inter
nationally famous Hobbs-Brockunier Company; the O Hara Glass
Company was the successor to the formerly important James B.
Lyon Glass Company.)

The United States Glass Company is still in existence but no

[175]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

longer operates a cutting shop, although blanks are manufactured
for cutting on specification.

8. H. c. FRY GLASS COMPANY, Rochester, Pennsylvania, 1900-1929

No finer cut glass has ever been made in America than that pro
duced by Henry Clay Fry at his Rochester glasshouse in the first
few years of the twentieth century (Plate 75). Any piece of Fry
glass is now a collector s item because of the superb quality of the
metal, the precision of the cutting, and the originality and com
position of the patterns. Fry glass compares favorably with the
finest quartz crystal produced today. It has depth, excellent color,
brilliance, and luster, but its distinctive characteristic is the unusual
shape of the handmade blanks.

There was a theory among old glassmen that the secret of the
Fry brilliance was not alone in his formula, which was extravagantly
high in lead combined with the finest ground quartz obtainable, but
in the coincidence of high fusion. Ordinarily flint or lead glass fur
naces with their tall chimneys were built near transportation, at
dock or river level, or at a railroad siding. Fry, however, had been
the victim of floods from the Ohio River when he was manager of
the Rochester Tumbler Company. He therefore selected for his
own glassworks a site on a hill high above the Beaver Valley, and
he built his own railroad siding up to the glasshouse on top. Thus
the tall stacks of the chimneys towered over the countryside and the
fires drew with a furious draft. It was this combination of pure in
gredients and greatly accelerated fusion which are thought to have
produced the remarkably crystal-clear Fry glass.

Henry Clay Fry, founder of the company, was another of the
colorful glassmen of the Brilliant Period. Traveling for the William
Phillips Glass Company of Pittsburgh, Fry met Abraham Lincoln
in Illinois before he became President and interested him in the
domestic manufacture of cut glass. Many students believe that the
international popularity and market dominance of American cut
glass can be traced to President Lincoln s sponsorship of the Indus
try in 1861.

As superintendent at the O Hara glass works under James B.
Lyon s ownership, Fry had been a leader in fine-line cuttings during

[176]

^ t Sva % * &lt;r i* *** V/^W, a,,

PLATE 75

UPPER: Twelve-inch plate by Hawkes with combination of cutting and en
graving. (Smithsonian Inst.) LOWER: Mayonnaise bowl in swirled Wheat
pattern with step cutting on base; compote with air-twist stem; small jug,
about 1905, with buzz or pin wheel motif. All Fry glass, (Harry C. Fry)

CUT AXD ENGRAVED GLASS

the Middle Period. As president of the Rochester Tumbler Com
pany in 1872, he had manufactured 80,000 dozen tumblers a week
and sent them to all parts of the world. Before this time tumblers
had been used principally for whisky. Fry invented and perfected
heat-proof tumblers for commercial jellies and jams and also glass
jars for home canning. As president of the National Glass Company
combine, Fry bought Mike Owens invention for pressed blanks and
so started the eventual decline of the cut glass business to which he
also contributed so much.

Vaudeville acts, touring the country in the early years of the
twentieth century, invariably visited the H. C. Fry Glass Company,
because all the glass bell ringers of the entertainment world came
to Fry for their ringing tumblers, jugs, tubes, and bells. It was a
common sight to see a vaudeville musician tuning up at one end of
the Fry cutting shop. The old H. C. Fry chimneys are still standing,
and although the furnaces are in ruins, some of the pots are still in
place.

PLATE 77

Saint Louis bowl, the largest single piece of cut glass in the world,, 25 niches

in diameter * 24 inches high, capacity of 4 gallons. Cut by John Rufus Denman

for the Libbey exhibit at the World s Fair in 1904. Appraised at $24,000 in

1046 when it was presented to the Toledo Mus. of Art.

CHAPTER XI

o -o o -o o o o- -o -o -o o -o o o o o o o o o o -o o o

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

IT IS easy to recognize patterns of the Brilliant Period. The
designs are more deeply cut and more intricate than those of
the two earlier eras. The familiar motifs of hob-star, curved split,
notched prism, and chair bottom are combined with the older and
simpler motifs of hobnail, fan, strawberry-diamond, and block.

About the year 1880, several almost simultaneous developments
in the glass industry made possible these more intricate cuttings.
First, the use of natural gas made fusion of metal more rapid and
annealing more perfect so that the final product was crystal clear
and could be a very heavy type of glass. Then electricity was
adapted to the cutter s lathe. This so speeded up the stone cutting
wheels that much deeper designs were possible. Finally an automatic
polishing device and the designing of curved miter cuttings led to
greater variety in the necessarily geometric designs. Copper-wheel
engravings of the Middle Period rarely appear in the Brilliant
Period until about 1900 when, to recoup the fading glory of the
industry, a few manufacturers cut flowers and fruits in intaglio.

A complete listing of the thousands of patterns produced by name
or number in hundreds of cutting shops during the Brilliant Period
is not possible. Some patterns of which a few stray pieces sometimes
turn up, were cut in limited quantity, proved impractical, and were
then withdrawn. There are no records of these transients. However,
some fifty fully documented patterns cut by leading glasshouses were
produced in sufficient quantity to be available now to the collector.

In the classification that follows, standard patterns are empha
sized and the variations listed under them. The name and patent

[181]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

design of the original patentee has been considered the standard.
Frequently a glass cutter or manufacturer would design, patent, and
produce an original design under his own name. The next season
other glasshouses, seeing its popularity would copy the same pattern
under another name or offer a design under the same name with just
enough variation to obtain a new patent listing.

Pattern names applied to designs of the Brilliant Period are
more easily followed in the early years. The Russian (Pattern i),
for example, is definite, as easily recognized on a goblet as on a
bowl or pitcher. The Middlesex (Pattern 6) is definite, as are
Strawberry-Diamond and Fan (Pattern 18), Venetian (Pattern
20), Parisian (Pattern 3), and a number of others that are clas
sified.

Toward the end of the period, however, patterns became ornate
and confused. For this reason, pattern names mean less after 1900
than in the first twenty years of the period. The older glas.smen
who still remember the later years of the Brilliant Period speak of
such designs as u Chair Bottom and Star" or "Flower and Diamond
Combination," or "Pinwheel and BulPs-Eye." Although most of
the hybrids had specific pattern names, there were so many varia
tions that the cutters themselves no longer recall them.

Collectors who have examples of these later cuttings (not listed
among the better known and older patterns of the Brilliant Period)
should study the Motif Chart (Appendix I) and apply the proper
motif designations to individual pieces. Generally there will be two
definite motifs used in a pattern. Pick out the two dominant rec
ognizable ones and, if this combination does not fit into any classifi
cation already defined either as standard pattern or variation, iden
tify your design by a combination of the names of the two principal
motifs. Common combinations include hob-star or single star or
pinwheel with any one of the following: curved split, hobnail,
notched prism, bull s-eye, chair bottom, block, or strawberry-
diamond. Although these cuttings are usually later ones, they are
not necessarily so. During the entire Brilliant Period many pieces
were cut without a pattern in the smaller shops, and in the large
shops single pieces were always being cut without a pattern on the

[182]

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

inspiration of the moment. Such pieces often made by the cutters
for their own use or as gifts are frequently of fine craftsmanship
and should be included in collections.

The fifty patterns classified here in chronological order indicate
to the collector the trend of design from 1880 to 1905, the duration
of the Brilliant Period. The motifs dated here should also help him
to place with fair accuracy almost any unlisted pattern in his own
collection. He is safe in assuming that an unlisted pattern which
combines a curved split with any other motif was probably not cut
before 1882 or 1883, even though the piece in question is appar
ently old. A pattern which included the notched prism motif as an
integral part of design in combination with bull s-eye, block, or any
other single motif probably followed the Nautilus pattern of 1896.
The pinwheel motif denotes cutting after 1900 in any case, and
probably later than 1905. Any realistic cutting of flowers or fruit
in intaglio indicates that the pattern was cut toward the close of the
Brilliant Period or even as late as 1910.

The pattern names have been taken from three sources : I have
used old catalogues where they were available, I have drawn on the
memories of several veteran glassmen, and I have consulted the
design patent records from the United States Department of Com
merce. In a few cases the name of the pattern is included on the
letters patent.

It is to be remembered, too, that all the time Brilliant patterns
were being designed and cut, variations on the old stand-bys were
also being cut on more modern blanks. Strawberry-Diamond and
Fan is given as a standard (Pattern 18) but the strawberry-
diamond motif without the fan was cut in solid fields on a number
of blanks. The old English hobnail and the American block motifs
were also cut on nappies, particularly square-shaped ones, and on
saucedishes. Because of their sparkling metal and not because of
motif or pattern, these few pieces are classified as of the Brilliant
Period. Actually the same motifs were cut during the Early Ameri
can and the Middle Period, but any piece of hobnail, strawberry-
diamond, or block made after 1880 will have the luster and snap
characteristic of the Brazilian (Pattern 15), Kimberly (Pattern

[183]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

23), or other patterns definitely of the Brilliant Period In such
pieces consider age marks and color rather than pattern as a guide
to classification.

Patent records are available for only a relatively small number
of cut glass designs. Some houses never did patent their designs;
some patented only those challenged by other houses; some pat
ented designs they never actually cut; and many houses stopped
patenting when it became apparent their designs were still not
protected from copying. Although the classification below is given
in the order of patent dates, in so far as these are available, it is not
an infallible guide to the first appearance of certain designs. Leigh-
ton s Bowknot (Pattern 5), for instance, was patented in 1886,
but did not appear until 1887, when it was contemporary with a
variation, Miller s Maltese Cross (Pattern 5, variation), and with
Middlesex (Pattern 6). Chrysanthemum (Pattern 21) was pat
ented in 1890, but was certainly known before that time as it won
a prize at the Paris Exposition in 1889.

i. RUSSIAN

The Russian pattern is a refinement on the old Star and Hob
nail cut in Brooklyn and Pittsburgh as early as 1863. It was de
signed by Philip McDonald, a cutter employed by Thomas G.
Hawkes of Corning, New York. The designer secured patent
papers for it on June 20th, 1882, and assigned the pattern to his
employer. Soon afterward one of the most influential glass dealers
and importers of the nineteenth century, Richard Briggs of Boston,
came to Hawkes with an order for a complete banquet service to
be cut for the Russian Embassy in Washington. McDonald s design
was selected, became tremendously popular, and was thenceforth
known as the Russian.

In June of 1885 another complete service in this pattern was
ordered for use at state dinners in the American Embassy at Saint
Petersburg, and in 1886 the White House at Washington adopted
the same pattern, with the addition of an engraved eagle crest. The
first highball or iced-tea glasses were cut by C. Dorflinger and Sons

PLATE 78

Russian, Pattern i
Reproduced from catalogue of the T. G. Hawkes Glass Company

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

for Theodore Roosevelt Although additions and replacements
were later made to this service, many of the original pieces still
appeared at state dinners during the administration of Franklin D.
Roosevelt and the set was in use until 1938, when a less expensive
service was ordered.

It would be impossible to list the pieces cut in the Russian pat
tern, since everything that could be cut was eventually represented.
Not every company, however, cut all kinds of pieces; for instance,
T. G. Hawkes cut small bonbon and olive dishes in 5-inch crescents,
y-inch oak leaves, and hearts of varying sizes. The same shapes
were cut in smaller sizes for pin trays. Some of the plates have a
shell scallop, but early pieces have plain borders.

The plates cut by Dorflinger in the Russian pattern usually have
a 24-point star in the center, a very early use of this motif. Earlier
plates, bowls, and nappies cut by the Hawkes company usually show
a solid cutting. Later this company also adopted the 24-point star
in combination with the Russian pattern because of the greatly re
duced cost of production, but this was after trade-marks were used
and all such Hawkes pieces are marked. (See Appendix III.) The
Russian pattern was much copied by manufacturers of pressed glass
and was called by them Daisy and Button.

Russian is one of the patterns for which prices are known. With
some local variation but with a fairly standard retail mark-up of
33 l /3 P er cent, the following prices prevailed in 1890 for pieces of
high quality: bonbon dish, y-inch oak leaf, $12.50; butter tub with
plate, $23.00; cologne bottle, 8-ounce, square, $10.00; compotes,
8-inch, $15.00; 9-inch, $20.00; zo-inch, $25.00; 1 2-inch round
nappie without handles, $18.00; punch bowl with pedestal, 1 5-inch,
$125.00. Today, goblets cut in the Russian pattern with an en
graved crest similar to those supplied to the White House from
1886 until 1938, are listed at an approximate retail price of
$750.00 per dozen; sherry and cordial glasses, $600.00 per dozen.

CLASSIFICATION.

r. Basket, lo-inch

2. Bonbon or olive dishes, 5 and 6-inch round; 5-inch crescents

[186]

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

3. Bowls, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 1 2-inch; flat-bottomed, square, round,
and oval

4. Bread plate, loinch oval

5. Butter dishes, individual, 3-inch, flat or stemmed

6. Butter tub with plate

7. Candlesticks and candelabra

8. Celery dishes

a. boat, 4J/2 by 1 1 inches

b. vases, 10, 1 2-inch, straight or stemmed

9. Champagne jug, 2-quart, straight with handles, without cover

10. Claret jugs, i-pint, i^-pint, i-quart, with handles; matching
or lapidary stoppers

11. Cologne bottles, 4, 6, and 8-ounce, narrow-necked, square,
globe, and round

12. Cocktail glasses

13. Compotes, 8, 9, and lo-inch; round, short, or tall-stemmed

14. Cruets, 6 or 8-ounce, tapering or globed

15. Decanters, i-pint, 15/2 -pint, i-quart; narrow, ring-necked, and
globe

1 6. Finger bowls, 2^/2 by 5 inches

17. Goblets, tall and short-stemmed, globed, tapering, and bell

1 8. Highballs

19. Ice-cream platter, 7 by 12 inches

20. Mustard jar

21. Nappies

a. 7, 8, 9-inch square, with or without handles

b. 7, 8, 9, 10, 12-inch round, without handles

c. 6 by 9-inch oblong

22. Pin trays, 4-inch oak leaves, hearts, and crescents

23. Plates, 6, 8j^2, 10, and 1 2-inch

24. Powder box, with glass or metal tops

25. Punch bowl, 1 5-inch with pedestal

26. Punch cups, with handles

27. Rose bowl

28. Salts, table and individual; globed, square, and tub

29. Saucedishes, 4 and 4j4~inch shallow

30. Sherbets, flat or stemmed, with handles

[187]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

31. Smelling-salts bottles

32. Spoonholder, 3^ -inch by 7^ -inch oval

33. Sugar bowls, globed, standard, and tub; with or without cov-
ers; with or without handles. Older pieces without handles.

34. Sirup pitcher, globed, with or without silver tops

35. Toothpick holders, square, round, flat, and stemmed

36. Tumblers, water and whisky

37. Vases, tall, straight, or stemmed

38. Water pitchers, straight or globe

39. Wines, champagne, claret, cordials, hock, Madeira, sherry

VARIATIONS.

Ambassador. Crosshatched, as in the old English strawberry-
diamond.

Canterbury. The hobnail cut in a simple star.

Cleveland. Combines tw r o circles of straight, undecorated hobnail
motifs W 7 ith Russian.

Persian. Changes the simple star motif to a many-pointed hob-star
figure. Expensive and rare, appears chiefly in 8, 9, and lO-inch
nappies with straight sides, and 7, 8, 9, and lo-inch berry bowls.
Polar Star. Increases size of larger star motif in proportion to
smaller hobnail.

Spider Web. Combines Russian with Strawberry-Diamond and Fan
pattern.

COLOR. Clear, green, ruby, amber, amethyst, blue, yellow. All very
rare.

ORIGIN. The name, Russian, originated with the T. G. Hawkes
Company, but the pattern or one of its variations was later cut by
virtually every glasshouse.

TRADE-MARK. None, since trade-marks were not adopted until after
this pattern had reached its peak of popularity.

2. COBWEB

Patent design papers for the Cobweb pattern were taken out in
1883 by George Hatch, a glass cutter at the Meriden Flint Glass

[188]

PLATE 79

Cobweb, Pattern 2
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

Company. Hatch had an idea for a tout ensemble never before
applied either in the cut glass industry or in interior decoration. He
says in his letters patent: This ornamentation applies to the vari
ous articles included in glassware . . . such as sets including shades
for lighting-fixtures, as well as articles of table service, whereby
the entire glass in the apartment will all correspond."

The Cobweb pattern resembles the triple miter cuttings of the
Middle Period rather than the deep miter cuttings of the Brilliant
Period. However, because of the date of Hatch s patent and the
shapes on which the design was cut it is rightly assigned to the
Brilliant Period. It is a very rare pattern but exciting to search
for, especially for lamp collectors.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Bowls, 6, 7, 8, 9-inch

2. Celery vase

3. Compotes, on high standard, without cover; on low foot, cov
ered; both 8-inch

4. Goblets, straight, tapering sides, plain rim

5. Lamp bases

6. Pitchers, straight or globe-shaped

7. Shades for lighting fixtures, globe or flaring; other shapes may
have been cut, but none are now known

VARIATIONS. None.

COLOR. Clear; may have been cut in color, red perhaps, but no
known pieces exist.

ORIGIN. Meriden Flint Glass Company, Meriden, Conn. It is doubt
ful if this pattern was ever cut by any other company.

TRADE-MARK. Pattern discontinued before the trade-mark was
adopted, so that no piece is marked.

3. PARISIAN

The Parisian pattern was the first to make use of the curved miter
split. It was patented in May, 1886, by John S, O Connor, designer

PLATE 80

Parisian, Pattern 3
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

and cutting shop superintendent for C. Dorflinger and Sons and
was assigned to the company which manufactured cut glass blanks
and began cutting the new pattern immediately. It became popular
almost at once and started a trend in cut glass decoration which
continued through the first two decades of the twentieth century.

The Parisian pattern is comparatively simple. It consists of
curved splits with alternate fans and old strawberry-diamond cross-
hatchings. Each piece has a star bottom. An exclusive Dorflinger
pattern, it is now rare.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, 9, and lO-inch

2. Berry dishes, 4 l / 2 and 5-inch, shallow

3. Bonbon or olive dishes, small, round, 4^/2 and 5-inch diameter

4. Celery vase

5. Cruets, 6, 8, and lO-ounce

6. Finger bowls, 4, 4^2, and 5-inch, shallow and deep

7. Goblets, taper and bowl-shaped, 6 l /&gt; inches high

8. Plates, 6, 8j^, and lo-inch

9. Saucedishes, 4^2 and 5-inch, shallow

Parisian was undoubtedly cut in compotes, claret jugs, water
pitchers, tumblers, and other tableware as it w r as one of the most
popular Dorflinger patterns of the period; but no such pieces are
now known.

VARIATIONS. Several Straus cuttings are variations of Parisian.
Other glasshouses developed patterns on the curved-line principle
but they are too distinctive in character to be confused with Parisian.
All variations used the curved-line split in combination with the
star; the original has only the bottom starred.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. C. Dorflinger and Sons, White Mills, Penna. The Parisian
was distinctly a Dorflinger pattern, was extensively cut by them,
and not copied or cut by any other establishment.

TRADE-MARK. Too early for trade-mark.

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

4. STRAWBERRY-DIAMOND AND STAR

The Strawberry-Diamond and Star is a very important pattern
for it shows the transition of the strawberry-diamond from the
commonly accepted English form to the later standard American
motif.

In English and Irish patterns, the strawberry-diamond is a four-
sided cut motif varying in size from i l /&gt; inches down to a J^-inch
square. This slightly raised square or rectangle is crosshatched with
tiny fine lines making miniature diamonds on the larger field. In
the Early American patterns the strawberry-diamond motif re
tains this character as shown on the Bakewell pieces. During the
Middle Period the motif was made smaller as the depth of its sides
became greater until it lost its original character, becoming simply
a small diamond with one X or single cross on top.

In 1886, a glass cutter named Walter A, Wood, designed a vari
ation of the strawberry-diamond, the cross-cut diamond, and fan
motifs and assigned the patent to T. B. Clark and Company. In
Wood s Strawberry-Diamond and Star pattern the progression of
the strawberry-diamond motif is plainly visible. He uses a pattern
of four diamonds, two of them the old strawberry crosshatched
with tiny lines in a multiple cutting and the other two the modern X
cutting with two diagonals added. These diagonals were later
dropped. [Cf. Strawberry-Diamond and Fan (Pattern 18).] The
pattern designed by Wood was not extensively cut.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Dishes, 5-inch square, shallow

2. Nappies, shallow sides, 6, 7, 8-inch square; 7 by 4^ inches
oblong; 7 inches round

3. Plates, Sy 2 and 10-inch (perhaps some 7-inch square plates were
cut)

4. Saucedishes, 4 and 5-inch, shallow

5. Tumblers, 5-ounce mineral, 8-inch whisky or finger, star bottoms

VARIATIONS.

Cornell. Produced by Maple City Glass Company, Hawley, Penna.

[193]

PLATE 8 I

Strawberry-Diamond and Star, Pattern 4
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

Strawberry-Diamond and Prism. Cut by J. Hoare and Company,
Corning, N. Y.

Strawberry-Diamond and Scallop. From unidentified Brooklyn
glasshouses.

Strawberry-Diamond and Fan. This most famous descendant be
came in its own right Pattern 18.

COLOR. Clear. Color unlikely.

ORIGIN. T. B. Clark and- Company, Honesdale, Penna.

TRADE-MARKS. Cut before trade-marks were used.

5. LEIGHTON S BOW-KNOT

Leighton s Bow-Knot was designed and patented in 1886 by one
of the famous Leighton brothers instrumental in the development
of the New England Glass Company during the Middle Period.
At the time William Leighton, Jr. designed the Bow-Knot pattern,
he seems to have been connected with the firm of Hobbs-Brockunier
& Co. Although William Leighton, Sr. had perfected the lime glass
formula which revolutionized the pressed glass industry in 1864,
William Leighton, Jr. never lost his interest and enthusiasm for cut
glass of fine quality, or for red, green, and yellow lead glass.

Leighton s Bow-Knot, first cut in 1887, is rare but worth any
collector s search for it was cut on exquisitely fine metal. The
heart-shaped bow described in Leighton s letters patent as u a scroll
ornamentation resembling bunches of ribbons," proved too expen
sive to be practical and was later dropped from the pattern. The
diagonal lines and the use of the Maltese cross were new to cut
glass design in 1887.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, 9-inch

2. Saucedishes, 4, 4^2, and 5-inch

The pattern may have been cut in compotes, tumblers, and salts,
but none are known at this time. It appears certain that no stemmed

[195]

PLATE 82

Leighton s Bowknot, Pattern 5
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

ware goblets or wines were cut with the bow-knot, although
some may have been cut with the smaller Maltese cross.

VARIATIONS.

Miller s Maltese Cross. On the same day that Leighton took out
patent papers for his Bow-Knot, J. E. Miller of Pittsburgh pat
ented the Maltese Cross pattern. His patent was witnessed by a
member of the old Bakewell family. There was no litigation but
considerable controversy ensued. Miller s Maltese Cross does not
have the heart-shaped motif later dropped by Leighton s Bow-
Knot, nor has it the swirling effect of diagonal lines found in the
standard, the figures being perpendicular to the base. The bowls
are somewhat taller than Leighton s bowls and the tops are deeply
scalloped in six or eight almost arched panels. Both patterns are
rare, but they can be found in berry sets.

COLOR. Clear, also colors, probably only red and yellow; Miller s
Maltese Cross was cut in clear only.

ORIGIN. Leighton s Bow-Knot, Hobbs-Brockunier and Company,

Wheeling, West Virginia.

Miller s Maltese Cross, Phoenix Glass Company, Pittsburgh,

Penna.

TRADE-MARKS. None.

6. MIDDLESEX

One of the last patterns ever cut by the old New England Glass
Company, Middlesex is one of the most beautiful of all cut glass
patterns. It is extremely rare and a collector s item since it is one of
the first of the curved miter patterns ever cut.

It was designed and patented by William C. Anderson, a glass
cutter at the New England Glass Company where Edward Drum-
mond Libbey was his boss. Libbey had inherited the New England
Glass Company when his father died in 1883. Although it was
facing bankruptcy, Edward Libbey felt that if he could convert the

PLATE 83

Middlesex, Pattern 6
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

New England Glass Company to the new-style heavy lead, deeply
cut tableware, he might be able to save it. He offered prizes for
designs for cut glass, and Anderson s Middlesex w r as one of the
first ones turned in. Later Anderson went to Toledo and became
chief designer for Libbey.

Though it is possible that Middlesex was later cut in Toledo at
the Libbey Glass Company, it is not one of the patterns listed in
their 1890 catalogue. Probably all pieces of the Middlesex pattern
were cut on New England Glass Company blanks before the fur
naces were converted to gas, and have that singularly mellow soft
ness to their brilliance not found in glass fused in gas-fired furnaces.

Middlesex is the first cut glass pattern on record to use the
8-point star in a repetitive design. The 8-point star was the fore
runner of the 10 and 12-point star known as the hob-star because
the intersecting points form a figure in the center of the star re
sembling a raised hobnail. The 10 and 12-point hob-star was much
used in later Libbey patterns.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, and 9-inch

2. Bonbon or olive dish, 5-inch, shallow

3. Celery vase

4. Compote, y-inch, stemmed, no covers

5. Saucedishes, 4^-inch, shallow

6. Tumblers, small finger, straight sides, star bottom

Other pieces may have been cut in this pattern, probably some salt
dishes and ice-cream plates.

VARIATIONS.

Lorimer, using the 8-point star with straight splits between, is
neither so well designed nor so well cut as Middlesex, and should
not be confused with the standard which has curved splits.
Siiltanaj a Dorflinger variation which drops the inner fan, adding a
small star. Any pattern combining the simple 8-pointed star with
double splits (such as the Lorimer) may be considered a variation
of Middlesex. Several such variations were cut by the T. B. Clark

[199]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

Company in Honesdale, Penna., but usually without the curved
splits combined with the fan motif.

COLOR. Probably all pieces cut were clear glass since the New Eng
land Glass Company had stopped making colored glass by 1886.
All Lorimer pieces are also clear.

ORIGIN.

Middlesex. New England Glass Company, Cambridge, Mass.;

later possibly Libbey Glass Company, Toledo, O.

Lorimer. Maple City Glass Company, Hawley, Penna.

TRADE-MARK.

Middlesex. Unmarked because the New England Glass Company

did not use trade-marks.

Lorimer. Small maple leaf trade-mark of the Maple City Glass

Company (see Appendix IV).

T. B. Clark Company 8-point patterns are marked with the Clark

circle (see Appendix IV).

7. ANGVLATED RIBBON

This is often mistaken for an Early American or an English
pattern. It has an old-style look about it that is charming in the
few small bowls and saucedishes that have survived. There are
probably a good many more pieces of Angulated Ribbon around
than have so far been recorded, as it was popular and relatively
inexpensive in its day. The patent papers describe it as "consisting
of a circular band composed essentially of an angulated ribbon."
Andrew Snow, Jr., the designer, was treasurer of the Mount Wash
ington glassworks about 1890, according to Thomas A. Tripp of
Fairhaven, Massachusetts, who was manager of that company at
the time and afterward of its successor, the Pairpoint Glass Com
pany. In Mr. Tripp s opinion, Angulated Ribbon was not cut ex
tensively after 1890.

CLASSIFICATION.

I. Bowls, 7, 8, 9-inch, shallow

[ 200 ]

PLATE 84

Angulated Ribbon, Pattern 7
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PLATE 85

Russian and Pillar, Pattern 8
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

2. Butter patties, 3-inch

3. Plates, 6, 7, g-inch, slightly curved up at edge

4. Saucedishes, probably 4^ to 5-inch, shallow; none now known
to exist.

VARIATIONS. None
COLOR. Clear glass.

ORIGIN. Mount Washington Glass Company and later the Pairpoint
Glass Company, both in New Bedford, Mass.

TRADE-MARK. None.

8. RUSSIAN AND PILLAR

The Russian and Pillar pattern was one of that early group of
swirl patterns which also included Leighton s Bow-knot. The
standard w r as patented and designed by T. G. Hawkes in 1887, but
was not cut extensively by him until several years later. Some col
lectors regard it as a variation of the Russian and it can be used
with the Russian in service sets. However, it is a distinct pattern in
itself and was so considered by its contemporaries.

The pillars of the pattern are particularly lovely on the fine
Hawkes blanks, resembling in their smooth texture the pillars of
the early Robinson decanter (Plate 45).

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry sets

2. Fruit bowls, 7 and g-inch, deep tapering sides

3. Plates, 8j^ and 1 2-inch

Some wine glasses and goblets were cut in this pattern on order.
These are rare.

VARIATIONS. Crystal, Russian and Leaf, and Wheat are all Hoare
variations of the standard Russian and Pillar. Wheatstalks replace
the pillars in the Wheat variation, and also on Harvest, another

[203]

PLATE 86

Grecian, Pattern 9
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIAXT PERIOD

variation cut by Fry. Straus cut still another variation known as
Russian Swirl. Toward the end of the Brilliant Period, a number
of popular variations appeared on many types of blanks.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. T. G. Hawkes Glass Company, Corning, New York. The
Wheat variation was cut by J. Hoare and Company of Corning,
N. Y., and Harvest was developed ten years later by the H. C.
Fry Glass Company, Rochester, Penna.

TRADE-MARKS. Later cuttings of Russian and Pillar have the
Hawkes trade-mark (see Appendix IV) but many were cut before
adoption of the trade-mark. Wheat shows no trade-mark as the
Hoare trade-mark had not yet been adopted.

Q. GRECIAN

If Grecian were not so important as a specific design in its own
time, it might be listed in later charts as a variation of the Russian
pattern. The standard Grecian has a field of star and hobnail cut
ting with oval lozenge-shaped figures of clear glass, evenly spaced
as radiants from a lo-point star bottom. Designed by T. G.
Hawkes, it was cut in a full dinner service as one of two sets to be
displayed at the Paris Exposition in 1889, where they won the in
ternational grand prize. Because of the Paris award, Grecian is of
particular interest to collectors. It is comparatively rare.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Bonbon or olive dish

2. Bowls, 7, 9, and lo-inch, sloping sides

3. Celery dishes

a. boats

b. vases, cut in 1889, earlier than the boats, but very rare

4. Compotes, 7, 9, io-5nch, on stems, cut feet, no covers

5. Finger bowls, 5-inch, straight sides

6. Goblets, round, with cut or plain stem; tapering, with cut stem

PLATE 87

Old-fashioned Hobnail, Pattern 10
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

7. Ice-cream dishes, 5-inch, rare

8. Nappies, 6 to 9 inches

9. Plates, 5 (rare), 6, 8J4, lo-inch

10. Platter, 1 2-inch, slightly curved up on the edge

11. Salts, individual and table, globe and tub

12. Saucedishes, 4*4-inch, shallow; 5-inch, deep

13. Sugar bowls, globular or square, with covers, no handles

14. Tumblers, finger, 2-ounce; straight, star bottoms, 5 to 8-ounce

15. Wines, saucer champagne, claret, and sherry, also small cor
dials; cut stems and feet

1 6. Vase, rose

VARIATIONS. Probably other glasshouses followed the practice of
cutting clear figures through a Russian pattern background but only
the Grecian by Hawkes shows the lo-point star bottom.

COLOR. Usually clear, but some small wines and cordials were cut
in green and red to accompany larger services in clear glass.

ORIGIN. Designed and cut by the T. G. Hawkes Company, Corning,

N. Y.

TRADE-MARK. Not yet adopted.

10. OLD-FASHIONED HOBNAIL

Although this figure is sometimes called the English Hobnail, it
was never used as extensively in either England or Ireland as it was
in America. Early glass cutters of the Middle Period and a few in
the Early American Period made use of the six-sided hobnail
motif, but its greatest use was after 1888 when glass manufacturers
found the pattern both effective and inexpensive. Later hobnail
pieces can be distinguished from those of the two earlier periods by
the brilliance of the metal and the accuracy and depth of the splits.
The hobnail is a fairly simple cutting, similar to the old block
motif, Parallel horizontal splits are bisected by diagonal parallels
forming the six-sided figure called hobnail from its resemblance to
the hobnails used on the soles of old boots.

[207]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Basket, 6 by 10 inches, flat with handles

2. Berry or center bowls, 8, 9, 10 and 1 2-inch, flat bottom;
square, round, or oval

3. Bonbon or olive dishes, 5 and 6-inch round, 5-inch crescent,
7-inch oak leaf, 5 and 7-inch heart

4. Bread plate, lo-inch oval

5. Butter patties, 3-inch, flat and stemmed, square and round

6. Butter tub with plate

7. Canoe-shaped salted-nut dish

8. Celery dishes

a. boats, flat or curved sides, 5 by 10^2 inches

b. vases, straight or stemmed

9. Champagne jug, 2-quart, straight, without cover, with handles

10. Claret jugs, i-pint, i l / 2 pint, i -quart with handles

11. Cologne bottles, 4, 6, 8-ounce narrow neck, square, globe,
round

12. Compotes, 8, 9, lo-inch round, short or tall stem

13. Cruets, 6 or 8-inch, 6 or 8-ounce, tapering or globe

14. Decanters, i-pint, I J^-pint, i-quart; narrow or ring neck, globe

15. Finger bowls, 5-inch, 2 l / 2 inches deep

1 6. Goblets, tall and short stem, globe, tapering, and bell

17. Ice-cream platter, 7 by 12 inches, oblong

1 8. Mustard jar

19. Nappies, 7, 8, 9-inch; round, with handles; square, with or
without handles

20. Pin trays, 4-inch, oak leaf, heart, and crescent

21. Plates, 7, 8 }/2, 10, 12, 1 3-inch

22. Powder box with glass or metal tops

23. Punch bowl, 1 5-inch, with pedestal

24. Punch cups with handles

25. Rose bowl

26. Salts, table and individual, globe, square, and tub

27. Saucedishes, 4 and 4j^-inch, shallow

28. Sherbets, stemmed or flat, with handles

29. Smelling-salts bottles

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

30. Spoonholder, flat, oval, 7^ by 3^ inches

31. Sugar bowls, standard, globe and tub, with or without covers,
with or without handles; older pieces without handles

32. Sirup pitcher, globe, with or without silver top

33. Toothpick holders, square, round, fiat, and stemmed

34. Tumblers, highball or iced tea, 10, 12-ounce; whisky or finger,
5, 6-ounce; champagne or mineral, 5-ounce

35. Vases, tall, straight, or stemmed

36. Water pitchers, straight or globe

37. Wine glasses, saucer champagne, hock, claret, Madeira, sherry,
cocktail, and cordial

VARIATIONS.

Hob-m-Pillar-Panel, cut by T. G. Hawkes Glass Company, Cor
ning, N. Y.

Hobnail and Fan, cut by all companies
Hobnail and Russian, cut by all companies

COLOR. Clear, green, ruby, amber. Colored pieces are very rare.
ORIGIN. Cut by all companies.

TRADE-MARK. Only a few pieces carry a trade-mark since this was
considered a commercial pattern. Libbey Glass Company marked
seme pieces as did the T. G. Hawkes Glass Company after 1896.

ii. DEVONSHIRE

One of the loveliest of all the early patterns, Devonshire shows
the progression of design motifs from the earlier Irish forms to
the more modern star, hob-star, and curved split. Thomas G.
Hawkes, the designer, was a sixth-generation glass manufacturer
and cutter who found it natural to adapt ancestral Irish motifs to
the New World geometric arc forms. Devonshire uses alternate
squares of old English strawberry-diamond, single star, fan, and
pyramid-diamond. Though rather ornate, it is an effective pattern
and was very popular and expensive. Note the large hob-star in

[209]

PLATE 88

Devonshire, Pattern n
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

the bottom. This was one of the first patterns to use the 24-point
hob-star, always a mark of quality in cutting.

As in the case of many of the finer patterns, it is easier to find
complete sets of Devonshire than of commoner designs. Possibly
that is because the elaborate sets were brought out only on state
occasions. As a complete service of Devonshire originally cost sev
eral thousand dollars, it was treasured to hand dow T n as an heir
loom. Today such a service could not be duplicated at three times the
1889 price.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Bonbon or olive dishes, 5-inch, round, shallow; 4^2 by 5-inch
oblong; also, a less common type, 5 by 7-inch

2. Bowls, 7 and g-inch, flat with slightly curved straight sides

3. Butter patties, 3-inch, rare

4. Celery vase, (frequently mistaken for Irish, and sold as W.ater-
ford, as they use the old English strawberry-diamond combined
with the fan scallop)

5. Compotes, 5 and 7-inch, stemmed, no covers

6. Finger bowls, 4-inch, with slightly curved, straight sides

7. Goblets, round, with cut foot; tapering, with plain foot

8. Nappies, 7 and 9-inch

9. Plates, 6, 8^/2, 10, and 12-inch

10. Rose bowl, round

11. Salts, globe, table only

12. Saucedishes, 4^2-inch, shallow

13. Sugar bowls, globe and square (cut on same shape blanks as
Grecian), covers, no handles

14. Tumblers, finger, 2-ounce; 7-ounce, straight sides, star bottoms

15. Wines, saucer champagne, claret, sherry, small liqueurs, taper
ing or round

1 6. Vases, tapering, stemmed

VARIATIONS. Tokio, a later, less expensive copy of Devonshire cut
by J. Hoare & Co. used continuous strawberry-diamond field in
stead of alternating star and strawberry-diamond. No other vari
ations were attempted, probably because expense limited sale.

[211]

PLATE 89

Baker s Gothic, Pattern 12
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

COLOR. Clear glass, except for a few red or green liqueurs and small
wines in which the bowls were colored and the stems clear

ORIGIN. Thomas G. Hawkes Company, Corning, N. Y.

TRADE-MARK. The small Hawkes trade-mark of a shamrock with a
hawk on either side of the name, is found stamped with acid on
the bottom of later pieces. Some early pieces are unmarked, as they
were cut before the trade-mark was adopted.

12. BAKER S GOTHIC

It was inevitable, after the curved split was adapted to glass
design, that the Gothic arch should soon follow. Baker s Gothic,
designed by Thomas A. Baker, designer and glass cutter for the
T. B. Clark Company, was the first of the Gothic patterns. The
Gothic arch between the points on all six sides of the star gives this
pattern its name. It was cut extensively by the Clark company in
complete sets and in a wide variety of shapes, as it was adaptable
to almost any glass form. Note the 6-pointed star reaching to the
very edge of the scalloped rim. This, together with the cross-
hatched lozenges in the center, are the distinguishing features of
the pattern. The true standard shows a star center in three of the
central star lozenges, though not all authentic pieces cut by Clark
follow this form minutely. However, if you find a piece of Baker s
Gothic that does show these three starred centers, it is safe to as
sume that it was an early cutting, probably around 1890.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowl, 9-inch

2. Bonbon or olive dishes, 5^ -inch, with handle, 5-inch without
handle

3. Celery vase

4. Champagne jug, 2-quart, straight sides

5. Claret jugs, I and I J^-quart, with stoppers and handles

6. Compotes, 5, 7-inch, stemmed, no covers; low stemmed 5-inch
with dome cover, probably intended as butter dish

[213]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

7. Goblets, bell, 6&gt;^-inch

8. Nappies, 7 and 8-inch, round

9. Plates, 6, S*/2, and xo-inch

10. Punch bowl, 10-inch, rare

11. Saucedishes, 4^ -inch, shallow

12. Sugar bowls with handles (probably later) ; round sugar bowl
with cover, no handles

13. Tumblers, S-ounce standard, straight, star bottom; no 12-ounce
iced tea, but possibly some 5 -ounce mineral tumblers

14. Water pitcher, i-quart, flared

15. Wines, most plentiful in this pattern, saucer champagnes,
claret, and sherry; a few cordials

Also such incidentals as candlesticks, toothpick holders, mustard
pot with cover.

VARIATIONS.

Denrock, with three Gothic arches instead of six and star cuttings
enclosed in arches with fan and chair bottom cutting between, a
corruption of the old Baker s Gothic cut by the Maple City Glass
Company, is not as well designed nor as sharp a pattern. Found in
5 and 6-inch nappies, with and without handles.
Gotham, a much later variation cut by J. Hoare and Company,
Corning, N. Y., using alternate hob-star and crosshatched lozenge-
shaped figures on pint decanters, celery boats, 7, 8, and 9-inch berry
bowls so like the standard as to be almost interchangeable in sets.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. T. B. Clark Company of Honesdale, Penna. Variations by
Maple City Glass Company (Denrock) and by J. Hoare and
Company (Gotham).

TRADE-MARK. Later pieces marked with Clark trade-mark (see
Appendix IV),

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

13. FLORENCE

Designed by William C. Anderson for E. D. Libbey in 1889, this
somewhat ornate pattern was one of the first to be cut extensively
at the new Libbey Glass Company in Toledo, Ohio. One unique
feature will quickly distinguish this pattern for the collector. In the
bottom of each piece, including the stemmed ware, is a 12-point
hob-star; the space between the points is filled in with a fan, making
a fan and hob-star rosette.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7-inch, with straight or tapering sides

2. Bonbon or olive dish, 6-inch, with and without stem and handle

3. Celery boat (later)

4. Claret jug, w r ith handles and stopper

5. Compotes, 5 and 7-inch, short-stemmed; also one tall 6-inch
compote with shallow dish

6. Cream jug, 6-inch, straight

7. Decanters, quart and pint, with and without handles

8. Finger bowls, 5-inch

9. Goblets, 6y 2 inch, tall; globe only

10. Ice tub, 9-inch

11. Ice-cream platter, oval

12. Nappies, 8 and 9-inch round

13. Pitcher, miniature 6-inch, excellent collector s item

14. Plates, 6 and 8 l /&gt; -inch, 10 and 1 2-inch oval bread plates

15. Punch bow T l, 1 2-inch, with stand

1 6. Saucedishes, 5-inch, shallow

17. Sugar bowl, without cover or handles, straight and tapering

1 8. Sirup jug, no stopper

19. Tumblers, 5 -ounce, called mineral or champagne tumblers;
8-ounce finger tumblers, short and star bottomed

20. Water pitchers, I and 2-quart

21. Wines, saucer champagne, claret, sherry wine, wine, cordial
Also such incidentals as mustard pot with cover, candlesticks, center
bowl

DESIGN.

W. C. ANDERSON.

ORNAMENTATION OF GLASSWARE.

No. 19,053. ^yv^k-a^ 3 -^ 611 ^ 6 ^ Apr. 23,

&77777Z^^

PLATE 90

Florence, Pattern 13
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

VARIATIONS. Star, cut by the same company ten years later, is the
Florence redesigned, without the crosshatching, and with the fan
scallop modified, making a very beautiful, expensive cutting highly
esteemed by collectors. The 12-point star and fan rosette on the
bottom is retained, and this figure identifies any variation of Flor
ence, the first pattern to use it.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. Libbey Glass Company, Toledo, Ohio.

TRADE-MARK. Any piece of Florence or Star, cut after 1892, bears
one or other of the Libbey trade-marks (see Appendix IV).

14. LOUIS XIV

Louis XIV is most unusual. It was designed by Richard Briggs
of Boston, Massachusetts, one of the country s foremost china and
glass merchants, and patented by him in 1889. It was cut only on
special order for his most select clientele, but the pieces have sur
vived because they were preserved in heirloom sets.

Louis XIV is often taken for an imported pattern and sold as
Baccarat because of the fleur-de-lis motif, but all glass of this pat
tern was cut by T. G. Hawkes exclusively for Richard Briggs
patrons. Some pieces were cut w r ith family crests and coats of arms.
Several sets were ordered for clubs and yachts, with a monogram
substituted for one of the fleur-de-lis motifs. Only the very finest
quality lead glass w r as used. Some few pieces were cased and cut
through, some w T ere gilded. Occasionally pieces of china were made
in. the same pattern to accompany the glass service. The shape of
the plates and bowls is very modern, with only a slightly raised,
almost flat border. Note the shading in the ic-point star, which is
standard, although not all Louis XIV pieces show it. Most col
lectors are glad to have one plate or bowl in Louis XIV. A whole
collection or service would be almost priceless in today s market.

[217]

No. 19,105.

DESIGN

R. BBIGGS.

ORNAMENTATION OF GLASSWABE.

Patented May 21, 1889.

Iltt&gt;

^ llct J-\X

^^y

PLATE 9 I

Louis XIV, Pattern 14
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7 and 9-inch

2. Bonbon dish, 6-inch, no handles

3. Decanter, ij^ -quart, ring neck, heavy base

4. Finger bowls, 5-inch

5. Goblets, 6 l /2 inches tall, bell-shaped

6. Plates, 6, S&gt;&lt;, and lO-inch, some 1 2-inch

7. Saucedishes, 4^ -inch, shallow

8. Tumblers, 5-ounce mineral; 8-ounce finger or whisky

9. Wine, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, wine, cocktail, and
cordial

No compotes were listed on invoices, though some may have been
cut.

VARIATIONS. None.

COLOR. Clear with red, green, and sometimes yellow casing or flash
ing; rim frequently gilded.

ORIGIN. Cut only by T. G. Hawkes Glass Company, Corning,
N. Y. ; sold only by Richard Briggs, Boston, Mass.

TRADE-MARK. None, as all pieces w r ere cut to order on Richard
Briggs 5 design.

75. BRAZILIAN

The Brazilian Pattern w r as designed and patented by Thomas
G. Hawkes in May of 1889, but it was not cut extensively until the
next year. As a standard Hawkes pattern it was cut over a period
of fifteen years, reaching the peak of popularity in the latter part of
the Gay Nineties. It is an elegant pattern, very effective, brilliant,
and expensive.

Pieces found and collected today will be heirlooms of tomorrow
because of the high quality metal used in the blanks, the exquisitely
fine cutting on the glass, and the effectiveness of the design.

Any collector interested in Brazilian should make careful note of

[219]

T. G. HAWKES.

ORNAMENTATION OF &LASSWARE.

No. 19,114. Patented May 28, 1889.

3-0

PLATE 92

Brazilian, Pattern 15
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

distinctive characteristics such as the alternate English strawberry-
diamond and fan cutting around the scalloped edge of the plate
and around the top of the goblet. Directly under each fan is
a smaller replica. Directly under the strawberry-diamond is a lapi
dary or old single-star motif. The 1 3-inch plate has a 24-point star
center.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7 and 9-inch

2. Candelabra and candlesticks

3. Compote, y-inch

4. Decanters, i-quart, globe, and ring neck

5. Finger bowls, 5-inch only

6. Goblets, standard bowl with cut stem and scalloped star bottom

7. Nappies, 5, 7, 8, and 9-inch round

8. Plates, 6, 8^2, 10, and 1 3-inch

9. Punch bowl, with pedestal

10. Rose bowls and center bowls

11. Saucedishes, 4^2 and 5-inch, shallow

12. Tumblers, 5-ounce mineral, 7-ounce finger or whisky

13. Vases, tapering

14. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, cocktail, and cordial

VARIATIONS. A variation of Brazilian was cut in a complete service
for President Diaz of Mexico. As this was an elegant and popular
pattern, it was imitated by many other cutting houses. Most of
these imitations were ungraceful, and none but the standard Brazil
ian is worth collecting.

COLOR. Clear.

ORIGIN. T. G. Hawkes Glass Company, Corning, N. Y.

TRADE-MARK. Early pieces unmarked; pieces cut after 1895 carry
trade-mark (see Appendix IV).

[221]

No. 19,165.

DESIGN.
S. 0. RICHARDSON, Jr.

OENAMENTATION OF PITCHERS, &c.

Patented June 18, 1889.

PLATE 93

Richardson s Pitcher, Pattern 16
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

16. RICHJRDSOX S PITCHER

Richardson s Pitcher is a remarkable novelty in cut glass and
worthy of a collector s search. It was designed by Solon O. Richard
son, Jr., an important figure in the glass industry of the nineteenth
century and particularly in the fortunes of the W. L. Libbey and
Son Company, to whom he assigned the design. He was thoroughly
versed in the technical aspects of glass tablew T are making as w r ell as
an early experimenter in making electric-light bulbs. The Libbey
company, which had just set up shop in Toledo when Richardson
designed his novelty, were losing money and had finished the year
1889 $3,000 in the red. Richardson believed that the company
needed more and different patterns and Libbey w r as willing to try
anything. While Richardson s letters patent suggest that the pattern
can be cut on other similar glass articles, it is doubtful if it was
actually cut on any ware other than 2-quart champagne pitchers and
smaller jugs of similar shape, except for a few incidental pieces. It
is a very effective, brilliant pattern, of alternate blocks and 8-point
squared star with hob center. Needless to say, it is rare.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Pitchers, chiefly, 2-quart champagne jugs; \y 2 -quart water
pitchers; miniature cream pitchers, and other straight-sided ves
sels with no tops

2. Salts, square, cut in limited quantity

3. Sugar bowl, no handles or cover

Other incidentals are toothpick holders and possibly some square
bowls with straight sides, but none have been found so far.

VARIATIONS. Too distinct a checker-board pattern to allow for varia
tion. Even in its day this pattern was considered extreme by con
temporaries and not copied extensively.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. W. L. Libbey and Son Glass Company (later Libbey Glass
Company), Toledo, O.

TRADE-MARK. Too early for trade-mark.

[223]

PLATE 94

Stratford, Pattern 17
Reproduced from catalogues of the Libbey Glass Company

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

77. STRATFORD

The distinguishing characteristic of this pattern is not the 18-
point hob-star so dear to the heart of the Libbey glass cutters, but
the relatively simple hexagonal figure in which each of the six sides
is intersected by a deep split and the areas between decorated by
crosshatching. The stars in this pattern are incidental although they
contribute greatly to it. Notice the lack of fan motif in the border
and the faint suggestion of scallop.

The Stratford pattern was designed by William C. Anderson for
Libbey soon after the firm moved from Cambridge to Toledo. It
was one of the principal Libbey patterns prior to the World s
Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Many bowls, goblets, and tum
blers were cut in Stratford. Other pieces are a little more difficult
to find.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, g-inch

2. Bonbon or olive dishes, 5 and 6-inch, with or without handles

3. Champagne jug, 2-quart, straight

4. Claret jug, ij^-pint, stoppers to match, handles

5. Cream jug, small, globe

6. Compotes, 6-inch tall, 7-inch, tall or short-stemmed

7. Finger bowls, 4j^-inch, 2 inches deep

8. Goblets, tapering and bell-shaped

9. Nappies, 7 and 9-inch

10. Plates, 7 and S^-inch; also 10 and 1 2-inch special bread plate

1 1. Punch cups with handles

12. Saucedishes, 4 l / 2 and 5-inch, shallow

13. Sherbets

14. Tumblers, 5 -ounce mineral or champagne, 8-ounce finger or
whisky

15. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, and cordial

VARIATION. Any variation of this pattern would come under a non-
listed design heading. It could only vary in the star points or the

[ 225 ]

PLATE 95

Strawberry-Diamond and Fan, Pattern 18

Reproduced from catalogue of the T. G. Haiukes Glass Co., also illustrated
by Libbey Glass Co., and J. Ho are and Co.

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

number of crosshatched hexagonal figures. This is one of the pat
terns in which only the standard is important.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. W. L. Libbey and Son Glass Company and Libbey Glass
Company, Toledo, O.

TRADE-MARK. Earlier pieces not marked, since the trade-mark was
not in general use until four or five years after the granting of this
patent. Later pieces have Libbey trade-mark (see Appendix IV).

18. STRAWBERRY-DIAMOND AND FAN

A simpler adaptation of Strawberry-Diamond and Star (Number
4), this pattern combined a deep-sided square diamond, marked on
top with an X, w r ith fan scallops at the edges. More American glass
was cut with the Strawberry-Diamond and Fan pattern than any
other Brilliant Period pattern including its closest rival, the Rus
sian. As one old glass cutter said, he could cut it in his sleep with
his eyes closed and one hand under his head. Developed by manu
facturers and glass cutters as a means of keeping up with competi
tion in a fast-growing business, Strawberry-Diamond and Fan was
well received by American women. They liked the relative simplicity
of the cutting and the fact that a whole service of Strawberry-
Diamond and Fan could be bought for a fraction of the cost of a
service of Chrysanthemum or Grecian or Florence, or any of the
more ornate combinations of stars and definitive cutting.

It is the easiest pattern to collect in sets at the present time.
Care should be taken, however, to collect only fine pieces. Since the
pattern was so extensively cut over such a long period of time, there
are good and bad pieces. Young apprentice cutters were sometimes
put to work on the Strawberry-Diamond and Fan design. Since the
pattern is easy to find, select pieces that are sharply cut, in which
the lines are true. Watch for the 24-point star center. Though not
essential to the pattern, this is a sign of quality.

[227]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

CLASSIFICATION. The number and shapes of pieces cut in the
Strawberry-Diamond and Fan pattern are practically limitless. The
partial list given below indicates which pieces are most easily col
lected.

1. Berry bowls, 6, 7, 8, 9, lo-inch

2. Butter patties, 3-inch, flat and stemmed

3. Celery dishes

a. boat, flat, in various shapes; square with handles

b. vase, straight, stemmed goblet type

4. Champagne jug, 2-quart, straight

5. Claret jugs, pint and quart, with handles and stoppers

6. Cologne bottles, narrow neck, square, globe, and round

7. Compotes, 6, 7, and 8-inch common, covered or uncovered,
taper or flat

8. Cream jugs, globe, straight, standard

9. Cruets, 6 and 8-inch globe; 6 and 8-ounce taper

ro. Decanters, quart, globe, flat-bottom steamboat type, or Rod
ney; also ring neck

11. Finger bowls, 5-inch, 2jX inches deep

12. Goblets (less common), globe, bell, and taper; some with long
stems

13. Nappies, all sizes

14. Plate, 6, and 8j^, 10, 12, and 1 3-inch

15. Salts, globe, tub, square, table and individual

16. Saucedishes, 4^2 and 5-inch, with or without handles; 5 by 9
inches, square

17. Sherbets, low, stemmed; punch cups with handles

1 8. Sugar bowl, with or without cover or handles

19. Tumblers, all sizes, 5-ounce mineral or champagne, 7 and 8-
ounce whisky

20. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, cocktail, cordial
Incidentals include candlesticks, center bowls, punch bowls, tooth
pick holders, sirup pitchers, vases, bowls, mustard pots, and many
others.

VARIATIONS. While there are obvious variations of the Strawberry-
Diamond and Fan, the standard is so plentiful that it only should

[228]

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

be collected in services. The standard varies only as to quality,
center star, and number of fan scallops on the border.

COLOR. Common in clear glass, also cut in red, green, and yellow.
Colored cut glass is always more rare than clear, and Strawberry-
Diamond and Fan colored pieces are very effective.

ORIGIN. It is almost impossible to credit any single piece without
a trade-mark stamp to a specific glasshouse. Every one of the houses
cutting glass in the last years of the nineteenth century cut the
Strawberry-Diamond and Fan pattern.

TRADE-MARK. Many pieces have trade-marks, but many more do
not. Lack of a trade-mark does not mean that the piece is an old
one, since many of the later trade-marks were only paper stickers
that washed away after the first using. Early cuttings had no trade
marks. Aging shows in w r ay the points of the diamonds w r ear down
and round off, as do the scallop edges of the fan.

ig. MACBETH

This rare pattern was designed and patented by Daniel Forbes,
a cutter who worked for the George H. Hibbler shop in Brooklyn.
It is probably one of the best organized and composed of all the
Brilliant Period patterns. Notice that the scallops are determined
by the radiants of the fans. The only star in the design is the central
or base motif. The crosshatching on these pieces is particularly fine.
Any collector should be proud to own even one piece of Macbeth;
it is extremely doubtful whether a complete set could ever be col
lected.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7 and 9-inch

2. Finger bowls, 5-inch diameter, 2 l / 2 inches deep

3. Nappies, 7 and 9-inch, probably a few square; none now known

4. Plates, 6 and 8^ -inch

5. Saucedishes, 4 r I /2 and 5-inch, shallow

[229]

D. FORBES.

OBNAMENTATION OF BOWLS OR DISHES.

No, 19,642, Patented Peb, 11, 1890

PLATE 96

Macbeth, Pattern 19
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

No jugs, goblets, or wines were cut in the Macbeth, so far as is now
known.

VARIATIONS. None.
COLOR. Clear only.
ORIGIN. George H. Hibbler, Brooklyn, N. Y.

TRADE-MARK. None.

20. VENETIAN

The Venetian pattern is another unusual pattern designed by
T. G. Hawkes. While not widely cut, it has a distinct individuality
which more than repays the collector s diligent search. This is the
first pattern to make use of the Greek cross in cut glass design, and
is easily recognized by the teardrop radiants in the center motif
which are crosshatched and alternated with the fan motif. The fan
scallops around the edge are deep and well defined.

CLASSIFICATION.

r. Berry bowls, 7 and g-inch, sides very straight, almost perpen
dicular to the bases

2. Bonbon or olive dish, no handles

3. Celery boat, 4^/2 by 1 1 inches

4. Compote, 7 by 7 inches, no cover

5. Cruets, 6 and 8-ounce, straight sides, lapidary stoppers

6. Finger bowls, 5-inch, straight sides

7. Goblets, tapering only

8. Nappies, 8 and 9-inch

9. Plates, &y 2 and 1 2-inch

10. Saucedishes, 4^2 and 5-inch, shallow

11. Tumblers, 5 -ounce mineral and 8-ounce whisky

12. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, and cordial

VARIATIONS. Many glasshouses soon began using the teardrop radi
ants or the Greek cross. The most common variation was the Venice

[231]

DESIGN.

T. 0. HAWKES.

OBNAMENTATION OF GLASSWARE,

No. 19,865.

1890.

PLATE 97

Venetian, Pattern 20
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

pattern cut by J. Hoare & Co. The similarity between the stand
ard and the Venice lies in the prominent use of crosshatching and
the confusing similarity in the shape of the blanks used. This simi
larity arises in a number of Hawkes and Hoare patterns due to the
fact that during this period both companies were buying blanks
from the Corning Glass Company. While exclusive patterns such as
the Louis XIV were made to order with specified metal content,
standard blanks were supplied to all cutting houses. Hence the
similarity in metal and form. Only the cutting and pattern varied.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. T. G. Hawkes Glass Company, Corning, N. Y.

TRADE-MARK. Early pieces carry no mark. Some later pieces show
Hawkes trade-mark (see Appendix IV).

21. CHRYSANTHEMUM

The Chrysanthemum pattern of T. G. Hawkes shows the influ
ence of the curved split in cut glass design, a relatively new motif in
1889. It also shows the use of the small hob-star in the pattern
itself. This was one of the first patterns to make use of the 2O-point
star as a design motif. Until this time the star of many points, or
the hob-star had been used principally as a central figure.

In his patent papers, Hawkes says, "The leading features of my
design consist of the large central figure having radial leaves and
the flowers between the outer portions of the leaves, thus forming
what I call the chrysanthemum design . . . leaves extending radially
from a common center, having cross cut blades and ovate stalks.
Between the leaves are flowers having central rosettes."

Chrysanthemum was one of the two Hawkes cut glass patterns
to win the grand international prize for cut glass at the Paris Expo
sition in 1889. It was patented the following year, and became
very popular, although it was expensive.

[233]

T. G. HAWKES

ORNA-MENTATIOtf OF GLASSWABE.

No. 20,257 Patented Nov. 4, 1890

no. i.

ft *l

PLATE 98

Chrysanthemum, Pattern 21
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, 9-inch

2. Butter patties, 3-inch, flat

3. Celery vase

4. Champagne jug, 2-quart, no stopper

5. Claret jug, 1*4 -pint, with stopper

6. Cologne bottles, square, globe, and round

7. Compotes, 6 and 7-inch, none covered

8. Cruet, 6-ounce, 6 inches tall

9. Cream jug, globe only

10. Decanter, 2-quart, matching stopper

11. Finger bowls, 4^2 and 5-inch across, 2 l /&gt; inches deep
12". Goblet, 6j/2-inch, globe only

13. Nappies, 5 and 6-inch

14. Plates, 6 and Sj^-inch; also a large 13-inch. More plates were
cut in this pattern than any other shape.

15. Punch bowl, 1 5-inch, with stand

1 6. Salts, globe only

17. Saucedishes, 4^ -inch, shallow 7

1 8. Sugar bowl, globe without handles, cover

19. Tumblers, 5-ounce mineral or champagne, 7-ounce whisky

20. Water pitcher, straight

21. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, wine, cordial
Incidentals: Other pieces may have been cut as vases and rose
bowls, small pin trays and short-stemmed compotes, but the Hawkes
inventories do not show these pieces.

VARIATIONS. The Libbey Chrysanthemum, a much later pattern,
came to the market at least fifteen years after the original. It is
overornamented and shows the tendency toward the decline of the
period to combine totally dissimilar motifs. This variation uses the
notched prism liberally; the leaves, instead of being a convention
alized system as in the standard, are realistic. Realistic flower cut
tings were to follow the geometric patterns of the Brilliant Period,
and the Libbey Chrysanthemum gives a preview of this trend. The
flower in the variation has only 18 points in the star, contrasted
with the twenty points of the standard Chrysanthemum.

PLATE 99

Wedgemere, Pattern 22
Reproduced from the catalogue of the Libbey Glass Company

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. T. G. Hawkes Glass Company, Corning, New York; Lib-
bey Chrysanthemum by Libbey Glass Company, Toledo, O.

TRADE-MARKS. Early Chrysanthemum unmarked. Later cuttings
marked with Hawkes trade-mark. All Libbey variations marked
with Libbey trade-mark (see Appendix IV).

22. WEDGEMERE

The Wedgemere, designed by W. C. Anderson for Libbey, is one
of the patterns which shows development or adaptation within
itself. As can be seen from the standard patent-office illustration, the
Wedgemere started following the motif of concentric circles then
popular in fine cut glass. The outline of the patented design is angu
lar, adaptable to square-shaped pieces. However, as the century
drew r to a close, the Wedgemere became one of the Libbey luxury
cuttings, exhibited with its sister pattern, the Kimberly. The con
centric circles in the pattern now T become less distinct, and the fan
appears at the end of the radiants which show a more pronounced
cane pattern in the later stemmed ware than in the original design.

Probably the most distinguishing feature of Wedgemere is not
in the pattern so much as in the blanks on which it was cut. Notice
the flaring stems of the wine glasses and goblets: these were elab
orately cut and show both cut knops and flutes. Wedgemere is
neither as well organized nor as consistent as its sister pattern,
Kimberly, but it makes a most attractive table service, especially
the stemmed ware.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, 9-inch

2. Bonbon or olive dish, 4 J^ -inch

3. Butter patties, 3-inch, flat and stemmed

4. Celery boat and vase

5. Champagne jug, 2-quart, straight, no top

6. Claret jugs with matching stoppers

[237]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

7. Compotes, 6 and 7-inch, stemmed

8. Cruets, 6 and S-ounce, matching stoppers

9. Cream jugs, on stems, and straight

10. Decanters, quart and pint, globe and narrow neck

1 1. Finger bowls, 5-inch

12. Goblets, standard globe 6 l / 2 inches tall

13. Nappies, 5, 6, 7, 8, and g-inch

14. Pitchers, straight and globe

15. Plates, 6 and S^-inch, also 10 and 1 3-inch, some oval

1 6. Saucedishes, 4^ -inch

17. Sherbet cups with handles

1 8. Tumblers, 5-ounce mineral, 6-ounce champagne, 7-ounce whisky

19. Wines, tall hock, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, plain wine,
and cordial

Incidentals: Probably everything from candlesticks and cologne
bottles to spoonholders were cut in Wedgemere. The pattern is so
diversified, however, that unless the collector has a very clear idea
of the standard, a service does not seem unified when assembled in
quantity.

VARIATIONS. Any star cane, and fan combination with concentric
circles may be classified as a Wedgemere variation. Stemmed ware,
however, must have flaring cut feet.

COLOR. Clear; some red cordials were made, but they are rare.
ORIGIN. Libbey Glass Company, Toledo, O.

TRADE-MARK. Earlier pieces unmarked. Libbey Glass Company
trade-mark (see Appendix IV) on most pieces.

23. KIMBERLY

The Kimberly, a sister pattern of Wedgemere, was designed for
Libbey by William C. Anderson in 1892. As it was cut extensively,
full table services can be collected; From the patent-office record, it
will be seen that the standard Kimberly consists of six i6-point
stars spaced between the points of a center 6-point star device. The

W. C ANDERSON.

ORNAMENTATION OF GLASS DISHES.

No, 21,364. Patented Mar. 8, 1892.

PLATE IOO

Kimberly, Pattern 23
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

center field of the central star is crosshatched. Small fans are used
only at the tip of the larger star. In later cuttings (notably the
large punch bowl cut in the early years of the twentieth century
after the pattern had already been on the market for ten years) the
larger hob-star has been increased to a 2O-point hob-star. The ice
cream platter shows a combination of the larger and smaller hob-
star, but the pattern retains its essential character in all pieces and
all years.

Catalogues quote the manufacturer s price for the punch bowl at
$130 f.o.b. Toledo; it retailed in New York City at $250. The
ice-cream set was quoted at $120 at the manufacturer s; the platter
alone probably cost the customer $50.

Some writers discussing the Kimberly in later years (and it was,
like the Russian, much publicized) like to refer to it as named after
the famous Kimberley mines because it resembles a diamond in its
cutting. This is a fairly pat explanation that helps fix the pattern in
a collector s mind, but it does not happen to be true.

It will be noticed that the African city is spelled with two e s, the
Libbey pattern with only one. The Kimberly pattern was actually
named for Charles G. Kimberly, a wholesale dealer in crockery,
glass, and Rockingham ware, in New Haven. Just why this mer
chant was so honored is not now known. It may be that Kimberly
came to the rescue of E. D. Libbey financially. It was not an un
usual practice for wholesalers to "tide over" manufacturers as was
the case when Richard Kinder of New York helped Benjamin
Bakew r ell get on his feet in Pittsburgh in 1808. Mr. Kimberly
may have suggested the star-within-the-star pattern to Anderson,
Libbey s chief designer, as Briggs suggested Louis XIV to Hawkes.
Or it may be that Libbey simply named the star pattern for Kim
berly in appreciation of an unusually big order. Be that as it may,
the Kimberly pattern was named for a Connecticut Yankee, not for
the great Kimberley diamond mines of British South Africa.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, all sizes, 7, 8, 9, lo-inch

2. Bonbon or olive dishes, with or without handles

[240]

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

3. Butter patties, 3-inch, fiat and stemmed

4. Champagne jug, 2-quart straight

5. Claret jug (early) with handle and matching stopper

6. Celery vases, straight and stemmed (boats cut later)

7. Cologne bottles, square, round, globe; narrow and open neck,
with matching or lapidary stoppers

8. Compotes, in all sizes 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and io-5nch, with or without
tall cut stems; some stems show air twists, some knops, some
plain flutes

9. Cruets, 6 or S-ounce, tapering or globe

10. Cream jugs, stemmed and globe, straight

11. Decanters, quart and pint, tapering and globe, narrow or ring
neck

12. Finger bowls, 4^2 and 5-inch, 2 and 2j4 inches deep

13. Goblets, globe standard, cut knop stem under side of foot cut
with radiant blaze, not star bottom

14. Ice-cream platter and dishes

15. Nappies, 7, 8, 9, and ic-inch, round and square

1 6. Plates, 6, % l / 2 , 10, and 1 2-Inch

17. Punch bowls, with or without pedestals

1 8. Salts, globe, tub, and square; table and individual

19. Saucedishes, 4j4 and 5-inch

20. Sherbet cups

21. Sugar bowl, with handles, no cover

22. Tumblers, 6-ounce finger

23. Water pitchers, straight or globe

24. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry wine, wine, cordial
Incidentals include candlesticks, mustard jars, powder boxes
(later). This was such a popular pattern that almost any shape
was used at one time or another.

VARIATIONS. Many variations were cut by companies that did not
mark their ware and were less careful with their cutting. In col
lecting Kimberly, it is important to collect only the Libbey stand
ard or their later Kimberly with the 2O-point hob-star. Any star
within a star pattern which resembles the Kimberly but shows other
variations such as the addition of cane cutting or strawberry-

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

diamond cutting should be rejected. Note that the standard pattern
does not come clear to the top of stemmed ware or finger bowls
and that the fan pattern is subordinate. [N.B. The Hawkes pat
tern, Kimberley (spelled with two e s), which was put out about
the same time, bears no similarity to the Libbey pattern.]

COLOR. Clear. Some pieces of stemmed ware were cut in colored or
cased glass, principally the still wines or the cordials. Some few
colored goblets were cut, probably in either red or green, but these
are very rare.

ORIGIN. William C. Anderson design and patent assigned to W. L.
Libbey and Son Glass Company, Toledo, O.; later cut by Libbey
Glass Company.

TRADE-MARK. Early pieces unmarked as they were cut before the
adoption of the trade-mark. Many later pieces carry one or another
of the Libbey trade-marks (see Appendix IV).

24. RATTAN

Rattan was designed by John S. O Connor and clearly shows the
influence of his own earlier Parisian (Number 3) which started
the trend toward curved splits in cut glass design. Rattan combines
the 2O-point star medallion with an elaboration of the simple chair
bottom motif, elliptical fields of crosshatching with pronounced fan
scallops. The patent-office record of the pattern does not do it jus
tice. Flattened out as it is on the drawing it looks overornamented,
but cut on shallow glass dishes, berry sets, and nappies, it is a par
ticularly striking pattern. The rattan cutting, crosshatched fields
and fan scallops decorate the sides while the central star with its
field of bordering smaller stars makes a most effective bottom
decoration.

While O Connor had left Dorflinger s to go into business for
himself by the time he patented Rattan, it is probable that he was
still using Dorflinger blanks in his cutting shop. Consequently, the
quality of Rattan pieces would be hard to distinguish from that of
Dorflinger standard patterns.

J. S. O CONNOR,

ORNAMENTATION OF GLASSWARE.

No. 21,424 Patented Mar. 22, 1892,

ATTORNEY

PLATE 10 I

Rattan, Pattern 24
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

CUT AXD ENGRAVED GLASS

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7 and g-inch

2. Finger bowls, ^ l / 2 and 5-inch

3. Ice-cream dishes, 4^2 -inch, shallow

4. Nappies, 6, 7, 8, 9, and xo-inch

5. Saucedishes, 5-inch, shallow

Rattan \vas probably not cut in any other shapes or in complete
services.

VARIATIONS.

Marguerite, cut by the United States Glass Company, Pittsburgh,
Penna.

Pebble, by J. Hoare and Company, Corning, N. Y.
Rose of Sharon, Kiefer Brothers (address unknown)
These and like variations of Rattan, which combine the chair bot
tom motif with stars and crosshatched fields, should not be con
fused with O Connor s standard which is a much more simple cut
ting than it appears on the patent record.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. John S. O Connor, in business for himself in White Mills,
Penna.

TRADE-MARK. None.

25. SIX SEA SHELLS

Six Sea Shells, one of the prettiest of the nineteenth-century pat
terns, looks older than it really is. It w r as first cut as a definitely
composed pattern in 1892 when Walter A. Wood designed it and
assigned the patent to T. B. Clark and Company. Wood refers in
his patent papers to the six shells as being lancet-arched forms.
They are, more simply, the familiar fan motif made narrower and
longer. The spaces between these motifs are cut with two smaller
replicas separated by a conventionalized Greek cross. The center is
a 6-point star.

[244]

DESIGN.

No. 21,466.

W. A. WOOD.
OENAMENTATION OF GLASSWARE.

Patented Apr. 12, 1892.

PLATE 102

Sea Shells, Pattern 25
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 9 and lo-inch, with straight 2*4 and 3-inch sides

2. Butter patties, 3-inch diameter

3. Compote, 6-inch, with short stem

4. Finger bowls, 5-inch, 2 inches deep

5. Nappies, 7, 8, 9-inch

6. Plates, 6 and 8^ -inch, perhaps loinch

7. Saucedishes, 5-inch, shallow

No stemmed ware is known to have been cut in the Six Sea Shell
pattern, but it may have been cut more extensively than is now
known.

VARIATIONS. Zenda, cut by J. Hoare and Company, Corning
N. Y., uses English and strawberry-diamond motif alternately be
tween shells instead of Greek cross.

COLOR. Clear.

ORIGIN. T. B. Clark Company, Honesdale, Penna.

TRADE-MARK. None.

26. CORONET

Coronet is one of the Gothic patterns. It plainly shows the con
centric circles, later used successfully by the same designer, T. G.
Hawkes, in the very popular Nautilus pattern. The Coronet was
designed particularly for a set of angular blanks sold by the Cor
ning Glass Company to several local cutting shops, including those
of T. G. Hawkes and Walter Egginton. The blanks were made prin
cipally in ice-cream sets and were surprisingly popular during the
later years of the ninetenth century. It is still possible to collect the
Coronet pattern in dishes only. One of the amusing vagaries of
collecting is that although the Coronet is one of the least attractive
of all the fine Hawkes patterns, it is the one most in demand by
collectors since its angular shape pleases the taste of decorators
specializing in Victorian interiors. The small-sized dishes are some-

[246]

DESHCN.

T. G. HAWKES.

ORNAMENTATION OF GLASS VESSELS.

No - 21,705. Patented July 12, 1892.

PLATE 103

Coronet, Pattern 26

Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

times used as ash trays, which is a sacrilege since the heat of ashes
and burning cigarettes is sure to crack the glass in time, and the
old pieces are too rare to be so abused.

CLASSIFICATION.

Ice-cream sets, consisting of lo-inch platter and smaller individual
ice-cream dishes to match.
Not cut in stemmed ware.

VARIATIONS.

The Lattice pattern designed and cut by Walter Egginton of Cor
ning. The small dishes are interchangeable in the sets, being iden
tical in shape. Egginton did not cut his Lattice pattern until a year
after the Hawkes Coronet had become popular, and then in much
smaller quantity, so that the Lattice cutting on the angular ice
cream platters is very rare indeed.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. Distinctive angular blanks by Corning Glass Company.
Coronet cut by T. G. Hawkes Glass Company, Corning, N. Y.
Lattice cut by Walter Egginton, Corning, N. Y.

TRADE-MARKS. None, cut before Hawkes adopted a trade-mark.

27. COLUMBIA

Just what elephant tusks had to do with the World s Columbian
Exposition (Chicago, 1893) is not clear but certainly the tusk-
like motifs in combination with a hob-star are the distinguishing
features of this Libbey design for the World s Fair pavilion. Like
its sister pattern, the Isabella, the Columbia sold like hot cakes and
both are to be found in cologne bottles, butter dishes, decanters,
and salt dishes from the Mississippi River through the Middle
West and on out to the West Coast. The plates are all scalloped,
and the tusk motifs are in the pillar cutting which is, perhaps, the
highest form of the cutter s art. Examples of the Columbia pattern,

[248]

PLATE 104

Columbia, Pattern 27

Reproduced from the files of the Libbey Glass Company

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

especially in stemmed ware, are not so plentiful as those of the
Isabella because it required more time and higher skill to cut the
Columbia, and when the great crowds began streaming through
the Libbey exhibit at the World s Fair, the souvenirs had to be of
patterns that could be cut quickly.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowl, 9-inch

2. Butter dish with cover

3. Celery vase

4. Cheese dish with cover

5. Cologne bottles 4, 6, and 8-ounce, globe and square

6. Cream jug, globe

7. Cruets, 6 and 8-ounce w r ith handles

8. Decanters, i l / 2 -pint and quart, globe

9. Dishes, 4 and 4^ -inch
10. Finger bowls, 5-inch

n. Goblets, standard (rare)

12. Nappies, 7, 8, and 9-inch

13. Pitchers, round and globe

14. Plates, 6 and lo-inch

15. Salts, globe, table, and individual

1 6. Sherbet cups

17. Spoonholders, straight and horizontal

1 8. Tumblers, 5-ounce mineral, 7-inch standard, star bottom

19. Wines, claret, sherry, wine, cordial

Incidentals. Probably other unusual pieces were cut as the souvenir
trade was brisk in this pattern.

VARIATIONS. The tusk-shaped prisms inverted with the chair bottom
motif were used in a later variation called Eleanor, which is a
lighter cutting by J. Hoare and Company, not so well designed
as the standard.

COLOR, Usually clear although some cased pieces were made early
in the year of 1893. A green cologne bottle is rare; a red cased
butter dish is a collector s item.

[250]

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

ORIGIN. Libbey Glass Company, Toledo, O. ; Variation Eleanor
from J. Hoare and Company, Corning, N. Y.

TRADE-MARK. Libbey Glass Company (see Appendix IV).

28. ISABELLA

The Isabella is another of the Gothic patterns popular in the
Gay Nineties. In flatware and saucedishes it is often mistaken for
a Middle Period pattern because of the quaint square shape of the
dishes. This pattern, however, was designed by William C. Ander
son as one of the featured Libbey patterns for the World s Colum
bian Exposition (Chicago, 1893). There were 1,763,000 visitors
to the Libbey glass exhibits at the Exposition. Each visitor received
a little spun-glass bow on the end of a stickpin. The sale of paper
weights and pin trays in the Isabella and Columbia patterns was
phenomenal. There was scarcely a Middle Western home that did
not proudly display on the parlor whatnot a square-cut saucedish in
the Isabella pattern, or a butter dish in the Columbia design. Col
lectors who live west of the Mississippi River should have no diffi
culty at all in finding dessert sets in the Isabella pattern. The
pattern does not lend itself to tumblers very well.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, 9-inch, square shapes preferable and fairly
common

2. Butter patties, 3-inch square and flat

3. Candlesticks

4. Compote, 7-inch, short-stemmed with square top

5. Goblets, 6 y 2 -inch (rare)

6. Mustard pot, with top

7. Nappies, 7, 8, and g-inch square

8. Pitchers, J^-pint, i-pint, i^-pint, I -quart, and 3-pint, all globe
shaped

9. Plates, 6, 7, $y 2 , and lo-inch square
10. Salts, square

No. 22,098.

DESIGN.

W. C. ANDERSON.

ORNAMENTATION OF GLASSWARE.

Patented Jan. 3, 1893.

FIG. I

PLATE IO5

Isabella, Pattern 28
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

11. Saucedishes, 4j/2-inch, shallow, sometimes square or with
owner s initials engraved in the center (rare)

12. Sugar bowl, square, no lid

13. Toothpick holder, square to match salts

14. Tumblers, 7*^ -ounce whisky, red with overlay, or cased, with
owner s initials (collector s items)

15. Wines, standard wine shapes cut, but not extensively; uninter
esting as pattern seems lacking in unity

VARIATIONS. None.

COLOR. Clear. Some whisky tumblers red with overlay, some cased;
cordials also sometimes red. A few red berry sets were cut for the
Fair, and gilded. Collectors should be careful to see that the pieces
offered in this red ware are cut pieces, as pressed imitations were
made later by other companies.

ORIGIN. Libbey Glass Company only.
TRADE-MARK. All marked (see Appendix IV).

2 p. BRISTOL ROSE

According to the letters patent of the designer, Thomas Single
ton, Jr. of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the rose figure is the most
important motif in the Bristol Rose pattern. This was the first cut
glass pattern to make use of the 32-point star with its raised rosette
center, and it is certainly a distinguishing characteristic of this pat
tern. But the most singular thing about the Bristol Rose and the
easiest way to tell it from imitations is by the 7-point star center,
and the repetition of the number seven in the border rose motifs
and in the smaller buds at the star points. Almost all cut glass pat
terns follow the even number scale ... six points, twelve points,
twenty-four points. A few patterns designed for plates and shallow
bowls use multiples of five, but seven is very rare indeed. Apart
from the fact that the Bristol Rose is a very attractive pattern, it
is of interest to collectors because of this odd number in the star
points. It was a slow pattern to cut, and expensive to produce.

[253]

PLATE I06

Bristol Rose, Pattern 29
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, and lo-inch

2. Celery vase

3. Compote, 7-inch stemmed (rare)

4. Cream jug (rare)

5. Nappies, 7-inch

6. Plates, 8^ -inch

7. Saucedishes, 4 and 5-inch shallow

8. Tumblers, 7-ounce whisky

Stemmed ware may have been cut in Bristol Rose, but none is now
known.

VARIATIONS. Marion, cut by Pairpoint later, is a variation on Bris
tol Rose, with only 24 points (or sometimes 26) to the hob-star,
and a 6-point star with or without fan tips. No known varia
tions ever used the 32-point star or the 7-point star center of the
standard.

COLOR. Clear.

ORIGIN. Singleton s design patent was assigned to the Mount Wash
ington Glass Company, New Bedford, Mass. After the company
was consolidated with the Pairpoint Glass Company, the less intri
cate variation, Marion, was introduced.

TRADE-MARK. None.

30. GOLDEN WEDDING

Golden Wedding is one of the curved split patterns developed
by Benjamin Davies, designer for Straus in New York. These pat
terns were all fairly popular in the Eastern market, though none
of them is very pretty, or too well designed. The Golden Wedding
is typically overornamented, lacking unity like other Straus pat
terns, but it is prettier in glass than in a reproduction.

Many collectors hunt for this ornate pattern simply because of
its oddity and because it is a Straus pattern never copied. The six

[255]

B. DAYIES.

OBNAMENTATION OF GLASS VESSELS.

No. 23,252. _ ..^Patented May 8, 1894.

Otto*****

PLATE 107

Golden Wedding, Pattern 30
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

circular figures around the edge are formed by curved splits that
become question marks when seen from the reverse side.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowl, g-inch

2. Celery boat, 11 by 4)2 inches

3. Saucedishes, 4^ and 5-inch, shallow, some with handles

4. Tumblers, S-ounce straight

Probably no goblets, wines, or finger bowls were cut.

VARIATIONS. None.
COLOR. Clear only.
ORIGIN. Cut only by L. Straus and Sons, New York City.

TRADE-MARK. None.

31. BERGEN S WHITE ROSE

There is very little of a rose about this pattern which lacks any
of the leaf or realistic cutting of the later period patterns. Why its
designer, James D. Bergen, felt that it resembled a rose is obscure
to modern collectors. It is included here as an example of the fine
patterns cut by the Bergen Company during the last years of the
nineteenth century.

Bergen s White Rose is typical of the highly conventionalized,
well organized and geometric patterns of this designer. Lucky in
deed is the collector who finds goblets or any stemmed ware in
Bergen s White Rose pattern, for they are rare and have a modern,
almost mosaic quality to the central band cutting which is most
beautiful,

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowl, p-inch

2. Finger bowls, 5-inch, 2^&lt; inches deep, very fine metal

3. Goblets, globe

[257]

DESIGN.

J. D. BERGEN.

GLASS VESSEL.

Patented Mar 2.9, 1894.

PLATE loS

Bergen s White Rose, Pattern 31
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

4. Nappies, 7 and g-inch

5. Plates, 6 and lo-inch, some 8j/2-inch

6. Salts, table and individual

7. Saucedishes, 4 and 4^ -inch, perhaps 5-inch

8. Sherbet cups

9. Sugar bowl, round, no handles but cover

10. Tumblers, wide-bottom, 7-ounce, finger (rare)

11. Wines, claret, sherry, cordial, perhaps some saucer cham
pagnes, though doubtful

VARIATIONS. None.

COLOR. Clear.

ORIGIN. J. D. Bergen Company, Meriden, Conn.

TRADE-MARK. Early pieces have none. For later markings, see Ap
pendix IV.

32. CORNING

The Corning may have been cut as early as the Centennial in
Philadelphia (1876) but as the pattern was not officially recorded
in patent records or catalogues before 1895, it must be placed to
ward the last of the nineteenth century in a chronological listing.
Exclusively a Hoare cutting, the Corning pattern was named quite
as much for the Corning Glass Company which supplied the blanks,
as for the city in which both manufacturer and cutter were located.
It became a very popular pattern.

The Corning pattern is a pleasing arrangement of straight splits,
which when cut in a border form small squares, decorated with
small single stars, and larger squares in which a i6-point hob-star
is centered. The central star on the bottom of Bowls, plates, and the
feet of stemmed ware, shows fan motifs between the points. In this
respect the pattern resembles Libbey s Florence, but as the border
patterns are so very different, there is no likelihood of confusion
between the two.

[259]

PLATE 109

Corning, Pattern 32
Reproduced from a catalogue of /. Hoare and Company

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, 9, and lo-inch, square straight-sided, also
round

2. Butter dish and cover

3. Butter patties, 3 inches square and flat, very interesting

4. Candlesticks

5. Celery vase, square and straight, unusual

6. Champagne jug, straight

7. Center bowl

8. Cheese dish and cover

9. Claret jug with stopper

10. Cologne bottles, old ones square, later ones round globe

11. Compotes, old ones square on short stems, later tall, round,
with cover

12. Cream jugs, globe and straight

13. Decanters and carafes, pint and quart, globe

14. Finger bowls, 5-inch, straight sides very effective with the
somewhat square border to match berry bowls and saucedishes

15. Goblets, 6j/2-inch standard, uncommon

1 6. Plates, 7, 8, 9, ro-inch, round and square

17. Punch bowl

1 8. Rose bowl

19. Salts, square with stems

20. Saucedishes, ^/ 2 and 5-inch, shallow, square to match berry
bowls, easy to find

21. Sherbets, flat and round, with handles and on stems

22. Spoonholder

23. Sugar bowl, square with cover, no handles

24. Sirup pitchers

25. Toothpick holder

26. Tumblers, 5 and 7-ounce short, wide-bottom (rare)

27. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, wine, and cordial

VARIATIONS. Oriental and Meteor, both cut by the same company
as the standard.

COLOR. Clear only.

[261]

PLATE 110

Croesus, Pattern 33
Reproduced from a scrapbook of the T. G. Hawkes Glass Company

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

ORIGIN. J. Hoare and Company, Corning, N. Y., cut on Cor
ning Glass Company blanks.

TRADE-MARK. Some marked with Hoare trade-mark (see Appendix
IV) , but by no means all.

33. CROESUS

Croesus is one of the earliest patterns to use the chair-bottoni
motif. Blocks of chair-bottom are combined with three fans as a
border above swirled pillars and smaller notched prisms. While the
pattern combines several different motifs the effect of the design is
unified and graceful. It is an expensive pattern and one that was
never cut extensively by any other company but its originators, the
J. Hoare Company of Corning.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry or center bowls, 7, 8, 9, lo-inch round

2. Bonbon or olive dishes, 5 and 6-inch round

3. Carafe, i-quart

4. N-ppie, 14 by 8 inches, oval

5. Punch bowl, 10 inches high, with pedestal, 20 by 13 inches oval

6. Punch cups w r ith handles

7. Saucedishes, 4 and 4^ -inch shallow

8. Wine glasses, saucer champagne, hollow-stem champagne, hock,
claret, Madeira, sherry, cocktail, and cordial

VARIATION. In the larger pieces the Croesus border was combined
with the Russian cutting instead of this swirled pillar and notched
prism. The border is so distinctive that the two patterns may be
used together, but the Russian cutting does create a variation
known as Croesus with Russian Field.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. Exclusive with J. Hoare and Company, Corning, N. Y.

TRADE-MARK. None.

[263]

PLATE III

Imperial, Pattern 34

Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

34. IMPERIAL

The Imperial pattern was cut extensively by Libbey during the
closing years of the nineteenth century. The original idea as con
ceived by William C. Anderson was to have an S-point star as the
center of the design, with the points built up by shield cuttings to
form a larger star. This idea is preserved in the larger pieces. It is
noticeable in the celery dish illustrated, but gets completely lost in
the stemmed ware or smaller pieces. Anderson combined the single-
star motif with the cane figure and the intersecting squares de
scribed in his letters patent as u cut in representation of outwardly
divergent ensiform leaves, whereby a suggestion of Egyptian orna
mentation is derived. "

The pattern reproduction is of interest to collectors as it shows
the earliest use of the celery boat. Libbey afterward used this same
blank for many celery boats in other patterns, but before the Im
perial was cut in 1895, celery dishes were either tall slender vases,
or outsize stemmed goblets. The sides of the celery boat pictured in
the Imperial pattern curl over toward the center. Earlier patterns
were cut on similar blanks at a later date.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, g-inch

2. Bonbon dish, 4^/2 -inch

3. Butter patties, 3-inch, flat and stemmed

4. Candlesticks

5. Celery boats, some with curled-in sides

6. Claret jug, globe

7. Cologne bottle, 6-ounce

8. Compotes, 7 and 8-inch, short and tall stems

9. Cruets, 6 and 8-ounce, lapidary stopper, handle

10. Decanters, pint and quart

11. Finger bowls, 4^ -inch, 2 inches high

12. Goblets, standard 6j4-inch

13. Mustard pot

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

14. Nappies, 5 to 10-inch

15. Plates, 6, 8^2, and loinch

1 6. Salts, stemmed individuals; round or globe, table size

17. Saucedishes, 4^-inch

1 8. Toothpick holder

19. Tumblers, 7 y 2 -ounce, star bottom

20. Water pitcher, globe

21. Wines, saucer champagne, claret, sherry wine, wine, cordial

VARIATIONS. None.

COLOR. Clear only

ORIGIN. Libbey Glass Company, Toledo, O.

TRADE-MARK. Libbey trade-marks (see Appendix IV).

35. PRINCESS

The Princess is a fairly common pattern that was cut over a
period of approximately fifteen years so that a luncheon service can
be collected without much trouble.

Princess was one of the last patterns W. C. Anderson designed
for Libbey. Until November 12, 1895, Anderson had been assigning
all his patterns to the Libbey Company as a matter of course. How
ever, by the time the Princess was patented, Anderson had decided
either to sell his designs outright or collect a royalty on all cuttings
from his patterns. Evidently his relations with Libbey remained
amicable, however, as J. D. Robinson, assistant general manager of
the Libbey Glass Company, was one of the witnesses to Anderson s
patent application for the Princess in 1895.

The distinguishing characteristics of the Princess pattern are the
alternating English and American strawberry-diamond points be
tween the fan scallops with a bow-knot cut through the Crosshatch-
ing on the points. The hob-star, then so popular in all cut glass
patterns, particularly with Libbey, is only used as a center motif in
this pattern.

[ 266 ]

W. C. ANBEESON.

GLASS DISH,

Ho. 24,874.

Patented Nov. 12, 1895.

WfTMSSIS.

PLATE 112

Princess, Pattern 35
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, 9, and lo-inch, straight sides

2. Bonbon dish, covered

3. Butter patties, 3-inch flat

4. Candlesticks

5. Celery boat, n by 4/^2 inches, with curved sides

6. Center bowls

7. Champagne jug, 2-quart, straight

8. Claret jug

9. Cologne bottles, 6 and S-ounce globe

10. Compotes, 7-inch, short-stemmed, 6-inch tall

11. Cruets

a. 6-ounce narrow neck, cut handle, lapidary stopper

b. 4-ounce short-necked oil cruet

12. Decanters, narrow-necked globe, with or without handles

13. Finger bowls, 5-inch, straight sides

14. Goblets, standard 6 J^ -inch, cut stem and modified knop

15. Mustard pot

1 6. Nappies, 7, 8, and 9-inch

17. Pitcher, globe

1 8. Plates, 6 and 8j4-inch, also 10 and 1 2-inch; some oval bread
and cookie plates

19. Punch bowl

20. Salts, globe, individual and table

21. Saucedishes, 5-inch

22. Sherbet cups with handles

23. Spoonholder

24. Sirup pitcher

25. Toothpick holder

26. Tumblers, standard 7-ounce finger, 5-ounce champagne

27. Wines, saucer champagne, claret, sherry, wine, cordial

28. Vases

VARIATIONS. Libbey Harvard is a variation of the Princess, not of
the standard Harvard (Pattern 36). This variation, cut on blanks
similar in shape to those used for the standard, also alternates the
English and American strawberry-diamond between fan scallops;

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

but it uses a clear field without the bow-knot or crosshatching. The
Libbey Harvard also introduces a small single diamond as part of
its design. The stemmed ware of the variation has a broken cutting
where the stem is joined to the bowl, unlike the standard. Less well
designed and less costly than the standard, Libbey Harvard may be
used to fill in Princess sets so long as the collector know r s the differ
ence. Standard cuttings of Princess originally cost a third to a half
more than Libbey Harvard, and the same ratio should hold today.
Three other variations acknowledged their debt to the standard
pattern by name :

Dorflingers Princess, designed by James O Connor and cut by
C. Dorflinger & Sons, White Mills, Penna., 1893
O Connor s Princess, designed by A. E. O Connor and cut by John
O Connor, Hawley, Penna., 1895

Pairpoint Princess, designed by Thomas Singleton, Jr. for the Pair-
point Glass Company, New Bedford, Mass., 1894

COLOR. Clear.

ORIGIN. Libbey Cut Glass Company, Toledo, O.

TRADE-MARK. Libbey trade-mark (see Appendix IV).

36. HARVARD

The Harvard pattern is one of the standard chairbottom pat
terns. It consists of a series of squares covering the entire surface
area of the dish or plate. The raised center of each square resem
bles a hobnail, crosshatched in alternate squares in the standard.
This pattern should not be confused with the old Russian pattern.
In the Harvard, the squares are set apart from one another usually
by two lines, sometimes by two straight lines and a wavy line.

Although the Harvard pattern is not so old as the Russian, or
earlier star patterns, it is older than the prism cuttings and older
than any of the pinwheel cuttings.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7 and g-inch

2. Butter patties, 3-inch flat

[269]

PLATE 11^

Harvard, Pattern 36

Reproduced from a scrapbook of the T. G. Hawkes Glass Company

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

3. Celery boat or vase

4. Cologne bottles, square and globe-shaped

5. Compote, 7-inch stemmed and with flaring feet

6. Cream jug, straight-sided, fluted top

7. Cruet, 8-ounce, tall

8. Decanters, pint and i^-pint, square

9. Finger bowls, 5-inch

10. Goblets, standard, (rare)

11. Nappies, 5 to 9-inch

12. Pitchers, tapering and globe-shaped

13. Plates, 6, 8y 2 , and lo-inch

14. Saucedishes, 5-inch square

15. Tumblers, 5 and 7-ounce, (rare)

1 6. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, cocktail, cordial

VARIATIONS. This pattern of simple squares readily lent itself to
variation, and many leading glasshouses used the basic design with
adaptations. Thus, the elevated square was cut in a single star motif
in the Kohinoor, by J. Hoare and Company, Corning, N. Y. In
others, alternate squares were polished in plain hobnails.
Rochester Harvard, one of the first patterns cut by the H. C. Fry
Glass Company, Rochester, Penna., is distinguished by the remark
able sharpness of the cutting which makes for exquisite brilliance
when held to the light. Among other patterns to be regarded as
Harvard variations are:

Bird-m-a-Caqe was cut by H. P. Sinclaire Glass Company, Corning,
N. Y.

Corning Harvard and Kohlnoor were cut by J. Hoare and Com
pany, Corning, N. Y.

National was cut by Krantz Smith and Company, Honesdale,
Penna.

Panel was cut by T; G. Hawkes Glass Company, Corning, N. Y.
Quilt Block was cut by T. B. Clark Company, Honesdale, Penna.
Trellis was cut by Walter Egginton, Corning, N. Y.

COLOR. Clear usually, but color used occasionally as this was an

[271]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

effective pattern to cut through casing. The J. D. Bergen Company
cut Harvard variations through red and green casings.

ORIGIN. In the absence of patents earlier than 1909, it is hard to
say which of the leading glass companies cut the first Harvard pat
tern. In my own opinion, the honor should go to the Pairpoint
Corporation, New Bedford, Mass.

TRADE-MARK. Some Harvard pieces are marked, but the majority
are not.

37 . NAUTILUS

The Nautilus was the first pattern to introduce the notched prism
in cut glass design. The notched prism principle persisted far into
the twentieth century because it was easier to cut than the hob-star
and could be produced much less expensively. The Nautilus design
by Thomas G. Hawkes, however, is not one of the inexpensive pat
terns. It was carefully designed and executed, adapting its design
to the shape of the blank used. It is an important pattern because it
shows the transition of style from the Gothic patterns of the late
nineteenth century to the straight split cuttings of the early twen
tieth century. The Nautilus is rare but can still be collected in des
sert sets.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowl, 9-inch

2. Bonbon or olive dishes, irregular shapes

3. Plates, odd

4. Saucedishes, 5-inch, shallow

VARIATIONS. The Nautilus was copied extensively, but collectors
should select only the standard, easily distinguished by the shape
of the pieces and the three concentric rings.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. T. G. Hawkes Glass Company, Corning, N. Y.

TRADE-MARK, On some pieces (see Appendix IV).

[272]

PLATE 114

Nautilus, Pattern 37
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

38. PRISM

Pattern stealing was common practice among glass manufac
turers and cutters. By the close of the nineteenth century competi
tion was so keen that efforts were being made by all manufacturers
to cut costs. Since the principal cost in the manufacture of cut glass
then as now, is the hand labor involved, any pattern that reduced
this factor became a target for competitive imitation.

When the Nautilus pattern was introduced by Hawkes, W. C.
Anderson of the Libbey Glass Company was only one of many de
signers who were quick to see the advantage of using the prism
motif. Anderson designed a pattern in 1897 which was later modi
fied by Libbey as the Prism pattern. Soon everyone had a Prism
pattern, all being cut at a much lower cost than had been possible
with the many-pointed hob-star.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Bonbon or olive dish, 6-inch with handle

2. Bowls, 6 to lo-inch, straight, flaring, or square sides

3. Butter patties, 3-inch flat

4. Candlesticks

5. Celery dishes, vase and boat, straight sides, flaring, or curved

6. Center bowls

7. Cologne bottles, globe and square

8. Compotes, 7-inch, tall and short stem

9. Cruets, 4, 5, 6-ounce, short stemmed

10. Decanters, globe and tapering

11. Finger bowls, 5-inch

12. Goblets, 6j4 inches high, plain border around top

13. Ice-cream platter

14. Loving cups

15. Pitchers, i-pint and 2-quart, globe-shaped with fluted tops

16. Plates, 6, 8^2, 10, and 13-inch

17. Punch bowl without pedestal

1 8. Rose bowls and rose jars

19. Salts, stemmed and globe

[274]

PLATE 115

Prism, Pattern 38
Reproduced from a catalogue of the Libbey Glass Company

CUT AXD ENGRAVED GLASS

20. Saucedishes, 5-inch flat

21. Sherbet cups with handles

22. Spoonholder, in shape of celery boat, but smaller

23. Sugar bowl, with handles, no covers

24. Sirup pitcher

25. Tumblers, 8-ounce standard, wide bottom

26. Vases

27. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, cocktail, and cordial

VARIATIONS. Variations using the Prism cutting and the name were
put out by many leading glasshouses at the turn of the century,
usually in combination with a star or other conventionalized border
motif. Prism became almost a universal pattern. At least two prism
patterns developed were distinctive enough to warrant selection as
independent standards, namely White House (Pattern 39) and
Bull s-Eye (Pattern 44).

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. The Libbey Glass Company cut this particular Prism pat
tern as the standard.

TRADE-MARKS. Some pieces are trade-marked, others not (see Ap
pendix IV).

39. WHITE HOUSE

This simple notched prism pattern developed into a standard.
Unlike Bull s-Eye (Pattern 44) and variations of Prism (Pattern
38) White House uses no large figure in combination with the
notched prism. It was not an expensive pattern to cut and it re
mained popular for many years. Men particularly like the tailored
simplicity of the notched prism and bead combination. This may
account for the fact that when President Truman ordered a new
service of cut glass to replace the old Russian service at the White
House in 1947, a modern adaptation of this old White House pat
tern was selected for the service by the Thomas G. Hawkes Glass
Company who executed the order.

[276]

PLATE Il6

White House, Pattern 39
Reproduced from the files of the Crockery and Glass Journal

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

Plates in this pattern have a small central simple star (not to be
confused with the hob-star motif). This star is definitely subordi
nate and not a basic motif in the pattern.

The White House is another fine pattern for the collector just
beginning to assemble a service of cut glass, as the pattern was cut
by so many houses that it is comparatively easy to find matching
pieces.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Bonbon or olive dish, 6-inch

2. Bowls, \ l /2 to 8-inch, graceful sides

3. Butter dishes

4. Cheese plate with cover

5. Cologne bottle, narrow neck, 6-ounce

6. Compote, 7-inch, tall stem

7. Cruets, with or without handle, lapidary stopper

8. Decanters, Rodney and globe

9. Goblets, tapering and standard
10. Nappies, 7, 8, 9, and lO-inch

n. Pitchers, straight I and 2-quart globe

12. Plates, 6, 8, 10 and 1 2-inch, other odd plates

13. Rose bowls

14. Salts, globe

15. Saucedishes, 4^ and 5-inch shallow

1 6. Sherbet and custard cups with handles

17. Sugar bowl, handles, no cover

1 8. Sirup pitchers

19. Tumblers, 5, 7, and 8-ounce, heavy and tapering

20. Vases

21. Wines, claret, wine, saucer champagne, pousse cafe, cordial,
cocktail, and sherry

VARIATIONS. I would consider a variation of this standard any de
sign that uses the prism with or without notching, with or without
beading, provided it is not combined with any other larger figure,
such as the bull s-eye or star. In some variations the prisms are

[278]

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

notched and the beading subordinated; in others, the notching fol
lows a pronounced, sometimes intricate small pattern of its own.
Brunswick and Modern White House were both cut by T. G.
Hawkes Glass Company, Corning, New York.
Hindoo w r as cut both by J. Hoare and Company at Corning, and
by the T. B. Clark Company, Honesdale, Penna.
Pluto was also cut by T. B. Clark Company.
Prism and Bead w r as cut by Bawo and Dotter, New York City.
Tasso was cut by J. D. Bergen Company, Meriden, Conn.

COLOR. Clear.

ORIGIN. Both United States Glass Company, Pittsburgh, Penna.,
and A. H. Heisey and Company, Inc., of New r ark, O., cut a prism
pattern called White House. Which of them originated the Notched
Prism and Bead standard pattern is anybody s guess.

TRADE-MARK. Not all pieces were marked, and not all trade-marks
have stayed on the glass; but there are some marked pieces (see
Appendix IV).

40. CORINTHIAN

Every glasshouse cut a Corinthian pattern. The name was nearly
as universally used as "Russian" or u Strawberry-Diamond and
Fan." Unfortunately there was no such uniformity of design. Al
most every cutter helped himself to a fairly florid pattern and
called it Corinthian. I have taken as standard the Libbey Corin
thian, not because it is any better than some of the others, notably
the Bergen or Clark Corinthian, but because it was cut so exten
sively that fairly complete services may be assembled. Furthermore
Libbey used very interesting and "collectible" blanks for its Corin
thian pattern. The Corinthian card-table, or ice-cream set pictured
was the first of its kind to be cut and sold as a unit. Notice the
heart, club, spade, and diamond nappy, or individual ice-cream
dish. The rather boat-shaped bowl could be used for fruit or ice
cream and the 9-inch plate for cookies or cake. Such sets can still be
assembled.

[279]

PLATE 117

Corinthian, Pattern 40
Reproduced from a scrapbook of the T. G. Hawfces Glass Company

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

The pattern is fairly simple to identify in its standard form. The
i6-point hob-star is the central motif. This figure appears in the
center of each piece, forming the center of a Greek cross. The arms
of this cross are decorated by triangles of crosshatching, with ter
minating points of strawberry-diamond separated by smaller boxed
i6-point stars. The description makes the pattern sound more in
tricate than it actually is. When you see the stemmed ware or bowls
from the side, they appear to be only alternate points of boxed 16-
point hob-star and strawberry-diamond cuttings. The Corinthian
was never cut in any but the finest glass. A covered Corinthian but
ter dish sold for $30.00 at jewelers in New York, Chicago, and
Pittsburgh in 1900.

CLASSIFICATION. Like so many of the later Libbey patterns Corin
thian was cut so extensively and on so many different types of blanks
that it is possible to give only the partial list below. Collectors may
find other pieces not listed which are none the less authentic Corin
thian standard, possibly all the more valuable for their rarity.

1. Berry bowls, 6 to lo-inch oblong, round, and square

2. Bonbon or olive dishes, 4^/2 and 5-inch, round and square

3. Butter patties, 3 inches, on stems, fine for miniature collections

4. Celery boat

5. Cheese dish with cover

6. Cologne bottles, globe, round, and square, also long-necked
globe

7. Compotes, short and long-stemmed, with or without air twists

8. Cruets, 4-ounce oil, vinegar to match

9. Decanters, pint and quart, with long necks, some with handles

10. Finger bowls, 5-inch

11. Goblets, standard, 6^/2 inch

12. Honey jar

13. Jelly tray, square

14. Mustard pot

15. Nappies, heart, spade, diamond, and club, flat-sided to match
saucedishes

1 6. Pitchers, tall and short, globe and tapering, all sizes

[281]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

17. Plates, 6, 8J^2, 10 and 1 2-inch round, oblong, and square

1 8. Punch bowl with pedestal

19. Rose bowl

20. Salts, globe and standard, individual and table

21. Saucedishes, heart, spade, diamond, and club, matching nappies

22. Sherbet cups, stemmed

23. Spoonholder

24. Sugar bowl with handles, no top

25. Tumblers, 5-ounce champagne or mineral; S-ounce standard

26. Vases, tapering

27. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, wine, cordial

VARIATIONS. Delft, which substitutes two small stars for the large
star in alternate fields, was cut by J. Hoare and Company, Cor
ning, N. Y.

Elmira Corinthian is almost identical with Delft, except for three
small splits between the strawberry-diamond and large hob-star.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. Libbey Glass Company, Toledo, O.

TRADE-MARK. Libbey trade-mark (see Appendix IV).

41. HAWKES ABERDEEN

Thomas G. Hawkes was one of the few designers who specifically
named his pattern in his letters patent. He follows this rule with
the Hawkes Aberdeen, one of the better popular patterns of its
day: "The leading features of my design consist of a large double
cross or asterisk figure covering the body of the dish, having radial
pointed arms, a central rosette at the crossing of the arms forming
the body of the figure, crosshatching on the arms and double lines
extending lengthwise of the arms, thus representing leaves having
stems, checkered cutting at the inner ends of the arms, and foils
between the arms having rosettes, thus forming what I call Aber
deen design."

[282]

No. 25,386.

FIO.L

DESIGN.

T. Q. HAWKES.

GLASS VESSEL OK DISH.

Patented Apr, 14, 1896,

PLATE Il8

Aberdeen, Pattern 41

Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

The Aberdeen is not so plentiful as some other patterns but it
rewards the collector by its sturdy design and interesting flat shape
in plates and saucedishes.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7 and 9-inch

2. Butter patties, 3-inch

3. Nappies, 7, 8, and 9-inch

4. Plates, 6, S~/2, 10 and 13-inch

5. Saucedishes, ^ l / 2 and 5-inch

Other pieces may have been cut in this pattern, but such pieces are
rare. Collectors of Aberdeen will have more success concentrating
on dessert sets.

VARIATIONS. As in the case of any heavily cut standard, this pattern
was copied later in less expensive cuttings. The Hawkes Aberdeen
checkering on the points of the central figure is particularly fine.
This distinguishing characteristic of the pattern is not found in
variations.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. T. G. Hawkes Glass Company, Corning, N. Y.

TRADE-MARK. Some pieces carry the Hawkes trade-mark (see Ap
pendix IV).

42. VICTORIA

The Victoria, less common than some of its contemporaries, is
listed here as an example of cutting done by the Imperial Cut Glass
Company of Philadelphia. The pattern was designed and patented
by Joseph B. Hill, chief designer for Imperial and himself a subject
of the Queen of England. He had learned his trade in English cut
ting shops and his design shows the somewhat stilted and old-
fashioned form still being followed in England at the end of the
nineteenth century. The radiant splits in the center are typical and

[284]

DESIGN.

J. B. HILL.

GLASS DISH.

ed Dec. 15, 1896.

^25^#!i&^^

ATTORNEY

PLATE 119

Victoria, Pattern 42
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

DESIGN.

No. 27,321,

no. I.

H. SCHREIBER.

GLASS DISH.

Patented July 13, 1897,

a**+*f

PLATE I 2O

Dunkirk, Pattern 43
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

the minute crosshatching of the checkered areas is more reminiscent
of the later English patterns. Because of the crosshatching on the
bottom, most of the Victoria pieces at first glance appear to be
unpolished. They are, however, rare and any collector should be
proud of a dessert set in this pattern.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowl, 9-inch

2. Nappies, 5, 6, and 7-inch

3. Saucedishes, 4 and 5-inch, sloping sides

Perhaps other pieces were cut in the Victoria pattern, but none are
now known.

VARIATIONS. Pittsburgh Victoria was cut by the United States Glass
Company about 1900.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. Imperial Cut Glass Company, Philadelphia, Penna.

TRADE-MARK. None.

43. DUNKIRK

The Dunkirk is another of the rare patterns that will repay the
collector for the diligent search necessary to find proof pieces. Just
as the Victoria reflects the English background of its designer, the
Dunkirk has a distinctly Continental flavor although it was designed
and patented in America. Herman Schreiber of Dunkirk, Indiana,
designed the Dunkirk for his employers, the Ohio Flint Glass Com
pany in 1897. It was cut more extensively than the Victoria and like
it has often been mistaken by collectors for a Middle Period pat
tern.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7 and 9-inch

2. Bonbon or olive dishes, 5 and 6-inch

[287]

DESIGN.

A. SNOW, Jr;

0LASS RECEPTACLE.

Patented Jan. 18, 1898.

PLATE 121

BulFs-Eye, Pattern 44
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

3. Cream pitcher, small

4. Nappies, 7 and 8-inch

5. Plates, 6 and 8-inch

6. Salts, small

7. Saucedishes, 4 and 4^ -inch

8. Tumblers, 5-ounce, wide bottom finger

Probably no stemmed ware cut, either goblets or wines; possibly
some covered dishes and perhaps a few straight-sided water pitch
ers, none now known.

VARIATION. None.

COLOR. Only clear so far as is known.

ORIGIN. Ohio Glass Company, Bellaire, O.

TRADE-MARK. None.

44. BULL S-EYE

The Bull s-Eye pattern is a good selection for a collector inter
ested in accumulating a dinner service or a luncheon set. So many
companies cut the Bull s-Eye pattern in different shapes that it is
comparatively plentiful. Moreover, variations on the standard only
contribute to the effectiveness of the Bull s-Eye service, making the
table setting more interesting.

Basically, this is a prism pattern to which the designer, Andrew
Snow, Jr., added the bull s-eye figure on the sides of dishes and
bowls. From the collector s point of view Pairpoint pieces stamped
"Patented Jan. i8 t 1898" are the most desirable. Some fine Bull s-
Eye pieces were also cut by J. G. Bergen and L. Straus. The stand
ard is a combination of the prism pattern and the old English
roundelet which came to be known in this country as the bull s-eye
. . . not as elegant a name perhaps, but more expressive. The
roundelet or bull s-eye got its form from the old German kugel or
as the Irish sometimes called it, the "puntie" after the mark left by
the pontil iron. The tumblers are heavy and well designed and much
in demand for present-day use as old-fashioned glasses.

[289]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, all shapes, 7, 8, 9, lo-inch, punch bowls and stand
ards

2. Bonbon or olive dishes, square and round

3. Brandy or whisky jug, square stopper

4. Butter dish, covered

5. Butter patties, 3-inch flat and stemmed

6. Celery boat and vase

7. Champagne jug

8. Cheese dish, covered

9. Claret jug, large

10. Cologne bottles, squat and globe, square and oblong, tapering
ir. Compotes, 7 by 7 and 6 inches, covered and stemmed

12. Cream pitcher, miniature to match i-quart pitcher, straight and
globe

13. Cruets, 4, 5, 6-inch oil and vinegar, very common

1 4. Decanters, i -quart and I ]/ 2 -quart, tapering, globe and ring neck ;
also pint claret decanter with handle

15. Finger bowls, 5-inch, 2^/2 inches deep

1 6. Goblets, standard, 6^&gt; inches

17. Nappies, 7, 8, 9-inch

1 8. Pitchers, i and 2-quart, straight and globe

19. Plates, 6, 8, and lO-inch, also odd sizes

20. Saucedishes, 4 J^ -inch, shallow

21. Sugar bowl, handles, no cover

22. Toothpick holder

23. Tumblers, 5 and 7-ounce, short with wide bottom

24. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, cocktail, and cordial

VARIATIONS. Any design incorporating the bull s-eye motif with the
prism is a variation on this standard. Benjamin Davies designed
such a variation for L. Straus and Sons of New York City, putting
the bull s-eye in the bottom of the bowl or dish. ]. G. Bergen Com
pany also cut some fine BulPs-Eye pieces. Navarre, by T. G.
Hawkes Glass Company, is another good one.

COLOR. Clear.

[290]

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

ORIGIN. Pairpoint Corporation, New Bedford, Mass, (design by
Andrew Snow, Jr.)

TRADE-MARK. Some pieces of the standard BulPs-Eye are marked
with the Mount Washington or Pairpoint trade-mark and patent
number. However, there are good cuttings on this pattern that are
not marked. If your pieces are marked, compare with trade-mark
list (see Appendix IV).

45. PINWHEEL

The pinwheel or buzz, as many glassmen prefer to call the figure,
was not cut until the twentieth century, and while some pieces which
show this motif are fine glass of good design, the pinwheel is identi
fied by connoisseurs with the decline of Brilliant period design.
Most of the pieces with the pinwheel as part of the pattern are
overornamented, clumsy in shape, and lacking in definite design.

The Pinwheel pattern of 1899 was simply a 12-point swirling
star with fan motifs following the direction of the star points. The
original design by Patrick H. Healy and the blanks used for it are
well designed and graceful. Healy assigned his pattern to the Amer
ican Cut Glass Company of Chicago, which was an out-cutting sub
sidiary of the Libbey Glass Company. William C. Anderson joined
the American Cut Glass Company about 1900, and the company
continued to produce very fine cuttings on Libbey blanks.

Many collectors have started Pinwheel collections including all
variations of Pinwheel cuttings. This is a good plan for beginners,
as it makes it fairly simple to assemble a pattern, but the novice
should be on the lookout for pressed blanks in the Pinwheel pattern.
The Pinwheel and the pressed blank were popular at the same time,
the former with customers, the latter with dealers. A collection of
the Pinwheel pattern, cut on fine blanks of good design and metal,
is desirable and choice. But the collector should be guided by the
practicality of the piece, its shape, balance, and beauty, quality of
metal, and sharpness of cutting. Avoid overornamentation and
pressed blanks. Never pay as much for any Pinwheel cutting as you
would for the earlier hob-star patterns such as the Kimberly, Flor
ence, or Chrysanthemum.

[291]

DESIGN.

P. H. HEALY.
GLASS DISK.

Patented Feb. 28, 1893.

PLATE 122

Pinwheel, Pattern 45
Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, 9, lo-inch

2. Butter patties, 3-inch

3. Celery boat

4. Cologne bottles in all shapes, standard, globe, and odd

5. Compotes, in all sizes and lengths of stem, air twisted stems in
some

6. Cruets, all sizes and shapes

7. Decanters, in all sizes, globe and straight

8. Finger bowls, all sizes

9. Goblets, globe, tapering, bell, in endless variety
10. Nappies, 7, 8, g-inch

n. Pitchers, all sizes and shapes, some good and some bad design

12. Plates, 6, Sj/2, 10, and 12-inch

13. Sherbet or punch cups, in all shapes and sizes, some stemmed

14. Saucedishes, 4^/2 and 6-inch

15. Sugar bowl with handles

1 6. Tumblers, in all sizes, mostly star bottom, standard 8-ounce

17. Wines, in all sizes, saucer champagne, twisted and hollow stem,
sherry, claret, wine, cordial, and Monte Carlo (later)

VARIATIONS. Later Pinwheel patterns dropped the central star and
became a series of tangents to a central hobnail. Endless variations
of the Pinwheel appeared, some good, others hasty and overorna-
mented. Most common are :

Cut Buzz, by United States Glass Company, Pittsburgh, Penna.
Highland and Whirlwind, both cut by Quaker City Cut Glass Com
pany, Philadelphia, Penna.

Marvel, by Maple City Glass Company, Honesdale, Penna.
Pinwheel and Star, by ]. Hoare and Company, Corning, N. Y.
Twenty-Two, by Pairpoint Corporation, New Bedford, Mass.

COLOR. Clear.

ORIGIN. American Cut Glass Company, Chicago, 111., out-cutting
subsidiary of Libbey Glass Company.

TRADE-MARK. Some are marked and some are not (see Appendix
IV).

[293 ]

PLATE 123

Comet, Pattern 46

Reproduced from the files of the Libbey Glass Company

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

46. COMET

The Comet pattern is very easy to identify. Many patterns have
fanciful names that betray some element of whimsy in the imagina
tion of the designer. But the Comet pattern could have no other
name. It was first cut by the Hoare company. Afterwards, toward
the end of the Brilliant Period, it was cut by almost all of the East
ern cutting houses with the exception of the Hawkes and Bergen
glass companies.

Halley s comet had been predicted but had not yet appeared in
the sky when the Hoare company began cutting the Comet pattern.
The fortunes of the glass business were waning at the time. The
glass cutters w r ere grumbling about w r ages and hours, and strikes
threatened on all sides. Glass workers had always been highly or
ganized and their power had long been one of the major concerns
of the industry. The Comet pattern was one of those designed to
cut costs. But the glass workers, by nature superstitious, took the
comet as a sign of foreboding. The comet that appeared in Europe
in 1456 had caused such terror there that the Christian Church
added the following lines to its daily prayers, "Lord, save us from
the Devil, the Turk, and the comet." Some waggish member of the
glass union recalled the prayer in 1900 and it became one of the
grim jokes of the trade, the portent being that the heyday of cut
glass was practically over, as indeed it was.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8, 9, and lo-inch

2. Celery vase or boat, n by 4^ inches

3. Decanters, quart and pint, also carafes

4. Finger bowls, 5 -inch

5. Goblets, globe, tapering, bell, but very light metal and very
sketchy cutting; doubtful if many have survived.

6. Nappies, 7, 8, and 9-inch

7. Plates, 6 and 8 1 / 2 -inch, 10 and 1 2-inch

8. Salts, globe, individual

9. Saucedishes, 5-inch

[295]

PLATE 124

Lily-of-the-Valley, Pattern 47
Reproduced from the files of the T. G. Hawkes Glass Company

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

10. Tumblers, y-ounce star bottom

11. Whisky jugs, with stoppers

12. Wines, same metal as goblets, very fragile, saucer champagnes,
claret, sherry, cocktail, and cordial

Probably many incidental pieces, such as center bowl, punch bowl,
and candlesticks.

VARIATIONS. Many variations of the Comet were cut by different
companies, but large or small, border or single, the pattern re
mained the Comet.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. The J. Hoare and Company, Corning, N. Y.; later cut
by many other companies.

TRADE-MARK. Some pieces are trade-marked, others are not (see
Appendix IV).

47. LILY-OF-THE-rJLLEY

The Lily-of-the-Valley pattern Is important to collectors for two
reasons. It is one of the first, and therefore a forerunner of the
vogue for, realistic cuttings in cut glass. Secondly, the Lily-of-the-
Valley pattern is one of the authenticated Fry pieces and any piece
of Fry glass is now collectible.

Henry C. Fry took out the first patent for a cut glass pattern
ever issued, in 1868. However, he did not patent the Lily-of-the-
Valley, and it was cut by other companies but never on such fine
metal or with such exquisite cutting. The quality of Fry glass is
comparable to the early Steuben, made under the Hawkes-Carder
owership in 1905, and to the later Libbey and present-day Steuben
engraved ware. Not only is the quality of the metal exquisite, show
ing high lead content, purity of silica, and proper balance of other
ingredients, but the Fry system of fusion has never been surpassed.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 8, 9, and lo-inch

2. Brandy jug, i^a-pint

[297]

PLATE 125

Plain Flute, Pattern 48
Reproduced from the catalogue of the Libbey Glass Company

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

3. Claret jug, iJ/2-pint

4. Cologne bottles, 4, 6, and 8-ounce

5. Compote, 7-inch

6. Finger bowls, 5-inch

7. Goblets, 6y 2 -inch bell-shaped

8. Jelly dish, 5-inch shallow

9. Nappies, 7 and 9-inch
10. Plates, 6 and Sj4~inch
n. Saucedishes, 4^-inch

12. Tumblers, 8-ounce standard

13. Whisky jug, i-pint

14. Wines, hollow-stem champagne, claret, sherry, cocktail, cordial
Incidental pieces : As Fry made a practice of cutting individual
pieces and incidental gift pieces, almost anything from a slender bud
vase or rose bowl to an ice bucket may be found in the Lily-of-the-
Valley pattern.

VARIATIONS. Though there were other applications of the realistic
cutting of Lily-of-the-Valley, the Fry pattern is the standard and
can be recognized by the brilliance and ring of the metal.

COLOR. Clear only.

ORIGIN. H. C. Fry Glass Company, Rochester, Peana.

TRADE-MARK. The Fry trade-mark was not always applied. Many
fine examples of Lily-of-the-Valley are unmarked.

48. PLAIN FLUTE

The Plain Flute cut by the Libbey Company is a modern applica
tion of the old Colonial Flute. It is not likely to be confused with
the old Colonial Flute because the more modern pieces have a bril
liance and sparkle and keenness in their cutting that is absent in the
older pieces. The Plain Flute was cut in a full line of almost every
thing that could be cut at all and enjoyed a tremendous vogue for
a few years. It was widely used in fine hotels and clubs, and many

[299]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

pieces can be found with individual monograms and crests engraved
on one or more of the fluted sides. Plain Flute was never an expen
sive pattern. But for modern collectors it has a distinct charm and
value for use with modern china, pottery, and table settings.

CLASSIFICATION. A complete classification of Libbey Plain Flute is
out of the question. The pieces cut in the greatest number are listed
for the guidance of collectors.

1. Bowls, 7, 10, and 1 2-inch

2. Cologne bottles, large, small, thin neck

3. Compote, no cover

4. Cruet, oil

5. Decanters, all sizes and shapes

6. Finger bowls, straight, or rounded, with 6-inch plate

7. Goblets, standard, straight stem

8. Lemonade cup and plate (called "custard cup" in earlier pat
terns)

9. Nappies, 9 and lO-inch

10. Pitchers, globe and straight

1 1. Plates, 6, 7, and 1 2-inch

12. Saucedishes, 5, 6, 7-inch

13. Sherbet, now called "punch glasses" in this pattern, stemmed,
with or without handle

14. Tumblers, in numerous sizes since this was also a bar-ware pat
tern

15. Wines, hollow-stem saucer champagne, cocktail, creme de
menthe, number 2 cocktail, number 2 creme de menthe

Incidentals include a cigar jar, also a grapefruit glass and an oyster
cocktail glass, the first time these pieces have been added to the
standard service.

VARIATIONS. Itself a variation of the old Colonial Flute, Plain Flute
is a standard modern pattern.

COLOR. Probably clear only.

ORIGIN. Libbey Glass Company, Toledo, O.

TRADE-MARK. See Appendix IV.

[300]

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

49. KAISER

The Kaiser is another modern application of the old Colonial
Flute, resembling the Plain Flute. The main difference from the
older pattern is in the shape of the vessels. It was an inexpensive
pattern and was widely sold in the Middle West. Kaiser is collecti
ble in sets and makes a most interesting pattern to use with Early
American furniture or Colonial reproductions in maple and other
light woods. It is easily recognized by its more modern shape, and
there is little likelihood of confusion with the authentic colonial-
flute cuttings of the Early American Glass Period or the Middle
Period because of the high brilliance of the Kaiser metal and the
absence of age marks on the bottom and edges of the cut flutes.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7, 8 and 9-inch

2. Celery vase or boat

3. Cologne bottles, long narrow neck

4. Decanters, i-pint, i*/2-pint, and i-quart

5. Finger bowls, 5-inch

6. Goblets, all sizes as this was essentially a bar-ware pattern.
The small goblet and the large goblet each retailed for approxi
mately $10.00 a dozen

7. Nappies

8. Pitcher

9. Plates, 6 and 8-inch

10. Saucedishes

1 1. Sherbet or custard cup with handle

12. Tumblers, 2&gt; a, 3#s, 4 l /2, 6, 7, and 8-ounce in short and tall
shapes, for bar-ware

13. Wines, champagne, wine, cocktail, cordial, claret, pousse cafe,
saucer champagne, and number 2 cocktail

Incidentals mostly related to the gentle art of conviviality, includ
ing odd decanters, bitters bottles, bar bottles, water carafes in sev
eral sizes without stoppers, small cruets and jugs.

[301]

PLATE 126

Kaiser, Pattern 49

Reproduced from the catalogue of the United States Glass Company

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

VARIATIONS. There are no variations of the Kaiser. Any flute pat
tern including the Plain Flute and the Kaiser may be said to be
a variation of the old Colonial Flute.

COLOR. Clear, yellow and amber.

ORIGIN. United States Glass Company, Pittsburgh, Penna.

TRADE-MARK. None.

So. CORNFLOWER

As the Brilliant Period came to a close and deep miter cuttings
became disorganized, diffuse and clumsy, many glass shops failed
and manufacturers began a search for some new design to bolster
up the failing market.

From 1905 until 1910 a number of realistic floral and fruit pat
terns were designed and cut. Many of these show fine workman
ship. Some are copper-wheel engravings polished out with acid. The
shapes of the glass pieces are usually modern.

The Cornflower, designed by R. H. Pittman, was cut by T. B.
Clark and Company. It shows the use of the realistic leaf cutting,
the old application of the conventionalized flower, cut with the
triple miter stone. The shape of the plate is modern and the treat
ment of the design is new. Although this pattern was not patented
until a flurry of patent activity in 1909, it was being cut some time
before this.

These floral and fruit patterns signify the end of the Brilliant
Period. Glass was cut until World War I shut off essential mate
rials. But the metal was generally inferior after 1905. The majority
of the glass cutting houses had gone out of business in 1904. The
best of the later pieces were the floral patterns, but these were cut
only in incidental pieces with a limited quantity of stemmed ware
and tumblers. Whatever cutting was done in the old style found
scant market for the old patterns; and the new deep miter patterns
were so inferior and trivial that they are not worth collecting. How
ever, a fine collection of plates can be assembled from late Brilliant

[303]

PLATE 127

Cornflower, Pattern 50

Reproduced from the files of the United States Patent Office

PATTERNS OF THE BRILLIANT PERIOD

Period floral patterns in either 6 or 8 1 / 2 -inch size. They make a
useful collection and an interesting one. There is considerable va
riety in pattern.

CLASSIFICATION.

1. Berry bowls, 7 and 9-inch

2. Compote, y-inch

3. Finger bowls, 5-inch

4. Goblets, standard

5. Nappies, 7 and 9-inch

6. Plates, 6, 8J4, 10 and 1 2-inch

7. Saucedishes, 4^2 and 5-inch

8. Tumblers, 5-ounce mineral or finger, 8-ounce standard

9. Wines, saucer champagnes, claret, sherry, cordial
Incidentals include bottles, pin trays and smelling salts

VARIATIONS. None of this specific pattern, although there is some
similarity among all the flower patterns of the latter days of the
Brilliant Period.

COLOR. Clear.

ORIGIN. T. B. Clark and Company, Honesdale, Penna.

TRADE-MARK. See Appendix IV.

[305]

PLATE

The Merry-Go-Round Bowl represents the finest American craftsmanship to
day. Designed by Sidney Waugh for the Steuben Glass Company, it was pre
sented by President and Mrs. Harry Truman to H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth,
on the occasion of her marriage. (Photograph, courtesy Steuben Glass Co.)

CHAPTER XII

o- -o- -o o o o o o -o o o- o o o- o- o-

CUT GLASS, TODAY AND TOMORROW

TODAY American cut and engraved glass reflects more than two
hundred years of expert craftsmanship. Modern American
glass is made from scientifically pure ingredients ground quartz
rock, lead oxides, potash, and other minerals, as the formula dic
tates fused under modern methods of controlled heat. The result
ing fine metal is fashioned by expert workmen in the traditional
ways of offhand or handmade glass. Patterns are combinations of
the old motifs adapted to the simplicity of modern design. Miter
splits, panels, flutes, bull s-eye, and fringe motifs are still used, but
in combinations that do not interfere with the basic and unified
impression of the article itself. More expensive pieces are decorated
with copper-wheel engraving in the manner of the artists of the
Early American and Middle periods.

It is in subject matter that modern engravings differ from old
ones. Early engravings were usually concerned with serious histori
cal scenes or fanciful interpretations of mythological subjects.
Modern engravings are distinguished by wit and humor and have
an undeniable American style, a most distinguishing trait (Plate
128).

Today fine glass is being made in considerable quantity in other
lands and while much of it is very beautiful, many experts main
tain that American glass is superior to any other of contemporary
manufacture. The quality of our metal is as unique today as it was
a hundred years ago when manufacturers discovered the superior
sands of the Berkshire and Juniata areas, and our methods of
pyrometric control of fusion result in a practically flawless lead
glass. The evolution of American design has been steady and

[307]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

sound. Our glass is well proportioned and simply designed, our
engravings show humor, originality, and imagination. But our glass
is expensive. Little of the glass imported from Czechoslovakia,
Sweden, Holland, and France can compare in quality with our finer
pieces but it does compete in price. Because of lower wage scales
modern European glass can be made, cut, exported, and sold here
for less than our fine domestic glass, and still return a profit to the
foreign manufacturers. Our rate of pay to glassmakers in 1949 was
three times that of 1891, and American retail prices are propor
tionately higher.

THE T. G. HAWKES GLASS COMPANY

The fact that fine glass is still made in America is due to the
tenacious faith of an old man and the stubborn vision of a young
one, both seventh-generation members of world-renowned glass
families. Samuel Hawkes, president of the T. G. Hawkes Glass
Company, and Arthur Amory Houghton, Jr., president of Steuben
Glass Company, are directly responsible for the first place Ameri
can cut and engraved glass holds in the contemporary markets of
the world. Mr. Hawkes kept the spark of perfectionism alive dur
ing the years when other manufacturers of fine tableware were let
ting it die. Mr. Houghton kindled the spark into the steady flame
of American glass design.

Founded in 1880 by a descendant of the Hawkes family of Dud
ley, England, and the Penrose family of Waterford, Ireland, the
T. G. Hawkes Company is the only one of the old companies in
operation today still cutting glass. Hawkes metal is of uniform
quality and brilliant luster. Each finished modern piece is acid
stamped with the Hawkes trade-mark, the shamrock enclosing two
small hawks on the larger pieces, a small H for the stemmed ware.
Modern Hawkes patterns are combinations of traditional miter-
cut motifs like the prism and block of the modern White House
pattern. Other pieces are engraved, sculptured, or cut in the French
Baccarat technique known in America as rock-crystal cutting.

When the company was started in 1880, Thomas Hawkes bought

PLATE 129

TOP AND BOTTOM: Finger bowl and stemmed ware, White House service,
ordered from the T. G. Hawkes Glass Co. by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938
to replace the more expensive Russian pattern. The engraved coat of arms is
simplified (cf. Plate 68). CENTER: Twelve-inch intaglio plate by Hawkes.

(Smithsonian Inst.)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

blanks from the Corning Glass Company, founded in 1868 by his
good friend Amory Houghton, Senior. In 1903 Mr. Hawkes de
cided to make his own blanks according to Waterford formulas
long treasured by his family. For this purpose he organized the
Steuben Glass Works with his son, Samuel, and Frederick Carder
of Stourbridge, England, as partners. From 1903 until 1918 blanks
were made at the Steuben works for the cutters and engravers of
the Hawkes Company. During World War I the Steuben works
became a subsidiary of the Corning Glass Company.

MODERN STEUBEN GLASS

For the first time in its history the Corning Glass Company at
tempted production of finished cut glass at the Steuben works. The
company operated at a loss until 1933 when, after repeated re
organization, Arthur Amory Houghton, Jr., great-grandson of the
founder of the Corning glassworks, assumed management and con
trol of the Steuben division at Corning. Following a policy of
making only fine handmade modern glass in which form and pat
tern were specifically designed for the medium of lead crystal,
young Houghton developed Steuben glass to a point of perfection
which has made it world famous.

The Gazelle Bowl was designed by Sidney Waugh and produced
in 1935. This piece marks the beginning of the Houghton experi
ment in fine American cut and engraved glass. In 1935 the first
Steuben exhibition was held at the Knoedler Gallery in New York
and in 1937 Steuben glass received the Gold Medal at the Paris
Exposition. Not all the glass is engraved and relatively few pieces
are panel or flute cut. By far the most successful pieces have been
those designed by Sidney Waugh, among them the Merry-Go-
Round Bowl (Plate 128), the Manner s Bowl, and the goblets de
picting the Seven Deadly Sins (Plate 130).

LIBBEY GLASS

The Libbey Glass Company has a longer history of fine cut and
engraved ware than any other glass company now in production.

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CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

As the direct descendant of the old New England Glass Company
it has a heritage of designs and patterns from which to choose
modern adaptations. In 1940 the company began cutting a service
of tableware called Modern American. It included various types of
stemware, decorative bowls, trays, vases, centerpieces, candle hold
ers, plates, and dishes. While most of it was plain crystal, some
was decorated with stone-wheel cutting and copper-wheel engraving
and followed the fine traditions of the Leighton family who cut and
engraved similar glass for Libbey s parent company more than a
hundred years before.

Although the patterns cut on the modern tableware were simple,
as in the Saint Louis or Dutch Diamond motif shown in the Libbey
table service (Plate 131), the glass had to be withdrawn after
World War II because of costs. In 1940 the Hermitage pattern
sold for $24 a dozen in cocktail and wine glass sizes, but costs on
this relatively simple pattern skyrocketed to a point where the
manufacture of such ware was impractical, and all the Modern
American glassware was withdrawn from the market.

OTHER CONTEMPORARY CUTTING SHOPS

The most recent figures obtainable (1948) for the number of
men employed in the glass industry list only two hundred and ten
cutters and engravers. This is fewer than were at work in one good-
sized cutting shop fifty years ago when there were over a thousand
such work rooms in operation. There are few apprentices learning
the art and trade. Of these two hundred and ten cutters more than
half are working in the Hawkes and Steuben shops. The others
work in small shops that run only one, two, or three wheels, or
frames. Of these the oldest is owned by John Dorflinger, a relative
of Christian Dorflinger, at White Mills, Pennsylvania. At the time
of the dissolution of the C. Dorflinger and Sons Company, John
bought up all the remaining blanks of the old company. He now
runs a small cutting shop near the site of the famous old glassworks
and there he cuts blanks in the patterns of the Brilliant Period.

William A. Meier of Rochester, Pennsylvania, runs a small cut-

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

ting shop in connection with the Wm. A. Meier Glass Company,
which occupies the buildings that formerly housed the H. C. Fry
Company. Meier has never rebuilt the old pot-furnace stacks
where, forty-five years ago, Henry C. Fry was making his remark
able lead glass. Meier tableware is a good quality potash metal
made in a tank furnace. This glass is similar to Bohemian in weight
and texture and William Meier is himself adept in decoration sim
ilar to that practiced by modern Bohemian decorators kiln-fired
metal stain and shallow-panel cutting.

In 1939, a year after the dissolution of the Pairpoint Corpora
tion, Robert M. Gundersen bought the equipment of the once fa
mous old glasshouse and established the Gundersen Glass Works,
Inc. This company carries on the tradition of fine handmade, hand-
cut and engraved tableware. C. Reizenstein Sons of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, maintain a small cutting shop where a small amount
of cut decoration is done to order. Most large glass and china
stores employ at least one or two cutters to engrave monograms or
initials for customers, smooth out chipped edges, or engrave full
services to order. These men alone represent the great craft that
once made American cut glass famous the world over.

THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN CUT GLASS

Fine American cut glass will probably always be expensive. In
gredients are expensive and labor costs high. Each piece before
cutting is either free blown or mold blown. At the present time
there are 8,888 blowers employed in America. For a forty-hour
week they receive an average of $2.21 an hour. Many blowers earn
$100 a week. This is piece pay and the work is slow. A blower
cannot be hurried. Glass cools at a definite rate and can only be
worked at specific temperatures.

Cutters and engravers earn from $1.40 to $3.00 an hour three
times the average wage of 1891, and even then a nine-inch berry
bowl sold for $35. Now the same bowl would have to sell for $100
retail to be profitable. Our present values on cut glass are perhaps
inflated. In 1947 an appraiser put a replacement value of $24,000

[314]

PLATE 132

Flamingo, one of a series of eighteen plates for which designs were adapted by
Steuben artists from drawings of John James Audubon. Diameter, lO 1 /* inches.
In December, 1949, a full set of these plates retailed for $1,440. (Steuben

Glass Co.)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

on the twenty-four-inch punch bowl which "Rufe" Denman cut for
the Libbey Glass Company to display at the Saint Louis Exposition
in 1904. The eighteen Audubon plates engraved by Steuben (Plate
132) retail for $1,440 for the set. One dozen Hawkes crystal gob
lets in a relatively simple cutting cannot be bought for $100. These
present-day costs include first quality material and highly skilled
labor. As long as such costs exist our cut glass will remain a luxury
and as a luxury it will be appreciated.

Meantime our younger glassmen are evolving a distinct style.
Fine glass, like any other art craft, is a product of its environment.
American glass of the middle years of the twentieth century re
flects the times just as the somewhat precious cuttings of the 18303
were compatible with bracelet waists, Cabriolet bonnets, shoulder
shawls, and sleeve extenders. The deep miter cuttings of the Gay
Nineties were full of glitter, sparkle, and rich ornamentation.
Modern glass is free of furbelows, sincere in design, and forthright
in decoration.

Past generations of American glassmen took the old lead for
mulas of early English and Irish glassmakers and with American
ingenuity found ways to refine the ingredients, measure the miner
als, and most important of all, control the heat of fusion in fur
naces. The craftsmanship of American glass, including the art of
fashioning glass at 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit, has been passed on
from father to son to grandson. The simplicity, the solid sturdy
design of American glass today is the mid-twentieth century peak
of an evolution which began in 1771 with Henry William Stiegel.

The development of American glass has been halting, but al
ways one or two steadfast men have kept to the course of sincere
and honest workmanship and design. It would now appear that
American art-craftsmanship is once again on the threshold of a
brilliant era in that most compelling of craft mediums glass. And
as an early sage of the glass industry, Antonio Neri, remarked
some three centuries ago, "If the metal is as good as it can be ...
and the workmanship as good as it should be ... and the design a
mirror of tomorrow . . . the glass is the best there ever has been or
is ever likely to be."

PLATE 133

Vase, a inches high, designed by Marie Laurendn for the Steuben Glass Com
pany. The design is reminiscent of engravings of the Middle Period which
were influenced by continental traditions. (Steuben Glass Co.)

PLATE 134

Vase, 15 inches high, designed by Henri Matisse for the Steuben Glass Corn-
pany. While this piece and that on plate 133 are interesting as curiosities, they
do not, in the opinion of many collectors, have the important relation to the de
velopment of art craftsmanship in glass that is evidenced in the distinctly Ameri
can tradition of design exemplified by Sidney Waugh. (Plates 128 and 130)

CHAPTER XIII

o o o o o- -o o o o -o o o -o- o o o &lt;&gt; o

CANDLESTICKS, CANDELABRA,
CHANDELIERS

GLASS candlesticks were considered rather a precious trifle when
they w r ere first made in England in the seventeenth century.
Until that time metal candle holders had served the purpose. The
frivolous innovation was frowned on by the sturdy citizenry. How
ever, before long glass candlesticks, candelabra, and chandeliers
became a symbol of elegance and aristocracy. They have somehow
managed to maintain their high social standing ever since.

It takes time and a full purse to assemble a representative collec
tion of cut glass candlesticks for they are fairly rare. Many of the
earliest ones made in America about 1825 were molded with square
step bases, only the cup or bobeche was curved and cut in scallops.
The prisms which hung from the bobeche were made of fine clear
or colored glass which was cut and polished. After 1830 candle
sticks were cut in flute, panel, and step cuttings and they were
always ornamental rather than practical. The prisms of the early
candlesticks were the button or jewel head pendeloque or spear
type, and the candlesticks were sometimes twelve inches high. As
the century progressed the candlesticks became shorter, broader,
and more ornate ; the prisms grew longer, and the colors brighter.

Deming Jarves at Sandwich specialized in luster-enameled cut
candlesticks with crystal bobeches and prisms. These ornate candle
sticks were called lusters and were made in pink, yellow, blue, or
green glass with opal, opaque, or colored overlay. Cut glass prisms
hung around the bobeches and sparkled in the candlelight. These
are the lusters that have been extensively copied in modern Czecho-
slovakian glass. It is possible that similar lusters were made in

[319]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

other glasshouses since Pittsburgh, Wheeling, and Brooklyn com
panies made ornamental candlesticks and were known to have their
own recipes for fine opaque glass suitable for casing and overlay.
However none are known.

Square molded candlesticks came into vogue in 1880 with the
Brilliant Period and followed it through to the end. They were
made in all heights from three to twenty inches. Many sets of
candlesticks were made in many types of cutting. Then toward the
end of the period, around 1905, inferior glass was molded into tall
square candlesticks. These were sold in great quantity to country
stores and drugstores to be used as supports for glass shelves.
Some have sketchy crosshatching or superficial etching. Intrinsically
they are of slight value, but collectors find them interesting and
the better ones make effective table settings with modern glass and
china.

A representative collection (Plate 135) of cut glass candlesticks
might include handmade examples of early panel cutting; some
candlesticks with scalloped bottoms (F, G, H, and I), some with
bobeches and prisms, fine Sandwich lusters and flute-cut sticks (C)
in clear colors, yellow, green, or red; one or two short-stemmed
candlesticks (D and E) with loop handles; representative engraved
candlesticks from the Middle Period; cut pieces (A and B) from
the later Brilliant Period; and several square-molded and cut-over
candlesticks from the late nineteenth century. Since candlesticks
were frequently made to order after individual designs, unique
pieces should be included wherever possible. In any case, a compre
hensive collection should include examples from all three periods in
all types of workmanship and with all methods of decoration.

CANDELABRA

Rarer than the candelabrum itself is the owner of a prism glass,
multibranched, spear-hung and jewel-chained candlestick who does
not firmly believe that it was manufactured by George Penrose
himself at Waterford before the turn of the eighteenth century.
Very likely more prism candelabra were imported into this country

[320]

PLATE 135

Crystal candlesticks: (A. and G) Flute-cut with notching. Brilliant Period.
(B.) Intaglio cutting in floral design. Late Brilliant Period. (D. and E.) Flat
candlesticks similar to those cut at Sandwich during Middle Period. (F. G. H.
and I.) Very rare American copies of early Waterjord candlesticks. (Repro
duced from Hawkes* files)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

than other pieces of Irish glass (except tumblers) and it is true
that Irish factories continued to make prism lighting fixtures long
after their export of tableware had ceased. However, many very
fine candelabra were also cut in America. William Gillinder s
Franklin works in Philadelphia made a specialty of candelabra
which were hung with cut prisms.

Before Gillinder there were the Fisher brothers in New York
making fine cut candelabra and the Eichbaums in Pittsburgh spe
cialized in the cutting of prisms and jewel chains. The New Eng
land Glass Company and the Wheeling houses also made prism
candelabra. American designs were similar to those of imported
pieces, but until family records, catalogues, or drawings can be
found, our early candelabra will for the most part remain unknown.

Not so the girandoles of the Middle Period, the Paul-and-
Virginias as they were called by contemporaries. About 1 840 these
mantel pieces were much in fashion. They were made of bronze,
brass, and French gilt and mounted on marble bases. The figures
represented Columbus, Lancelot, George and Martha Washington,
Paul Revere, Robin Hood, Pocahontas, and the Crusaders. Most
of the prisms for them were cut in Brooklyn, New York and Meri-
den, Connecticut. The fashion was at fever pitch when the novel,
Paul and Virginia, was enjoying great popularity so manufacturers
made many bases depicting this romantic pair. The figures at
length became so common that girandoles, no matter what their
subject, were known as Paul-and-Virginias (Plate 136).

Many candelabra from America were exhibited at the World s
Fair in Paris in 1856 and at the New York Industrial Exhibition
in 1854. The trend then in lighting fixtures was toward the stiff
almost awkward design which culminated in the candelabrum ex
hibited by the Mount Washington Glass Works at the Centennial
Exhibition in 1876. While candelabra of similar design may not
appeal to collectors, the Mount Washington example is typical of
the Middle Period. Such candelabra are rare, and documented
pieces command a high price.

During the Brilliant Period, candelabra were made by the T. G.
Hawkes Glass Company, the Libbey Glass Company, C. Dorflinger
and Sons, and L. Straus and Company. Pieces of this time are usu-

[322]

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ally of fine metal with deep cutting. They too are rare. Later ones
from the J. D. Bergen Company have cut glass bases and silver
mountings. They are not so rare as the earlier candlesticks but are
equally desirable and expensive.

An interesting collection might include a candelabrum from each
of the important glasshouses in each period, or simply different
bases of the Paul-and-Virginia type.

CHANDELIERS

Probably one out of ten cut glass chandeliers hanging in Ameri
can homes and now labeled Waterford ever saw Ireland. At least
nine times as many chandeliers were made in America in the Early
Period as were imported from across the ocean. Chandeliers w r ere
difficult to transport and shipping space was needed for the smaller
commodities on which the duty was lower and the profit higher.
Furthermore, Bakewell s and other glass companies in Pittsburgh
and Wheeling soon learned that the market was good for cut glass
chandeliers particularly in the fine houses of Baltimore, Charleston,
Savannah, Mobile, New Orleans, and Saint Louis. The cost of
transporting carefully boxed chandeliers from Pittsburgh down the
Ohio River, thence to the Mississippi, and around into eastern sea
ports was not high in comparison to transoceanic shipping. And
local glass was duty free.

The earliest of these lighting fixtures now known is the Lafayette
chandelier which hangs in the Pennsylvania Room of the Carnegie
Library in Pittsburgh (Plate 137). As a result of a somewhat con
fused family record its history is not clear. While it is undoubtedly
the chandelier that hung in the room of the old Mansion House in
Pittsburgh during Lafayette s visit in 1825 and probably the very
one that lighted the receiving line at the reception for the visitor,
it could also either be the same chandelier or an exact duplicate of
the six-candle fixture that Peter William Eichbaum made in 1810
for Kerr s Inn in Pittsburgh.

Eichbaum was running a hotel of his own at the time, having
retired from active duty in the old Pittsburg Glassworks. How-

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ever, his old friend and former associate, General James O Hara,
was enthusiastic over starting a chandelier business in Pittsburgh,
not so much for financial gain as because he had a taste for the ele
gance of crystal chandeliers and felt that their manufacture would
be good publicity for the Pittsburgh glass factories. General
O Hara persuaded William Price, (who had been apprenticed to a
brass founder and apparently knew brass better than glass) to
make the brass frames and the chains. The glass was fine pot metal
made at O Hara s own Pittsburgh glassworks and the cutting was
done by Eichbaum in his shop at The Sign of the Indian Queen.

There is record of at least seven chandeliers having been made
in the early years of the nineteenth century in Pittsburgh. The
largest was the twenty-candle fixture which was donated by General
O Hara to the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh and hung
there in 1804 when the church was built. A smaller six-candle
chandelier made by Eichbaum for the lodge rooms of Ohio Lodge
Number 113 in Kerr s Inn, was probably donated to the Masons
by General O Hara. It is probable, too, that another of the same
small six-candle chandeliers was made for Eichbaum s hotel, The
Sign of the Indian Queen, and later either sold or lent by them to
the Mansion House, or to friends who lent it to the Mansion
House, thus saving it for posterity. Whether the one now known is
the twin of the Kerr six-candle fixture or the identical one may
never be known, but it fits the description precisely. The piece was
designed by Eichbaum, who was a German. The shape and ar
rangement of the jewel chains is German and very different from
English and French designs then in use. However, the decoration
of the brass crown reflects the English background of the brass
founder, William Price. This is the earliest known American-made
chandelier.

As time went on American designers followed the English and
Irish forms of chandeliers in vogue in Europe. Plate 137 pictures a
smoke bell made in New England and transported to China on
a sailing vessel. Blue tinct is almost always pronounced in im
ported chandeliers. American pieces are usually of fine prismatic
quality and good clear metal. Furthermore, it is to be remembered
that a house built in 1812 had either a domestic chandelier or

[326]

PLATE 138

Chandelier made by William Gillinder at the Franklin works in Philadelphia^
18^6. Frosted center piece and cups are typical of Gillinder chandeliers of this
period. Originally made for electricity and one of the first so designed. (Mrs.

S. N. Ben ham)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

none, since there were no imports from Ireland in that war year.
William Gillinder s chandeliers of the Centennial period were
elaborate and show much sandblast decoration (Plate 138). These
are rare because glass so decorated was not strong enough to sup
port the pendent prisms and chipped or cracked with the years.
The one illustrated is not in perfect condition, but it is a fine ex
ample of an American chandelier of the late Middle Period. Origi
nally designed for an electric fixture, it has never been rewired or
changed in any way.

[328]

CHAPTER XIV

LAMPS

FOR THE collector, cut glass lamps are an excellent specialty and
the possibilities are wide. America controlled the lamp market
during the nineteenth century and sent so many thousands of whale-
oil, Argand, Astral, and kerosene lamps to the ports of the world
that collectors pieces of undeniable American origin sometimes
turn up in foreign lands.

Probably no other item of glassware was made in such volume
and variety. Yet collections of lamps are not so common as those of
bottles, decanters, and goblets and there are still a reasonable num
ber of fine cut glass lamps to be found on dealers shelves and at
auctions. Of course lamps of quality metal and distinguished work
manship are rarer than everyday lamps and consequently command
higher prices. Good examples of Early American flute cutting,
copper-wheel engraving, and other cut decoration are found on
lamp bases, shades, and particularly on the crystal pendeloques.

Although candlesticks, candelabra, and chandeliers were used in
wealthy households in America and Europe before and after the
iSoos, lamps were the utilitarian equipment of the middle class.
Authors and poets wrote by lamplight, scholars, doctors, and law
yers studied by lamps, preachers prepared their sermons by the
light of lamps, and many a mother burned what was literally mid
night oil to finish a wedding dress. This does not imply that lamps
were not also put to use in mansions. Planters and bankers kept
their accounts by lamplight, too. In other words, the candelabra,
the chandelier, and the candlestick were, during the nineteenth
century, ornamental devices for special occasions, holidays, and

[329]

PLATE 139

UPPER: Whale oil lamps, early nineteenth century. Second from left has en
graved font. Model for the ff metallic stopple lamp" patented by Samuel Rust,
1837. LOWER, LEFT TO RIGHT: Whale oil lamp; camphene lamp with engraved
font from New England Glass Co.; Whale oil lamp. (Smithsonian Inst.)

LAMPS

when company came. It was the lamp of standing or hanging design
that provided the practical means of illumination. The same gen
eral rules of design development that apply to desk and mantel
lamps also apply to hanging lamps of the same period*

Different fuels were in use during the nineteenth century and
these are of interest to the collector since fuel determined the type
of lamp. No exact chronology is possible. Whale oil was in use long
after the perfection of kerosene, and kerosene lighted many houses
after others on the same street had converted to gas or even to
electricity. Fuels came into use in approximately this order: from
1775 to 1845 common whale oil, sperm oil, seal oil, lard oil; be
tween 1845 an d 1850, camphene; about 1855 to 1860, kerosene;
and from 1880 to 1900, natural gas and electricity.

WHALE-, LARD-OIL, ARGAND -LAMPS

The early whale-oil lamp is a simple device which looks much
like a kerosene lamp except that the top of the oil font is fitted
with one or two small wick tubes (Plate 139). These whale-oil
lamps were made extensively in Massachusetts by the New Eng
land and the Boston and Sandwich glass companies. Sometimes
Sandwich lamps are found with shades but more often the shades
have been broken. The bases are frequently made of colored lead
glass, cased, cut, or engraved.

Lamps for sperm oil or spermaceti and seal oil were similar to
those using the common whale oil. The earliest whale-oil or seal-oil
lamps made of metal were without chimneys. The wicks were sim
ple stringlike affairs which protruded at the top of the lamp
through wick tubes. Even when there were two wicks the effect of
the whale-oil lamp was dim indeed.

Lard-oil lamps were used in western or inland communities where
whale oil was not available. Few lard-oil lamps were cut.

Seeking to increase the light of the whale-oil lamp, M. Aime
Argand, a Swiss engineer from Geneva, invented a relatively sim
ple device in 1783 and revolutionized the illumination of the world.
The wick of the Argand lamp is woven round like a sleeve and

[331]

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

slipped over a hollow metal tube. The end of the tube which is
lowered into the whale oil is closed at the bottom. The metal is
perforated at the top admitting a current of air to circulate through
this tube and aid combustion in the wick at the points of perfora
tion. So remarkable was this sudden illumination of the dark that
newspapers of the day advised readers accustomed to the soft
glow of candles to use eye shades.

Argand lamps, which are now rare, have large oil fonts directly
beneath the wick, and they cast a broad shadow on the desk or
table immediately below. The oil fonts are usually made of metal.
Only the shades are of cut glass. Like the Astral, Solar, and the
later kerosene lamp shades, they are vase-shaped with a hole at
the top for the chimney and at the bottom a flaring rim from
which prisms are frequently suspended.

America, quick" to seize upon the new and practical idea of the
Argand lamp, immediately began manufacturing. But Argand
lamps used only spermaceti as fuel and this fatty substance, found
in the heads of sperm whales, was more expensive than common
whale oil. In 1800 two Americans, White and Smithhurst, patented
a lamp on the same principle that would burn common whale or
seal oil. These lamps had globe fonts some of which were cut and
mounted on cylindrical metal columns with marble bases. They are
frequently sold as true Argand lamps although they are a variation
on the original principle. Fine examples may still be found for they
are not as rare as the larger and heavier Argands.

ASTRAL LAMPS, CAMPHENE, AND SOLAR LAMPS

The Astral (Plate 140) lamp was another improvement on the
Argand principle and it was America s favorite from the time of its
invention early in the nineteenth century until after kerosene came
into common use following the commercial production of petro
leum. The Astral lamp has a ring-shaped reservoir so placed that
shadow is not cast directly below the flame. It was invented by
Benjamin Thompson of Woburn, Massachusetts, who was made
Count Rumford by the Elector of Bavaria for his services in
physics and illumination.

[332]

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CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

The true Astral has the oil font at the side, above the wick
burner and shade which are mounted over a small cylinder at the
end of a horizontal arm. Oil is fed by gravity into the small cyl
inder below the wick burner. There are double and single-arm
Astral lamps and for mantel decoration some elegant sets were
made with a center lamp of two bars, one on either side, and two
single-arm lamps for the ends. These mantel lamps are usually of
metal. They were similar to the small whale-oil lamps and had
shades from which cut prisms dangled. In time any tall table lamp
with a slender central column supporting an oil font set close under
the wick burner was called an Astral lamp, but the true Astral has
the horizontal bar with one or two wick burners.

After 1850 lamps using a highly explosive combination of cam
phor and turpentine became popular. Camphene lamps were dan
gerous because their inflammable fuel was ignited by the slightest
spark, but they were so fashionable that many women risked the
danger of explosion and fire carrying the small cut glass hand lamps
from room to room. Camphene lamps were particularly popular
for bedroom and boudoir. Many such lamps were not much bigger
than a mustard pot.

The cutting is usually a combination of the old strawberry-
diamond, bull s-eye, or block motifs. The tops are of metal and
snugly fitted over the top of the oil font. There are usually two
wick tubes which vary in length from one inch to three inches ex
tending out from the top. There may be only one, however. Usu
ally these tubes are fitted with small caps attached to the metal top
by short chains. These caps were supplied to snuff the flame since
it was hazardous to blow out a flame over the camphene font. Any
one who has ever smelled a whale or lard-oil lamp knows why the
ladies of the mid-nineteenth century preferred the pleasant odor of
the dangerous camphene.

Solar lamps were invented by Cornelius and Company of Phila
delphia in 1843. They are an adaptation of the Argand lamp prin
ciple. All such lamps are marked with the Cornelius trade-mark
and patent date. Early examples burned whale oil or sperm oil,
later styles used kerosene for fuel. Solar lamps have round wicks,
bulblike chimneys, globe or flaring shades which are cut or sand-

[334]

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CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

blasted usually in floral decoration on colored glass. Shades are
frequently hung with crystal cut prisms.

Kerosene replaced whale and lard oil and the camphene lamps
because it was less expensive than spermaceti, less inflammable than
camphene, and burned without the disagreeable odor of the animal
fats. Early kerosene lamps followed the style of the later Argand
lamps, that is, a round, colored glass fuel font mounted on a metal
column over a marble base. Later kerosene lamps (Plate 141)
were made to resemble the early nineteenth-century whale-oil
lamps, in which a blown glass font was mounted while still hot on a
molded glass base. Toward the end of the nineteenth century the
Brilliant cuttings were used Russian, hob-star, and other deep
and curved-split motifs.

LAMP SHADES AND CHIMNEYS

The first lamp shades to be made in America were those draft
protectors commonly associated with candlesticks and called hurri
cane shades. Such shades were made at the New England Glass
Company as early as 1820 to be used on whale-oil lamps. They
have been made from that time to this and are in common use in
the twentieth century on electric lights.

The flaring shade often associated with a student lamp was first
used on the Argand lamps and was cut in America in great quantity
and variety after 1830. Such shades were made of colored glass,
often sandblasted to deflect the glare and were decorated by shal
low wheel cutting. Often they were hung with prisms in spear and
pendeloque types. Globe shades made to cut down the greater bril
liance of the kerosene flame, are of later manufacture, very few
having been made before 1860. Some of the earlier examples are
also hung with prisms.

The lamp chimney is said to have been the accidental invention
of a man who placed a bottle over a flame to heat the liquid in it.
The liquid boiled away, the bottom split off the bottle, and the cyl
inder that remained slipped down over the flame. To everyone s
surprise it did not break. Henceforth glass chimneys proved so

[336]

PLATE 142
Shade for kerosene lamp, about 1860. Frosted and cut. (N.~Y. Hist. SocJ

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

much more satisfactory than the iron ones then in use that they
were soon generally adopted. Lamp chimneys are rarely cut except
for hurricane shades which are in effect, chimneys.

MANUFACTURERS

Both the New England Glass Company and the Bakewell Glass
Company made whale-oil lamps on the two-wick principle before
1820, but since all early whale-oil lamps look very much alike and
the style of manufacture was the same, identification with factory
or even locality is at this late date almost impossible unless there is
documentary evidence. The fact that two cut glass lamps look alike
and have similar bases and shades does not always mean that they
came from the same glasshouse.

Of interest to the collector is the advertisement of the Bakewell,
Page and Bakewell Company for November 20, 1827: "Astral or
Sinumbral lamps on pedestals or for suspension, also Tuscan, Vase,
Mantel and Chamber Lamps, in addition to their usual stock of
plain and cut flint glass."

The colored and cut whale-oil lamps accredited to the Boston
and Sandwich Glass Company were made at about this time. One
point regarding these lamps has baffled collectors. The fonts appear
to be of much better metal than the bases. It is now believed that
in order to meet competition short cuts were used at the Sandwich
glass factory and later copied by the Brooklyn and Pittsburgh glass
houses. Lamp bases or feet were molded from common clear glass
in square and step molds. Globe fonts were blown from fine lead
glass in white and colors onto the hot molded bases while still in
a viscose condition. After annealing the lamps were decorated by
application to a moving wheel.

Type of lamp should be the first consideration of the collector.
For a cabinet, lamps that have been converted to electricity are of
slight value, no matter how rare the glass or how beautiful the
shade or prisms because the old burners can not be replaced. There
are, incidentally, some "electrified" lamps on the market which
have baffled collectors who did not know their origin. When John

[338]

LAMPS

Dorflinger of White Mills, Pennsylvania, bought the stock of the
old C. Dorflinger glassworks he found shelves of apothecary bot
tles which he sold to New York lampmakers for bases. These pieces
were of course old genuine Dorflinger, and some of them of very
beautiful red, blue, or green glass with elaborate cutting and
gilding. The bottles were made for display in drugstore windows.
For those collecting cut glass bottles they are interesting and now
demand many times their original value from collectors of "apothe
cary furniture" but they should not be included in a collection of
old lamps. The same would be true of cut glass vases which have
been converted to lamps. These do not belong in a collection of
lamps but in one of vases and then only after being reconverted.
Vases and bottles that have been drilled to make holes for wiring
are seldom prized by a collector of cabinet pieces.

A representative collection of cut glass lamps might include: an
example of a whale-oil lamp, perhaps one known to have been made
at the New England Glass Company, and another known to have
come from the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company; a camphene
burner; and an Astral lamp with cut shade; some Argand lamps
from the earliest period (1800) to the Solar type base and shade
(1843). Care should be taken in selecting lamps to examine font,
shade, and prisms for modern substitutions : an Astral lamp which
still has its original shade and prisms is worth considerably more
than an Argand lamp from an even earlier period with a newer
shade or with prisms from a modern Czechoslovakian glass factory.

[339]

PLATE 143

UPPER, LEFT: Pair of brandy decanters with flute cutting and bands of sharp-
diamond motif. New England Glass Co., 1817-1830. (Mrs. S. N. Benham)
RIGHT: Whisky tumbler and decanter, cut from pattern that won the gold
medal at Franklin Institute in 1827 for Bakewell Co. (Philadelphia Mus.)
LOWER: Brandy decanters owned by Henry Clay. LEFT: Perhaps by Isaac
Duval\ RIGHT: Bakewell. (Smithsonian Inst.)

CHAPTER XV

DECANTERS, COLOGNE BOTTLES,
CONDIMENT SETS

PROBABLY the first glass vessel ever made was a bottle and
decanters, jugs, cruets, and cologne bottles still comprise the
largest category in cut glass. The Rodneys were the first decanters
to be brought to this country and copied here (Plate 41). These
were the ordinary bottles without neck rings. They were made of
indifferent metal and decorated with simple wheel engraving. While
Rodneys were relatively common in their day, they are prized by
modern collectors as interesting examples of early glass.

The decanters made by Benjamin Bakewell in the 18208 are
round, sturdy, and generally well cut (Plate 143). The Robinson
decanter (Plate 45) which follows the cylinder shape in vogue
in England in 1827 is one of the finest American decanters of this
period. The heavy, flute-cut decanters, some with steeple stoppers
(Plate 58), were much in style in 1840 and can still be found in
a variety of shapes, sizes, and metals. Decanters following the
shape of champagne bottles came later (Plate 6). Decanters with
star-cut bottoms were made after 1830, In America definite styles
in bottles disappeared after the beginning of the Brilliant Period
when, contrary to the rule in England and Ireland, shapes so varied
that they were no longer an indication of age.

A wide variety of shapes, patterns, and stoppers make decanters
most interesting to collect. (See Plate 144.) The Daisy cordial (A)
was cut during the later years of the period. The popular Croesus
pattern was a favorite for claret decanters (B). A variation of the
Russian decorates a barrel decanter (C) which probably lacks the
original stopper. Another claret decanter (E) is cut with a straw-

.[.341 ]

PLATE 144

Decanters: (A.) Intaglio daisy cutting. (B.) Croesus pattern. (C.) Barrel
type. All typical of Brilliant Period with cut neck rings and lapidary stoppers.
(D.) Globe, Russian pattern. (E.) Claret pitcher, strawberry-diamond and
panel motifs. (F.) Grape pattern, cut intaglio. (From scrapbooks of T. G.

Hawkes Glass Go.)

DECANTERS, COLOGNE BOTTLES, CONDIMENT SETS

berry-diamond field, while a similar decanter (D) is cut in the true
Russian pattern. An intaglio cutting in the Grape pattern (F) is
representative of the finer work of the late years of the Brilliant
Period.

DECANTER RINGS AND OTHER DECORATION

Some collectors put emphasis on the importance of neck rings on
decanters. On English and Irish glass these are some indication of
origin. The triple ring was most frequently used at Waterford.
Cork glasshouses favored the feather ring, and the triangular cut
ting originated at Belfast. These are only general indications and
cannot be taken as evidence for positive identification. In American
glass they mean little except, perhaps to suggest the locality in
which the particular glassworker was apprenticed. The New Eng
land Glass Company made fine feather rings on many of their
decanters. Bakewell used three rings. Those on the Curling decant
ers (Plate 51) are "trailed," that is, applied in the Venetian
manner superimposed while hot on hot metal.

The cutting on Irish decanters between 1780 and 1850 follows a
trend from panel cutting to large diamonds and then to splits and
festoons; arching came next with nailhead diamonds. The straw
berry and crosshatched diamonds were popular contemporaneously,
followed by flute cutting. Finally, panel cutting in combination with
splits and hollow prisms leading into the diminutive or miniature
solid field cutting.

Earlier decanters, that is, those made before 1820, have plain
ground bottoms, sometimes showing a round indentation where the
pontil was cracked off and the scar polished. After 1820 the bot
toms were cut, first in a wheel of intersecting splits, later in a star.
Plain-bottom decanters were cut after 1820, but the star splits were
not used on the bottoms of vessels before 1820, either in Ireland
or America.

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PLATE 147

Cologne bottles, Brilliant Period. (A.) Globe-shaped, hobnail motif. (B.)
Swirled Panel. (C.) Globe-shaped, Richelieu pattern. (D.) Intaglio daisy.
(E.) Unusual flaring typej strawberry-diamond motif. (F. and G-) Engraved.
(H. and I.) Catsup bottle and cruet. (From catalogue of /. Hoare and Co.)

DECANTERS, COLOGNE BOTTLES, CONDIMENT SETS

COLOGNE BOTTLES

In 1875 when the great vogue for cut and fancy bottles saved
many a company from bankruptcy, all sizes and shapes were made
for perfume and cologne. (See Plate 147.) Globe colognes were
very popular. The hobnail motif is used on A and the Richelieu
on C. Cylinder bottles dominated the style during the middle of
the Brilliant Period. The swirled Panel pattern was used on a bot
tle five inches high, not including the stopper (B). Pillar and. dia
mond cuttings decorate a four-inch globe cologne bottle. Light
surface engraving was used on a bottle with a peaked stopper (D)
and cutting combined with light engraving on another (F).

An unusual bottle with a flared bottom (E) combines strawberry-
diamond and gothic-panel cuttings. The butterfly and daisy bottle
(G), though fairly common, is decorative and certainly collectible,
as are many other cologne and perfume bottles.

CONDIMENT SETS

The Brilliant Period may well be called the condiment period.
Every well-set table carried an array of the spicy attributes of the
kitchen neatly done up in cut glass bottles of suitable design. Catsup
bottles were short, usually not over six inches, with handles, and
broad lips (Plate 147, H). Vinegar and oil cruets were usually cut
in pairs sometimes of equal size, sometimes with the oil cruet some
what larger than the vinegar. Tabasco bottles were not over five
inches high.

One cruet (Plate 147, I) indicates what befell fine American cut
glass toward the end of the Brilliant Period. In an effort to meet
competition, manufacturers and cutters strained their imaginations
to the breaking point. In this cruet there are visible ten different
motifs. Furthermore the bottle is square, the foot is molded and
out of balance, and the stopper is overornamented. Collectors value
such pieces only as oddities and points of comparison for the fine
pieces in their collections.

[347]

PLATE 148

UPPER, LEFT TO RIGHT: Cologne bottles. Strawberry-diamond combination^
Middle Period; two Early block-cut bottles; globe-shaped and sharp-diamond
field from Brilliant. (Mrs. John M. Feeney) LOWER, LEFT TO RIGHT: Rare,
old bottle with Saint Louis cutting; two engraved bottles; two of aquamarine
glass, panel-cut from Middle Period. (Author s Collection)

PLATE 149

UPPER: Cruets from Brilliant Period. (Mrs. John M. Feeney) LOWER, LEFT:
Salt shakers, Boston and Sandwich Glass Co., 1825-1830. (Mrs. S. N. Ben-
ham) RIGHT: Double perfume bottle or gemel, 5 l /2, inches high. Clear blown
lead f/lasSj New England Glass Co,/ engraved by Louis Vaupel in i8?os.

(Brooklyn Mus.)

CHAPTER XVI

O -O ~O -O &lt;&gt; O" &lt;&gt; "O- O -O O- -O "O-

BOXES, BASKETS, KNIFE RESTS

DURING the Brilliant Period every possible article was made of
cut glass and some impossible ones, too. Nothing escaped.
Toilet sets and tableware, mantel and desk appointments, even
umbrella stands were decorated under the influence of the moving
wheel. Today the smaller items are fun to collect, since ingenuity
produced them in so many different forms. From 1880 until 1910
glass boxes were made in a variety of shapes, sizes, and patterns
and for many purposes. There were jewel, glove, handkerchief,
salve, puff, powder, and hairpin boxes, and also hair-receivers. Al
though modern collectors now use the larger boxes for candy, and
the square or oblong ones for cigarettes, all cut glass boxes were
originally designed as boudoir accessories (Plate 150).

The first piece (A) is an oval jewel box, measuring five by seven
inches, cut in chair-bottom, hob-star, and fan motifs with sterling
silver mountings. The blank for it was made by the Union Glass
Company and the cutting was done by J. Hoare and Company.
Another large jewel box (B) of later date is eight inches in diam
eter, and though without silver fittings, is prized by collectors.
Footed puff boxes are rare. One I saw with an intaglio Daisy pat
tern suggests that it was cut during the closing years of the Brilliant
Period. The one pictured (C) which shows a combination cutting
of strawberry-diamond, half flute, and notched prism motifs is
earlier. While both pieces are interesting in a collection, this is the
better one and would cost from three to four times as much to re
produce today as the box with the intaglio Daisy.

The Nassau pattern, a late combination of chair-bottom and

C3SO]

PLATE 150

Glass boxes. (A.) Oval jewel box, 5 by 7 inches. (B.) Jewel box, Nassau pat
tern* (C.) Footed puff box, rare. (D.) Jewel box, Nassau pattern. (E.)
Strawberry-diamond and bulls-eye motifs. (F.) Puff box. (G. H. and I.)
Clermont pattern. (From scrapbooks of T. G. Hawkes Glass Co.)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

daisy cuttings, was much used on boxes. A jewel box (D) is illus
trated in this pattern. Nassau was also cut in handkerchief, glove,
powder, and salve boxes, cologne bottles, and dresser trays.

Puff boxes in the Gotham pattern were cut in several sizes, from
three and five up to eight inches. One square puff box was cut in
bull s-eye and notched prism. Another, which we have chosen to
illustrate (E) is of good design cut in strawberry-diamond and
bull s-eye. It measures six inches across, three and one-half inches
high. Another is a puff box, (F), very late Brilliant Period. The
cutting is hob-star-and-fan and the box measures four and one-half
inches.

Collectors frequently find boxes of varying sizes all of one pat
tern and fitted with silver tops. Two such salve boxes (G and H)
are illustrated with a puff box (I) to match cut in the Clermont
pattern. These were cut on Pairpoint glass blanks and fitted with
silver covers by Gorham. All pieces illustrated are clear crystal.
Colored cut glass boxes are extremely rare since colored glass was
not popular during the years when cut glass boxes were fashionable,

BASKETS

The idea of making baskets of glass did not originate in Amer
ica. The early Venetians tried their skill at delicate glass replicas
of woven cane and reed baskets, but as early as 1827 glassmakers
in Sandwich and Cambridge were making baskets for their own
amusement or as presents for their families. Today such baskets
are collectors items. It was not until the Brilliant Period that
manufacturers produced glass baskets commercially. They were
very popular. From 1890 until 1905 a cut glass basket filled with
seasonal garden flowers was a usual centerpiece for fashionable
luncheon and dining tables. A number of these baskets are illus
trated on Plate 151.

The baskets with vaselike stems and flaring tops are perhaps the
most common. One I know has an interesting fan cutting of miter
splits combined with a large English strawberry-diamond. It is
twelve inches high not including the handle. An example of step

PLATE 151

Cut glass baskets relatively common fifty years ago are rare today. (A.) Fine

type with flat ha?idle. (B.) Small, bucket-shaped. (C.) Strawberry-diamond

cutting. (D.) Gotham pattern. (E.) Prized shape for centerpiece. (F.) Flat

basket for fruit. (From catalogue of J. Hoare and Co.)

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

cutting, or horizontal prism, is illustrated (E) on a similar basket.
Flat baskets (A, D and F) were also made for flowers or
fruit and were fashioned in a variety of shapes. The Gotham pat
tern was cut on baskets of different sizes the nine-inch one illus
trated (D). Oblong baskets with straight sides and flat handles
were also prized. They are rare now in any cutting. Smaller baskets
were cut for bonbons and lump sugar. For these the strawberry-
diamond is the most common cutting (C). Small bucket-shaped
baskets (B) are the rarest and the most valuable.

KNIFE RESTS

Knife rests make a collection more easily housed than larger,
heavier pieces of cut glass. From 1850 to 1900 many were cut,
some of them in patterns to match larger services. They were made
in all sizes from small individual ones, sometimes used as place
card holders, to large rests intended for the carving knife and
fork. The finest knife rests are those in which quality metal has
been cut with precision and in exact motifs.

Although knife rests probably were not made before 1850, they
came into such vogue at that time that they are to be found in col
ored and cut glass of all descriptions. A representative collection
has been made by Ruth H. Fenstermacher of Warren, Pennsylva
nia (Plate 152). Probably the oldest piece in the collection is Num
ber i in Row D. Number 13 in Row E is also old with unpolished
engraving on the bar. The crystal glass rests with lapidary cutting
(Numbers I, 2, and 3 in Row C), are relatively common, but the
lapidary-cut knife rests in colored glass are rare. Numbers 6, 7, and
8 in Row E are respectively vaseline, blue, and amber. A few of
the pieces, Numbers 12 and 16 in Row A; 6 in Row B, and 10 in
Row E are of pressed glass. Number i in Row E is made of metal.

Many of the leading cut glass manufacturers of the Brilliant
Period are represented in Miss Fenstermacher s collection and
many of the more popular motifs can be identified. Notched-prism
was used to decorate Numbers i and 2 in Row A. The hob-star
motif is represented on Number 13 in Row C and Number 5 in

[354]

PLATE 152

Knife rests collected by Ruth H. Fenstermacher of Warren, Pennsylvania.
Collection includes lapidary cuttings, Hob-Star, Notched Prism, and engraved

patterns.

CUT AND ENGRAVED GLASS

Row E. The sixth rest in Row C is an unusually fine cutting in
Swirled Panels, a variation of Russian and Pillar, Pattern 14.
Numbers 5 and 6 in Row D also show beautiful and rare cuttings.