Tiffany began his glass career in 1885 when he established the Tiffany Glass Company to make stained glass windows. Following the large windows, he searched for a way to use the “waste” glass from those and began making stained glass lamp shades. These are the products which are best known to most people today,as they are more likely to be in the average person’s budget, whereas a stained glass window is not.

The Tiffany style lamp has many imitators. Tiffany stopped making them in 1924, but this style of lamp shade is still being made today by other companies. Therefore, one must be careful if a true Tiffany lamp is the object of the search. However, if you are just looking for this style, there are many lamps, floor and table, ceiling mount and sconces, to choose from.

Tiffany also developed several kinds of glass he used to make decorative objects. The most famous of these is Favrile, which has a iridescence gold finish on a colored glass base. This glass was formed into many nature-inspired vases and other glass objects in the style of Arte Nouveau. This glass also had its emulators, including the Aurene glass made by Steuben.

Tiffany glass is usually signed, and there are numerous books to help the beginning collector to identify a real Tiffany from its many emulators. Expect to pay a pretty penny for the real thing.

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The company was purchased by the Corning Glass Company. Frederick Carder remained at Steuben and continued to design their glass products. The colored glass continued in production until the 1940′s, but clear glass with a high refractive index was developed in the 1930′s to take advantage of the change in taste toward clear glass. This beautiful glass became the focus of the company, and throughout the 1960′s famous artists and designers were employed by the Steuben company to product fine works of art in the clear glass.

Steuben products, including the severely limited and one of a kind works were on display at the Steuben company store on Fifth Avenue in New York for many years. The company also lent out the works of art to American museums to allow people outside of New York a chance to see these works in person. In addition, several fine books have been published showing the works in all their splendor.

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Rose bowls are small, three to four inches in diameter, and are usually round. The opening in the top of the bowl is usually rather small and is often crimped or ruffled, but does not turn back over the shoulders of the bowl. There are some rose bowls that are more egg-shaped, but most are round.

Used to hold potpourri, rose bowls have been made in vast numbers every since the late part of the Nineteenth Century. They were especially popular during the Victorian era, when rose petals or other fragrant contents made the interior spaces of the Victorian home smell sweeter. This form continues to be popular as we also have discovered the joys of a sweet smelling interior.

Rose bowls may be flat on the bottom, have a molded flat base, feet or stand on a stem or pedestal. They come in all colors, including custard and milk glass, and are found in many of the pattern glass patterns. Cut glass rose bowls and cut to clear rose bowls are also found in profusion. Plain rose bowls are also decorated using enamel paints, or have etched designs added to them. Rose bowls also come in many colors and patterns of carnival glass and depression glass.

Once you start looking around, you will begin to see the many rose bowls not only on the market but in the homes of friends and family. These decorative and sweet smelling glass objects are a welcome addition to any interior, and demonstrate the history of glass making techniques and glass styles over time.

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Lalique uses varying degrees of etching to provide details not molded into their products, and when lit their product glow with a white light.

Vase Lalique © by waltercolor

Ernest Marius Sabino (1878-1961) developed a glass formula that captures an opalescent sheen within the piece, sometimes with a faint green or blue tint under normal lighting conditions. When lit from below the overall glow is golden. Sabino also makes figures with colored glass which still encapsulate the opalescent features of the clear glass.

Sabino products are molded in iron molds, a technique that requires considerable finesse in order to keep the overall temperature relatively even so the thin parts do not break off as the piece cools.

Prior to World War II, Sabino designed and carried out grand scale projects, including chandeliers, mantlepieces, full size figures and furniture. Some of these pieces come onto the antiques market now and again, as do the fittings from the French ocean liner Le Normandie, build in 1935.

Since the war, the company has focused on small object de art, which are still being made today. Like Lalique, once you have seen Sabino, you will recognize it wherever you see it again. This makes it one of the premier glass collectibles available today.

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Pairpoint glass is often “puffy”, in that sections of the glass protrude from the overall surface. These may be fruit or flowers, which are then realistically painted to emphasize the naturalness of the 3-D effect. Puffy lamps sell for thousands of dollars, and are considered rivals to the Tiffany lamps of the same era.

Pairpoint amps were also made with vertical ribbed shades, and smooth, scenic shades. The lamp bases were made by the Pairpoint Company as well, and are sometimes marked. The lamps come in three general sizes, boudoir lamps, table lamps, and floor lamps. Not all the shades or bases are signed, so some experience is necessary to learn to identify the Pairpoint products.

Other products of the Pairpoint Company include glass and metal powder boxes, compote, console sets, candlesticks, decanters, vases, trays, scent bottles, bowls, biscuit jars and other table top decorative pieces. These are less expensive than the lamps, but are still values at over $100 for the most part.

Pairpoint was sold to Robert Gunderson in 1938 and became the Gunderson Glass Works. Following Gunderson’s death in 1952, the name Gunderson-Pairpoint was used. Although the business closed in 1956, it reopened in 1970 and continues to produce fine glassware and lamps today. You can see the current production at http://www.pairpoint.com. Pairpoint also gives tours of their production facilities if you happen to go to Sagamore, Massachusetts.

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Duncan and Sons became part of the United States Glass Company formed in 1890, but a fire destroyed both the Duncan facility and their ties to the U.S. Glass combine. After the fire, A.H. Heisey left the company to begin his own glass house, and James E. Duncan rebuilt in Washington, Pennsylvania. Production resumed under the Duncan name in 1893.

In 1900, Miller became part owner of the newly incorporated Duncan and Miller Glass Company, and the company continued to produce fine hand-finished glass until 1955, when mechanization made the hand finishing process uneconomical. The U.S. Glass Company bought the equipment and molds, and Duncan glass continued to be produced by the U.S. Glass factory in Tiffin, Ohio until 1980.

See Duncan & Miller glass.

Duncan produced fine glass by using unique batch formulas to produce their various colors of glass, and using teams of from ten to fourteen men to produce the pieces of many popular styles. The company also produced several popular etching designs, including First Love, the Language of Flowers and Passion Flower.

The National Duncan Glass Society was founded in 1975, and it operates the Duncan and Miller Glass Museum in Washington, Pennsylvania. (http://duncanmiller.net/)

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After beginning with pattern glass, Imperial began producing carnival glass around 1910 under the name of Rubigold, an amber based form of the iridescent glass. Eventually Azure (blue) and Helios (green) carnival glass lines were added, and these persisted into the 1920′s.

Someone noticed that the shiny finish from the metallic salts sprayed on carnival glass crazed if the piece was worked after spraying, resulting in an onion-like skin on the glassware. This stretch glass, usually much plainer in shape and with little modelling on the surface, was produced as Art Glass by the Imperial Company from 1916, in a number of colors and in over sixty shapes. The colors were called Pearl White, Pearl Ruby, Pearl Green, Pearl Silver and Pearl Amethyst. This glass is also now called Imperial Jewel glass.

Imperial’s Nucut and Near Cut lines involve molding the glass similar to the cut glass of the American Brilliant Period. Much cheaper to produce than real cut glass, it is also made from the regular glass metal and not lead crystal, making it lighter as well. These lines allowed middle class families enjoy the brilliance of cut glassware at prices within their reach.

Imperial is the maker of Candlewick glass, a pattern so popular that its name is better known to the glass buying public than the company name. This pattern was made by Imperial from 1936 until the company stopped producing glassware in 1982, and the molds have been dispersed and are now used by several companies. Candlewick forms are relatively plainly molded but have a series of small glass beads on the edges of the piece.

Imperial purchased the molds of the Central, Cambridge and Heisey glass companies and produced further glassware from them with the Imperial mark. The Imperial mark is two capital I’s crossed at right angles, and with the letters “IMPERIAL” placed in pairs in the four quadrants formed by the crossed I’s.

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Look for Imperial glassware at antiques shops and glass shows. The company produced wonderful examples of all the mechanized and semi-mechanized forms of Twentieth Century American glass.

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Besides some new molds based, perhaps, on the New Martinsville production, the new Paden City Company possessed some glass molds from the defunct Higbee Glass Company. The metal, i.e. glass, of the Paden City Glass Company is very clear, and their early forays into colored glass met with similar success in producing clear, brightly colored glass. Beginning with black (ebony) and white (opal) glass, the company soon added several several shades of green and blue to their production. Described by the present day glass collectors as depression glass, the Paden City colors included a strong yellow, amethyst, cobalt, two shades of pink and a fine ruby glass. Cheriglo, a true pink glass, became synonymous with Paden City Glass Company during the 35 years it produced glass.

Many lines of glass shapes were produced by Paden City, all of them known by the line number until named later. Some lines were robust enough to by used in commercial soda fountains and restaurants and can be found in a myriad of pieces for home or commercial use. Many of these glass forms were also sent to decorators to be enhanced by those enterprises, and for that reason much of Paden City glass is not marked. The educated eye can identify Paden City glass by the shapes, colors and perfection of the glass itself.

Paden City is also known for its beautiful etched patterns, made for decorating plates, but modified to to fit any relatively flat, unmodeled surface of the glass pieces made at the West Virginia plant. The various etching patterns, generally featuring birds or flowers, have appropriate names. The more exotic patterns include those with Oriental scenes or dragons. Between the numbers of pieces in the many patterns and the possible etched patterns on those pieces, there are many beautiful pieces of Paden City glass from the mere 35 years of their existence. If you already own etched glass, you may already have some Paden City in your collections.

Paden City glassware does take an educated eye to identify, but those selling antique or vintage glass should be able to show you some of this beautiful glassware on request. Ongoing research continues to quantify this glass, but no record of glass production has survived the company, so the numbers of pieces in any given pattern, etching or color are unknown other than a general “common”, “uncommon” and “rare” scale, with prices set accordingly. Paden City also made glass from molds owned by other people on request, as well as having their molds move onto other glass companies when the company folded in 1951, so there is some additional confusion for collectors added by these events.

Paden City glass is beautiful in its combinations of form, color and finish. Look for it at glass shows or antique stores near you or as your travel.

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Many of the reproduced items in the L. G. Wright line are covered animal dishes. He produced a number of different animals, usually on a base unlike the original base. For this reason, it is important to keep bases and tops together as much as possible. The animals Mr. Wright produced include the Atterbury full-bodied duck, but without the patent information from the original mold. Mr. Wright also reproduced the Atterbury bull’s head mustard jar, with the protruding tongue ladel, although this is often missing. This piece also does not have the patent information that the original had, distinguishing it from the original in that and the colors in which it is available.

Many of the Wright covered animals dishes come in slag colorings, white with a dark purple, blue, or red, or amber glass swirled together. Those in transparent or translucent colors will also be available in colors not originally found in the original production of the mold. Wright has thirteen different 5 1/2 inch covered animal dishes, as well as a number of the more common, larger 7 inch size. The Wright turkey covered dish can be found in both a 6 inch versions and a 9 inch version. These are reproductions of the US Glass or Cambridge glass turkey covered dishes, but the “ground” on which the turkey stands is smooth, as is the underside of the base, unlike the original ones by Cambridge and US Glass.

Another area where L. G. Wright resurrected old molds is in the font and shade of oil lamps, although his were modified for electricity rather than being true oil lamps. The electric lamps were made from light-colored translucent glass and had various flowers or fruits molded into the glass parts. The glass was then painted appropriately to highlight the molded glass flowers (or fruit). The Glass Review issue for May, 1983 (vol. 13, no. 4), has several pages of these lamps. And I must say I find them appalling. Too fussy and floral for my taste, I guess. Better an old, honest oil lamp, for looks, or a regular glass lamp for light.

To see the L. G. Wright animal covered dishes, try to get access to Glass Collector’s Digest, vol. 5, no. 3, October/November 1991. The turkeys are covered in some detail in Glass Review, vol. 16, no. 11, November 1986.

For covered animal dishes. L. G. Wright or not, the word is probably “caveat.” Only buy what you like for the price at hand until you learn for yourself the in and outs of reproductions and originals. Or work with someone who will refund your money is something they sold you turns out to be something else. “Caveat.”

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Although the US Glass Company started two modern factories after its establishment, only the Tiffin factory (factory R) and one at Glassport, Pennsylvania, (factory GP) were in production by 1963, when the Glassport factory was effectively destroyed by a tornado. Factory R produced its goods under the Tiffin trademark from 1916 on. The corporate headquarters for US Glass were moved to Tiffin, OH, in 1938. Production ceased in 1980, but the Tiffin/Factory R glassware is still well known for its quality. Over fifty patterns of etched and shallow-cut glasses have been produced over the years, and these patterns include the many shapes and sizes of glasses required for the well-established home.

Besides table glassware, Tiffin produced animal figures, cigarette holders and ashtrays, baskets, bookends, candelabrum and candlesticks, vases, flower frogs, rose and ivy bowls, bonbon and candy dishes and jars, lamps and lampshades, punch bowls sets, snack sets, salt & pepper shakers, jugs, and pitchers. There is even a Tiffin Glass Collectors Club, with annual show and sale, and a Tiffin Glass Museum. For those on the glass pilgrimage in Ohio, Tiffin is a sure stop.

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