American Brilliant Cut Glass

 Pattern/Design Identification

Columbia Chapter Presentation 1/27/2007 – Greg Randall

 Pattern ID is a challenging and interesting part of collecting. There are probably thousands of different patterns and hundreds of companies from roughly 1876 to 1915 that produced our glass. During this time companies designed patterns, re-designed, copied, mimicked, re-named and otherwise muddied the water, without thought to the future when we would be trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Add to this confusion the facts that companies came and went (and came back and went again), designers and cutters moved around and were even swapped between shops, taking their favorite designs with them. Some cutters freelanced at home for a little extra money. For these reasons, pattern IDs frequently have foundations of the firmest cold oatmeal.

 Without question, the best tool we have to find patterns is experience. Either in person, handling many different pieces (by far the best), or reviewing catalogs, books, ads, ebay, Internet sites, etc., there is no substitute for seeing a wide range of the actual pieces cut during the period. That said, even the beginner need not feel lost and abandoned. There are lots of resources available now that can shed a great deal of light on the production of our beautiful glass.

 Many times, TRUTH (with a capital “T”) may be hard to come by. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion and EVERYONE is wrong some of the time. There are very few ALWAYS true statements, and likewise few NEVER true statements. Whenever you start to say something like “Libbey ALWAYS….” Or “Hawkes NEVER…” Stop and count to ten. You are almost certainly about to be wrong.

 Where to Start 

bulletGet the ACGA Catalog Reprints. Yes, they cost a bit as a total group, but they are still the best source for company-specific information and there are bundles of catalogs available at discounted prices. See Warren/Teddie Biden or the ACGA website.

 

bulletRead through them and look carefully at the pictures. Try to get a feeling for the style of the company. Don’t try to memorize. You can’t possibly remember each picture. (OK, I’m sure there is somebody out there that can, but the rest of us mere mortals cannot.) The problem with this is you will frequently be heard mumbling “Now where did I see that??? I know it was on the bottom left of the page” Note: it was most likely not on the bottom left of the page.

 

bulletBasic Library - find copies of the following (in this order, in my opinion)
bulletMartha Louise Swan, American Cut and Engraved Glass
bulletAlbert Revi, Encyclopedia of American Cut and Engraved Glass
bulletSinclaire, Spillman, The Complete Cut and Engraved Glass of Corning
bulletBill and Louise Boggess, Identifying American Brilliant Cut Glass
bulletAs many of the More Advanced sources as you can afford
bulletREAD THEM, but be aware that there are errors in all of them. They are not infallible.

 

bullet

 More Advanced – find everything you can get your hands on

bulletGet all the other “classics”
bulletThe 3 Pearson books, Encyclopedia of American Cut and Engraved Glass
bulletDaniels, Cut and Engraved Glass
bulletThe rest of the Boggess books, American Brilliant Cut Glass, Collecting American Brilliant Cut Glass, Reflections on American Brilliant Cut Glass  - most available on ebay or Amazon
bulletAll of  Spilman’s and Sinclaire’s books
bulletFeller’s book on Dorflinger
bulletWeiner’s “Rarities”
bulletOther catalogs available from Carrol Lyle, Warren Biden and others
bulletBe aware that, in general, the older the book, the less information that had been discovered and there may be many errors in ID. The Boggess books in particular, while rich in scope and a good source of pictures of pieces, have a fairly high percentage of mis-identifications due mostly to the limited resources available when they were produced.
bulletJoin LABAC and see if there are any reprints of older cycles left (especially the Ad books if you can find them)

 

bulletVisit Websites such as mine – Brilliant Cut Glass Pattern Search - at http://patternsearch05.home.comcast.net or the one put together by Jim Havens at http://www.geocities.com/jmhavens.geo/index.html. Others show up from time to time as well. Other websites such as the ACGA site have lots of pictures. Dealer sites also have a lot of information.

 

How To

 Everyone has their own style when it comes to finding IDs. The bottom line is to try doing it and see what works for you.

 

bulletOBSERVE the piece. What do you know already? Look for signatures (hooray if you find one – usually). How old is it – what kind of fans are there? The later pieces (after about 1895) have fans that do not come all the way to the edge of the scallop. Earlier pieces have fans cut all the way to the edge and the fan cuts form the scallop. Does it have flowers, how about pinwheels – both more frequently 1896 or later. Acid polish? – probably 1896 or later. ‘U’ notches – narrows the field to a half dozen companies or so. More experienced folks may even recognize the blank itself.

 

bulletWhat is it about the piece that is unique or unusual? Number and position of motifs; unusual motifs, unusual combinations. Look for these. Remember them. You will find more patterns looking for other patterns than any other way. Those ‘signpost’ motifs or motif combinations will show up when you least expect them.

 

bulletIf you know or suspect a certain company, look through the catalog(s) or company-specific information.

 

bulletDon’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know or are wrong and start over!

 

bulletTry to look through resources of the rough time period (earlier/later) – this may make it easier. Generally, no sense looking at a circa 1915 Bergen catalog for a piece cut in 1895.

 

bulletIf you have no clue as to the company, look at resources that show the type of pattern you are looking for – e.g. early geometrics vs. late, fancy geometrics. Watch for similar blanks cut in different patterns this may help narrow the search.

 

bulletAsk for help. We are all in this together and my tough problem may be your triumph of last year (or vice versa).

 

bulletCorollary: Share your insights and help each other.

 

bulletThumb through the catalogs/books frequently to keep the patterns/styles fresh in your mind. Remember you frquently find an ID when looking for something else.

 

bulletNever give up – sometimes it can be years before you find just that one picture or ad with one of your patterns in it.

Practice Exercise

 

A Tale of Two Trays

 1)     Celery with an early geometric pattern

a)     Hobstar Bottom

b)     Diamond areas in crosscut diamond (Strawberry Diamond)

c)      Diamond areas bordered by double miters with notched prism

d)     Opposed Fans

e)     Newer style Fan Scallop Border

f)        ‘U’ Notches in fan border

 

2)     Tray with very similar pattern

a)     Hobstar Bottom

b)     Diamond areas in crosscut diamond (Strawberry Diamond)

c)      Diamond areas bordered by double miters with notched prism

d)     Opposed Fans

e)     Newer style Fan Scallop Border

f)        Unusual and different corners – truncated Diamond areas, replaced by large fans reaching to bottom of pattern

 

Evaluation

 

The Celery is found to have ‘U’ notches in the top fan border indicating possible Hawkes, Egginton, Sinclaire, etc. source. This is an early piece with a wood polish. Examination of the 2nd ACGA Hawkes catalog (shows earlier pieces than the 1st ACGA Hawkes catalog) shows the pattern to match, exactly, Hawkes Norwood. (To make matters more interesting, the same catalog shows Hawkes Penrose which is identical, except without the notched prism in the double miter areas.)

 

The Tray also appears to be early. It does NOT have ‘U’ notches but is cut well, suggesting a higher end cutting house, but does not match the Hawkes pattern in the corners. Variation???

 

Further study shows that the celery has split points in its center hobstar, the tray does not. Split points like those of the celery are frequently seen in Hawkes Libbey and Dorflinger, less frequently in other houses. A similar tray in the Hawkes catalog DOES have the split points.

 

Conclusion: The Tray is likely NOT Hawkes Norwood. “Variations” are usually, but not always, a similar (sometimes identical) pattern cut by another company.


Tray Identification

 

So, after convincing myself that the tray was NOT Hawkes (to my disappointment), the search was on. Having determined, in my own mind, that this had to be from one of the major, high-end houses, I fruitlessly searched:

 

bulletDorflinger
bulletMt Washington
bulletHoare
bulletEgginton
bulletSinclaire
bulletClark (early)

 

Having no luck, I set the search aside for a while. One day, I was looking through the ACGA Bergen Dark Blue cover catalog (mid 1890’s) and stumbled across the Bergen Meriden pattern. It is identical to Hawkes Norwood for most shapes – berry bowls, for example (and from the same time period – competing patterns), however, on p 21 is a celery with exactly the same corner treatment. A tray, on p 37 is similar, but a little different.

 

                       

                   

 

Conclusion: The tray is almost certainly Bergen Meriden. A shred of doubt remains because while the celery shown matches, the tray shown in the catalog is not exactly the same. Another conclusion is a reminder that early Bergen was very well cut and not just the “‘Popularly Priced” glass of later years.