Early American Pattern Glass

Early American Pattern Glass (EAPG) is an important part of our American Heritage. It had its beginnings in 1827 when Enoch Robinson, a carpenter in the employ of the New England Glass Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts, wanted to produce a glass shape different than what could be blown, and devised a wooden-hinged mold.Molds were later made of cast iron in one, two, three and four sections indicated by the seams in the glass. The number of mold marks or seams in a piece of pattern glass, however, has no significance as to age or value.

In 1828, Deming Jarvis, working for the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, invented the first successful pressing machine and thus the first truly American glass, Pressed Glass, came into being. The first glass made in America was blown by workmen imported from Europe and was very expensive. With the invention of the pressing machine, glass tableware became affordable to people everywhere who were hungry for beauty in their homes. Peddlers rambled all other the country selling the new glass to the lady of the house, often trading eggs and butter for a piece of glass.

The oldest glass contained lead which is the element that gives glass its ring, flint glass. With the advent of the Civil War, the lead source became scarce due to manufacture of bullets, and a soda lime formula was developed. The use of this formula sacrificed both brilliance and resonance in the glass. Many patterns produced over that period of years can be found in both flint and soda glass.

Good flint glass is scarce today, but a flint goblet such as Ashburton or Argus will bring no more in price than an Owl and Possum, or Ostrich Looking at the Moon goblet. Quality can be found in both design and content, and are of equal importance.

Glass is not a natural substance like gold or silver, but a compound made by melting together certain ingredients at a very high temperature. Many of our early patterns were produced in colors as well as clear. Color in glass is produced by oxides of different metals. Iron produces amber or a pale green. Manganese is the substance that causes glass to purple. Copper produces a deep blue or green. By adding a reducing agent to gold or copper oxide, a ruby red is produced. A rich blue is produced by use of cobalt oxide, a milky white by tin oxide.

Every flower that bloomed, and some that did not, and almost every animal know to man was depicted in pattern glass during the maximum production period of 1870 to 1900. An estimated 1500 to 2500 pattern glass designs, each in a series of pieces, were said to have been produced. Some of our best patterns were often given as prizes with a pound of coffee or a box of baking powder.

In the opinion of many EAPG collectors, pressed glass lost its value in the 90's when the companies began producing glass which imitated "cut glass" patterns (often called the "poor man's cut glass"). No longer was it Early American Pattern Glass ~ it was just pressed glass.

In The Spotlight would like to thank Arlene Giles for contributing this article. EAPG has always been one of her specialties, she would love to hear from you if you have any questions about EAPG.

Arlene's Antiques
Sandpoint, Idaho
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