19th C. Glass– Etiquette, Beauty, More

A high-status food among middle-class Americans of the mid to late 1800’s, three filled ‘celery vases’ await their turn to be placed on the dining table — “Celery was expensive a century ago, since it was a seasonal vegetable, labor-intensive to grow and perishable... Presented at the table in a special vase, fresh, uncooked celery stalks became a high-status food among middle-class Americans... A ‘refined’ table set with appropriate pieces was within the reach of many households.”
—  Photo, Etiquipedia’s private library

Pressed glass tableware tells stories of etiquette, beauty and ingenuity in Victorian America

About once a month, 20 or so friends gather for a covered-dish buffet at a house in the Washington area. The conversation centers not on politics or current affairs or even the casseroles or desserts they each bring. Instead, the lively discussions focus on the Opalescent Hobnail, Holly Amber or Carnival glass tableware used to serve the goodies.

“We’ll use any excuse to get talking about glass,” says Francis Allen, a collector and president of the National Early American Glass Club. “We talk about the weight and texture of the tableware, along with the manufacturers, designs and rarity of the plates, bowls and other items.”

There are some 1,300 club members in 23 chapters across the country, Allen adds. They include collectors, dealers, museum people, researchers, students, retirees— just about anyone with an interest in glass.

They are in good company. Only coins and stamps are more popular collectibles, according to some experts. Glass collecting covers a wide range— from beer bottles to paperweights--but tableware seems to have captured the enthusiasm of many people.

“Most people drawn to this late 19th-Century pressed glass tableware are attracted by some element of its appearance,” says Sheila Machlis Alexander, the collections manager in the division of ceramics and glass at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History “They may also be attracted to it because it is in some way familiar or perhaps just because it is ‘old,’ ” she says.

The museum features 200 examples of pressed-pattern glass tableware that was mass produced in the United States during the late 19th Century. Among items are a variety of such common tableware as serving plates and platters, bowls and goblets, pitcher and tumbler sets, and celery vases from the museum’s collections.

“By the late 19th Century, we suspect that nearly every household in America possessed some pressed glass tableware because it was inexpensive and plentiful,” Alexander says. “Whether the pressed glass tableware was considered ‘special’ or ‘everyday’ depended on the household and on an item’s purpose and appearance. Many examples have survived and are of great interest both as clues to the culture of late 19th-Century America and as the product of an important U.S. industry.”

Mass production of mechanically pressed glass originated in the United States in the 1820s. The process involved pressing molten glass into metal molds by machine.

From the late 1820s through the 1860s, the developing American pressed glass industry made most of its tableware from expensive lead glass. Most of the pressed glass tableware sold between 1875 and 1900 was made of an improved, non-lead glass, often known as soda-lime glass.

Perfected in 1864 by William Leighton Sr. in Wheeling, W.Va., this formula yielded relatively inexpensive non-lead glass that stood up well to the pressing process. It produced bright, thin, lightweight and serviceable items. The advent of the improved non-lead glass greatly reduced production costs and expanded manufacturing possibilities.

“During the last quarter of the 19th Century,” Alexander says, “customers could choose from naturalistic designs of fruits, flowers or animals, a large variety of abstract geometric patterns, realistic scenes and portraits. Many patterns endured for years, popular with consumers and profitable to produce.”

Identifying patterns and their makers can be a confusing process. “Companies sometimes issued similar patterns,” Alexander explains. “Sometimes a company reissued one of its existing patterns under a new name. And some patterns became known by popular names. Although more than 1,000 patterns have been identified, many remain whose original names or makers are unknown.”

Various pressed glass items often were used in combination with ceramic and metal tableware. Elaborate Victorian dining customs encouraged the use of many dishes and containers. “Affordable pressed glass serving pieces were available in a broad selection of patterns, sizes and quality,” Alexander says. “A ‘refined’ table set with appropriate pieces was within the reach of many households.”

Some items, such as spoon holders, are virtually unknown to most Americans today. So is the celery vase. “Celery was expensive a century ago, since it was a seasonal vegetable, labor-intensive to grow and perishable,” Alexander explains. “Presented at the table in a special vase, fresh, uncooked celery stalks became a high-status food among middle-class Americans.”

Pressed glass tableware, she adds, can tell historians not only about popular taste and etiquette, but it can also provide clues about people’s circumstances and aspirations and can indicate which events and public figures were considered noteworthy a century ago.

“Commemorative patterns often appeared on cups and plates,” Alexander says, “especially bread platters.” Subjects included Jenny Lind, the internationally beloved singer known as the “Swedish Nightingale;” Nellie Bly, who challenged and beat the fictitious speed record set in the Jules Verne novel “Around the World in 80 Days,” and the deaths of Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln and James Garfield.

Interest in ancient civilizations surged with the discovery in the 1800s of various ruins in Europe and the Middle East and with the development of Classical archeology as a field of study. Consequently, Greek, Roman and Egyptian motifs were incorporated in the design of some pressed glass patterns, as well as in other 19th-Century household goods. Japanese motifs were first popularized through various international expositions. All offered a tantalizing hint of the exotic to Victorian America.

By the 1880s, the manufacture of pressed glass had become a big business. “More than 200 factories produced tablewares for sale in the United States and abroad,” Alexander says. “Most were located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Indiana— regions near sources of fuel and raw materials and close to rivers and railroad lines for transportation.”

In their constant competition for consumers, the glass companies produced more matching sets and more patterns featuring a greater use of color. Surface treatments were added as well, such as frosting, staining, accenting with gilt and the application of etched decorative motifs. By 1890, marketing strategies led to the introduction of at least one new pattern each spring and fall.

The 1890s was a period of great upheaval for the pressed glass industry. “Increasing automation, the depression of 1893, labor problems and dwindling supplies of natural gas forced many factories to close,” Alexander says. “To survive, a number of companies entered into combines.” The United States Glass Co., the most successful of the glass manufacturing combines, was established in 1891. In one year, 18 companies joined, with more to follow. While changing dramatically over the years, the combine survived until 1963.

“During the first half of the 20th Century, the colorful Carnival glass and Depression glass comprised a sizable portion of the tablewares pressed,” Alexander says. “Though overall production of pressed glass continued to decline in the United States, many new patterns and some late 19th-Century reproductions were introduced.” Today, there are still a few U.S. factories making pressed glass.

Collectors look for all kinds of pressed glass--in whatever area may strike their fancy. “Some may collect all the pieces of a certain pattern, or the same piece, such as a toothpick holder, from a number of patterns,” Francis Allen says. “Some collectors concentrate on just one color or one manufacturer.”

Despite wars, natural calamities and breakage, he adds, there is still plenty of pressed glass out there. And Allen agrees with Alexander’s assessment that glass has a nostalgic appeal: “An era may come and go, but the glass remains.” — By Vickie Moeser,  Smithsonian News Service, 1992

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia