Old New England Glassware in the Home - Part Eleven (C) - "A Small Point"

Old New England Glassware in the Home

Part Eleven (C)

"A Small Point"

            The... crude... antiquarian art  word is ‘Empire’.... (‘style’).  I... do not encounter common usage let alone informed usage in my daily antiquarian adventures.  No.  I garner, at best a ‘sticker price’ generic title term tossed at some sort of object(s).  Never rarely do I ever hear that (“Empire”) for a lacy salt tossed.  Most are a little vague on “what is that” (a ... ‘the lacy salt’).

            Ok the short bus of ‘Empire’ is “EUROPE”... Napoleon... Napoleonic  period... French design influence... Napoleon’s wife Josephine... CHANGED THE WAY THINGS LOOK... with the back of her hand and

            NO ONE around in front or behind one (me) at ANY check-out isle ANYWHERE ... ‘knows about this’ so... BUT TRUST ME; it is out there... just follow the short bus.

            The New England lacy salt dish fully embraces these (Empire ...style) art features in ‘their design’.  MANY are exceptional displays of this (Empire ...style).  OTHERS ARE NOT; ‘low rent’ ‘crummy’ ‘design’.  I ignore those.

            The New England lacy salt DESIGNS tend to be finer in design... and in manufacturer... than the basket full of European ‘lacy’ ‘salts’ (Belgian and French) that ‘took advantage’ of this pressed glass creation to ‘make them too.’  Quickly one’s eye learns to denote the ‘heavy handed’ European design while also discerning the robust... clean... New England design forms.  Two small points for one eye-ball-ing... that go in opposite directions.  There is a crispness of Empire style in the New England designs... similar to the way the white houses lining the New England streets from the same time period look... crisp....:  You either see it ...or don’t.  The ‘this art emphasis’... is on ‘you’.  I am not... ‘you’.  So too... I am... myself... with ‘all art all the time’... way out there in front (?) of you.  It’s a small point... that is hard to ‘catch up’.  And thank you for being that (a ‘back there’).  Too.

            I just told you:  YOU are going to have to study the ART of Josephine.  Then... ‘Empire’ will make sense to ‘the eye’ when YOU see it.  I.... see it... ALL THE TIME... already.  Where was there a lot of Empire style design?  New... York... City.

            That design there (NYC) tends to make (old) New England Empire design look a touch ‘derivative’ WITH a solid dash of “Yankee”.  Too.  This helps to explain the tiny art power of the... tiny lacy salt.  You know;  the Yankee ‘not too much of that’...thing.  Unless, of course... that THING... is tiny.

            Ok... NOW you get it:  Lacy salts are tiny miniature New England Yankee Empire Style sculptures... on the dining table... in the old New England home... with a tiny spoon in it to serve salt.  And everyone knows this.  And loves this.

            They ‘collect them’ and these collectors are ...’crazy’.

            Since there really is not anything else (including ‘beyond (other than) glassware’) quite like this in the old New England home AND the ‘their window’ of ‘manufacture’ is about a short fifteen years... the ‘Lacy Salt’ has a fine position of ... a singular position... in the

            Design history

            Of the glassware in the

            Old New England home.

            And again... they are small... so are... a ...small point.

            I am not really quite sure how to do this right for you.  I told you to study Josephine.  I told you Josephine smacks art with the back of her hand.  I am telling you she smacks you too... with the BACK of her hand.  I told you about New England Glass to this date (1830).  I told you about fashion.  I told you about goofy fashion.  I... suggested we all ‘know about’ old New England ‘Wasp’ etiquette of ...both... self  and art...  So then I put a lacy... salt... dish... in front of your eyes and

            Your on your own

            Get away from me.

            There are two forms of triumph for the small point of the art of the ‘lacy salt dish’.  The antiquarian... and the lower intestinal track of that; the gurgling sound of the informed antiquarian’s eyes raking the self stock offerings of the box store thrift shops.  Church sales.  Benefit sales.  Auction hall box lots.  Flea markets...:  The best chance is at the thrifts... but... “ahhhh”... you ain’t the only one seeking

            Fine

            Empire

            Style;

            A ‘lacy glass salt dish’.

            But it is satisfying to find one...

            After several years of ‘on the prowl’ in those

            Chicken houses.

            Is it not?

            I mean... I do... do... that.

            It is especially rewarding ‘of cash value’ IF it SHOULD BE ONE’S FORTUNE

            That one’s find is... a... ‘colored salt’ meaning that it is ANY other color than CLEAR GLASS.

            Don’t be so stupid.  If you handle the old lacy salts one soon discerns... by deductive logic... that most ‘colored’ salts (‘salts of color’) look LESS GOOD to the average eye; a ‘huh what’s that thing?’ ...appraisal... given to, like, a ‘black’ ‘blue’ or ‘opaque blue’ or a ‘opalescent milk glass’.  Finding an ‘of color’ ‘signed’ New England Glass Company salt ‘stickered a buck’ ($1.00) IS ‘do-able’.

            I’m done with this first triumph of ‘lacy salt dishes’ in the ‘old New England home’.

            BECAUSE that is dull

            To me.

            What I like is discovery (‘triumph’) status number two:  The me... alone with my art eye... in YOUR great grandmother’s great grandmother’s ...old New England home:  You know those... the white houses on the upper end of Main street that have ‘been there’ ‘forever’ and the ...not enhanced by professional services... exterior (shutters, shrubs, lawn) ‘has been the same like that forever’ AND one never sees ‘anyone’ ‘there’ AND:  Yeah; you know EXACTLY the houses I’m talking about.  NOW we’re talking ‘lacy salt dish’ in the ‘old New England home’.

            I’m gonna get it.

            I’m gonna go in there and find and get that (often THOSES) ‘lacy salt dishes’

            Among ALL OTHER New England decorative arts in there “I GET” ...TOO.

            While your like... shopping... reading online... “Ahhhh”.

            Yeah:  That’s right:  Game over.

            Your not there.  I never see anyone there.  Not even the escort service (‘owner’, ‘principals’, ‘lawyers’ (Ms. Para-Legal)... is there.  I mean... they are physically there... but, like, privileged so-to-be-bored... with their (or their client’s)... inheritance of their great grandmother’s great grandmother’s house that has “EVERYTHING” “STILL IN IT” “OH WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?”.

            “Yuck” and I saying nothing at all ever... kick them aside and with my leash dropped... rove... down the isles in the dark closed rooms ‘there’, ‘up there’, ‘in there’.  LIFTING MY LEG like puppy dog and scampering ahead and behind and “COME HERE WHAT ARE YOU DOING”.

            I find the salt.  Salts.

            They are the salts that great, great... great... great... grandmother BOUGHT and ‘used’.  SO DID ...great.... great... great...great... grandfather; “that lumbering oaf”.  “HOW DID THAT... I KNOW THAT?”  Ok this is carefully quite cool.  See... these salts... were... ‘at table’.  So... like... what do you think?  Everybody picked them up at the end of the meal and, like, ‘put them away’; emptied the salt ‘out’ and ‘put them’ (the salts) in the ...dishwasher?

            “Idiot”.

            These things (lacy salts) are actually sort of ‘big’ so hold ‘a lot’ of salt so, like... NO they did not empty them out and put them in the dish washer after every meal especially since they were having another meal in under six hours so ...like... they... “just set it over there’ at best... with the damn SPOON still in it.  And, like, the... ah... humidifier systems in the old New England homes (the white ones on upper Main street) didn’t... exist... so, like, the ‘salt’ kept ‘hardening’ in the ‘salt dish’ so... like... that lumbering oaf (greatest grandfather) was always jabbing the salt ...in the lacy salt dish with... well... the ‘spoon’ didn’t work so he TOOK OUT HIS POCKET KNIFE and, ahhhh... ‘loosened it (the salt) up’... IN the lacy salt.  THAT IS WHY these ‘old salts’ are so often ‘chipped’ and ‘rough’ around the inner top rim edge AND have, like, “CRACKS” and “CHIPS” and ...were still used... after being ‘damaged’ from being actually used:  YES THESE WERE ACTULLY USED by,.. real people.

            A review:  I hunt for and find the salts in their original setting; in the old New England home.  I know this when I am doing it.  I do not need to “OWN” the “SALT”.  It’s, for me... the (historic) journey ‘in there’; the trip.  Especially when I’m ‘the first one’ who ‘knows’.  YOU can collect the salts.  I told you that you need only one ...preferably a ‘classic New England’ ‘high Empire style’ ...maybe ‘of color’... lacy salt to have it “RIGHT” for ‘old glassware in the old New England home.  ONE.  And your DONE.  I also just told you that ‘a lot of times’ these salts are ‘damaged’ from actual usage soooo... having a DAMAGED salt IS appropriate for an old New England home SOOO that will ‘cost very little’ meaning... to (for) you and that the head-up-ass collectors...:

“I ONLY HAVE PERFECT SPECIMENS IN MY COLLECTION.”

“Oh fuck you”.

“What did you say?”

“You heard me.”

             Soooo, again, ...for me... I am way off over at the ...houses on the upper end of Main street with this ‘whole thing’.

            I’m like... soooo there with this... while I’m doing this (running around the old New England home like a puppy dog with my leg lifted).  I mean:  I don’t want you around screwing this up.  GOT IT?  Josephine’s back of her hand smack IS NOTHING ...you will find out if you MESS ME UP... ‘in there’.  YOUR NOT THERE.

            And that; what I just talked about... is the REALLY GETTING SOMEWHERE with old ‘lacy glass salt dishes’ as ‘old New England glassware

            In the

            Old

            New England home.

            “HOW MANY” have I found you say.

            “Your so cute”.

            How about “How many have I put back just the way I found it?”  And never-say-anything.  HUH?  Try that a few times.  Cup plates too.

            And what about the ones with the salt still in them?  HUH?  That is the ‘just soooo cool’.

            You know it when it happens.

            And:  It is NOT about the money.  Is it.