Old New England Glassware in the Home - Part Twenty-One - "Summarily; Terse and Blunt"

Old New England Glassware in the Home

Part Twenty-One

"Summarily; Terse and Blunt"

            Old New England glassware

            In the home:

            It is in

            The bottom of the cupboard

            In your grandmother’s

            Dining room.

            She has ‘kept that there’

            Since she inherited that

            From her mother

            Who kept that there

            After she inherited that

            From her

Grandmother and then...

            Kept that there.  Too.

            Everything (in the cupboard bottom)

            Was doing just fine until

            “I cleaned that out” and

            “Gave ‘it’ to the church”.

            Where it was said:

            “That is for the set of eight.

            Can you carry those alright?”

            To me.

            Unpleasantly, for me (I do not care about the reader), I need to be summarily... terse and blunt.  I do not like that... because I find that dull; no dancing verbiage.  And no romance ‘of tale’.  With one seated before the empty and clean plate (‘about’ old New England glassware in the home) I now briskly fill; serve-up.

            Established that we are of the context of “NOW” I have suggested (Part Twenty) three physical characteristics of the “THEY”

            “ARE EARLY”

            “ONES”?:

            Heft of the metal, ground and polished pontil and... fire polished rim.  I add the topic of ‘the metal’ (glass; molten glass, cooled glass).  I add the press mold process.  The press mold itself.  The pattern on the pressed molded glass.  These, too, are physical quality aspects that are ‘there-then’ too; the ‘back then’ the our “NOW” may NOW discern to be a ‘back then’...:  These TOO... were of the little antebellum window (in time).  Then... I add:   The

            Glass

            WARE.

            Too.

            It is the ware... of ‘glass’.  (“Where?”).  We are now ready for that... again; a reminder.  I have established, here spoken as summarily; terse and blunt... that there was NO glass... ware... in the ...old New England home (Part Two).  We, in this essay, have followed this trail of no glassware.  To find ourselves with “THEN” ‘they made’ “glassware” “for the home” (the butter dish; Part Eighteen).  WE need to remind that when ‘they’ made ‘that’ ‘back then’ they... had no context to compare... therefore discern... what ANY sort of “MADE” was... because it had ‘never been’ ‘made’ ‘before’ (glass metal design innovations.  Note plural).

            “NOW” we may so easily discern... the qualities... for we have ample supplies of decadent glassware to... ah... ‘compare’; compare a 1970’s juice glass with an... 1840’s “tumbler”... and... easily

            Discern ‘the difference’.  Should one care to.

            But they, back then... did not for there was no ‘that’ to ‘do that’.  They just ‘made it’; their ‘that’.  And then destroyed it.

            Of course they did not feel THAT; that they destroyed it.  No.  They believed they “IMPROVED” it.  But from our “NOW”... we have questioned that and

            Concluded... that... “no”... their ‘improvements’ actually represent a

            Perpetual

Decline in the quality of and the manufacture of...

The old New England glassware in the home.

I am not the one who ‘did that’; discerned the decadence.  No.  The discern of the ‘that’ was well established before I... quit my seventh grade (news) paper delivery route and ‘turned the pro’(1967) of ... feeling for ground and polished pontils... with my... own little fingers.  I, myself, never thought about the ‘how they’ ‘that’ of EAPG for, well... how about ‘a quarter century’.   NOTICE:  I was, in and of that quarter century, VERY adamant that one ‘should know’.  BUT NOW... at a half century... I’m the ‘You know what:  DRINK FROM YOUR crummy juice glass... you idiot.  I ‘don’t care’.  And that minister is about to find this out (Part Twenty).

This does not change ‘it’; the “NOW” and “back then”.  I will expostulate (pontificate?) all over this decadence.  It’s easy to do; it’s ‘in your face’ easy ...to do.  It is ‘touch my lips’ vulgar.  Properly understood... one should... being of informed taste (‘discernment’ Part Eighteen)... on this... actually rather broad ‘of daily contact’ (of one’s lips in fact) ‘design of (in) one’s lifetime... glassware... iota... one either... ‘improves’.... or ‘remains of that’

            Ilk.

            The ‘I don’t care’ of the ‘if you know’ and ‘if you care’ wins.

            It’s an old adage... in the antiquarian trade.  Very simplified I:  IF one is going to have a painting on a wall for one’s ‘those’ to ‘see’ one should be sensitive that this painting be a ‘good enough good one’ and ...and.... AND privately address the “would I know a ‘good enough good one’ MYSELF and then there... should then there... HIRE someone who DOES to get YOU a ‘good enough good one’ so that WHEN... the ‘those’ ‘see it’ they... WELL:  Most of ‘those’ who ‘see it’ wouldn’t know either so... well... yeah?  NO.  EVERY NOW and then a ‘those’ who ‘does know’ may (could) ‘happen along’ and they... in the quarter second glance will ‘take the bait’ of the painting YOU ‘hung there’ and either will.. be enraptured with... well.... delight or... be enraptured with

            “Yikes”.

            Getting a pro to do the dirty job of having a ‘good enough good one’ on YOUR wall... protects a serious OPEN BOOK visiting ‘those’ may read.  This assemblage of taste carries OFF the wall and to the GLASSWARE that ‘touches lips’

            “Oh.”

            That’s good enough for now?

            NOT WHEN IT IS USED as a hidden-from-self insult TO ALL who ‘touch lips’.

            The assemblage of ‘in the home’ is a very serious undertaking.  Glassware usually is ‘blown off’.  This is usually ‘blatant’ to discern.  Funky show and tell of décor objects ‘acquired’ for one’s decorum; “oh please’.  If you have a mid level chest of drawers that you “FOUND” at a “SALE” and ‘believe’ it is ‘Chippendale’ while you offer... ‘instant’ ice tea in ‘my mom’s’ “THE MINT’S FROM THE YARD” (Part Fifteen ) ‘ice tea glasses’ (a design form)...:  OK?  The nightmare goes from there so... BE VERY careful; someone who ‘does know’ might

            Show

            Up

            Someday... by accident?

            What I’ve just said is; summarily terse and blunt... that it is better for one to

            KNOW

            Before one endeavors to

            SHOW

            The ‘your collection’ in the

            YOUR

            ‘Old New England’

            This is, of course, qualified by remembering that it is... ‘ok’... to have listened to

            Your grandmother and her generation... and her previous generations... to

            Ah...

            ‘Get with the program’

            ‘On this’

            Keeping your wallet closed and your art eyes open (opening)... maybe one is starting to get to where the

            Glassware

            In the cupboard bottom

            “They are early ones”...?

            Remember the old girls at the church sale (Part Fifteen).  They listened to their grandmother so

            They do know.

            And... know you don’t

            Know...

            As instantly as I do.

            The worse ‘thing’ one can do “NOW” is to

            Suggest

            That one does know.

            It is better to give great grandmother’s glassware to the church sale than it is to... endeavor to suggest that ‘you’ ‘do know’ when

            You don’t.

            I get revenge.

            At the church sale.

            So ‘NOW’... if I buy the diamond point pattern EAPG at the church sale for ZERO DOLLARS for a set of EIGHT

            (Including the broken one that was hidden in the

            Heating grate)....

            And a month later MR. Minister is gurgling his sherry, setting ‘it’ (his glass) down and ...staring across the room and

            Then has the ball-dash-to-me to say (inquire?)

            “IF YOU EVER HAVE A SET OF THESE for sale I’D LIKE TO BUY THEM”.

            (THEY ARE FOR SALE SIR)

            But not to you.

Old New England Glassware in the Home - Part Twenty - "Stretching Off to his Right"

Old New England Glassware in the Home

Part Twenty

"Stretching Off to his Right"

            When I noticed to the reader that the old ‘diamond point’ EAPG pattern ‘cordials’ had “all the whistles and bells” of the “THEY”

            “ARE EARLY”

            “ONES” (Part Eighteen)...

            I was speaking about “NOW” on the timeline of  old New England glassware in the home.  This is where we are... and are at.  This is now with this subject... when I do hold a ‘cordial full’... when I do hold.

            And the Minister holds his

            And

            That son-of-a-bitch... doesn’t ever have his little finger... that is free of his grip-on-glass... slide across underneath on the cordial glass’ bottom to... just for a felt (FEEL) second ...crossed by feel only... the ‘ground pontil’ OF that base... as a knowing RE-affirmation that ... the whistle-bell of THAT ‘early’ is THERE... in addition to being a ‘knowing satisfaction’ to antiquarians such as I... to ‘do that’.

            I acknowledge the this glass’ qualities.  The minister gurgles ‘his sherry’ with his

            GOD DAMN little finger... stretching off to his ...right hand view of

...old New England glassware... in the home.

He belches upon his internalized buttered biscuit?  A gassy hands-on of NOT noticing the weight and width of the (glass) disk base that ‘supports’ the ‘standing’ cordial glass.  HOW CAN A responsible intellect NOT sense this delineation of extended design... line... so carefully pre-supposed by the maker to assure the ‘will not tip over’ of ‘top heavy’.  OH SET IT BACK DOWN AND LOOK ACROSS THE ROOM.

            Belch again... softly.

            Sit there

            In the poop of your ignorance.

            “Don’t you see

            The qualities of ... the..:

            OH you don’t even ANYTHING other than the GURGLE of your gulps.”

            I don’t care for it is YOU that is wretched.

            Yes.  A living wretch.

            The top; the bowl, of the cordial is NOT ONLY ‘singularly crisp’ of its pattern.  And this is a subdued pattern that only ‘becomes’ to the eye that... compares... pattern... after pattern,,, after pattern... on an endless mountain region hike (the hiking art eye)... so that will... take you a while; that hike... but:
            The heft of the metal (glassware)?  A... you notice that...?  I doubt it and PROBABLY still “THINK” (the dark region) that ‘thin and light’ means ‘good’ ‘glass’.  NOT SO if it is an old Yankee Minster’s sausage thick and callused FINGERS ‘on it’.  That’s right:  Ministers DID manual labor ‘of self’ ‘back then’.  Firewood.  Porch steps... repaired.  But did they empty their own commode pot?  DID THEY?  Answer me.

            No.  I say.  Their women did.  They (these ‘their women’) suffered the minister’s piss and shit in his... pot.

            Well what about pissing behind a tree?  Did the old Yankee minister DO THAT?

            Of course he did.

            Shoveled his horse’s stall too.

            BUT DOES HIS LIPS know what they touch...

            When they touch

            The cordial’s rim

            “of the “THEY”

            “ARE EARLY”

            “ONES”?

            “Fire polished”.  What does that mean?

            It means the story of the little boys jostling before the mold master.  I... have heard this tale.  I speak it.

            The mold closes on the (molten glass) metal.  The mold master lets the seconds.  HOT metal cools in ‘seconds’.  The mold is opened by the master.  “BOY” (first boy in the jostled line) touches with his rod down on the now ‘warm’ (STILL HOT) glassware’s bottom... that is then, with the mold opening... exposed as “up”.  Boy with iron rod touches down upon the ...press molded... glassware’s bottom with that touch being ‘a tid’ (smaller than ‘a scrid’) of ‘hot’ glass to hold and lift the ...still hot press molded glassware iota UP and away; above the heads of the jostling boys with their, TOO, iron rods with glass tid attached press molded glassware... TOO.  UP.  Away.

            The boys are five... eight... ten... years... old. And work all day (daylight) in this dark... hot... jostled... shoulder rubbing... standing only... waving ‘glassware’ on ‘the end’ of this iron rod... for eternity (age twelve... or thirteen... “I WON’T DO THIS ANYMORE... my cough is not getting better”).  The first boy moves back... away.  The next boy’s rod is already ‘down’ upon the next mold ‘opening’.  The first boy...

            Turns at the back of the jostled boys and ‘down’ with his ‘above the head’ iron rod to joust forward with the top edge of the glassware iota; a FRONT CHARGE with, before him; its TOP; he jousts forward IT (this glassware top edge) INTO a ‘furnace’ through that furnace’s portal and BACK OUT that fast it comes and HE, this boy, sidesteps and “UP” his rod IS again... and COOL it has and... back down before ANOTHER BOY who, as the first boy’s rod bumps the ‘soft board’ that BREAKS OFF the attached glassware iota and the THIS second boy “saves OFF” the now ‘press molded’ ‘with fire polished rim’ (the top edge of the, here we are tracking, minister’s sherry filled ‘cordial’) of the ‘glass’... ware....:

            SAVED OFF the ‘done’... old New England glassware... FOR the home?”

            NO.  There is a jagged piece of glass on the BOTTOM of the ‘finished’ ‘pressed glass’ ‘fire polished’... glassware iota... that NOW is ‘passed on’ to a whole ‘OTHER’

            MAN

            Who... in the spacious ‘grinding room’ of the glassware ‘factory’... GRINDS... using a machine ‘invented for that’ the ‘rough glass pontil’ OFF and leaves a ‘hard to see’ 1-1 1/2” “POLISHED” concave disc shaped “PONTIL” in its place.  THIS... is a hard to see... but MAY ALWAYS FOREVER be ‘easily’ felt (FEEL) by a... ministers little finger sliding across the bottom to:

“As a knowing RE-affirmation that ... the whistle-bell of THAT ‘early’ is THERE... in addition to being a ‘knowing satisfaction’ to antiquarians such as I... to ‘do that’...” (From above).

            Why am I bothering to tell you this?  WHY?  Why not:

            “OH SET IT BACK DOWN AND LOOK ACROSS THE ROOM”. (From above again).

            I am telling you this because this is the very essence of the greatness of this singular ...old New England glassware... in the home.

            HOW LONG does one ‘think’ this process was ‘kept’ ‘up’?  Dark to day lighted dawn on to dark day ending NIGHT of jostling little boys before the mold masters fire polishing rims for minister’s lips to KNOW THE FEEL ‘of that’.  BOYS grinding off rough glass pontils and ‘finishing’ ‘polished pontils’.  Setting that finished glassware “OUT” to be “INSPECTED” and culled ‘should it not’

            BE GOOD ENOUGH for

            A minister’s LIPS to touch.

            HOW LONG DID THIS production madness... ‘go on for’?

            HUH?

            NOT very long.  It is two things.  The tiny antebellum window of the... joined at the wrist craftsman and ...machine... I spoke of  (Part Nineteen) and

            Old New England... Yankees.

            These Yankees are crazy about lasting ‘finished’ ‘qualities’.  They were (are?) so crazy that they actually MADE THIS GLASSWARE.  Only they made it... in New England... ever.  HOW LONG did they?... you say.  NOT VERY LONG.

            It was over before it began... to be recognized that this... molded pressed glass... that was VERY hand finished... ‘was something’.  What had to happen is that this Yankee ‘quality’ production of ‘Early American Pressed Glass’ had to, as a design craft... “decline”.  That means that the process of “MAKING” had to “SUFFER” numerous ‘craft quality’ ‘changes’ that ...were intended to make an “IDENTICAL” (‘similar’) glassware iota but... with... “a severe” ‘reduction’ of craftsmen’s ‘qualities.  That did happen “right along” and was a sealed

            Deal by the end of the Civil War... era.  “Machine” “MADE” glassware... was very quickly our ... old New England glassware... in the home... ‘ever more’.

            This window is so small that a Yankee today has

            PROBABLY NOT EVER

            Touched their lips to a ‘fire polished rim’

            They (New England home owners, heirs, decorators and their ‘border ruffians’ of taste... ‘have not’ ‘ever’

            That

            True apex design... true apex old New England Yankee design AND apex executed’ production OF THAT design... they have... probably ‘never even held that in their hand’ let alone

            “Touch my lips”.

            And I know this... very well... both the ‘never even’ and the ‘touch... lips’

            And:

            At this timeline’s point (1840-1850’s)... the juice glass... of ‘glassware’ of the... ‘old New England glassware... in the home...’ is one hundred years from it’s “They are dreadful” ‘design’ ‘innovation’ (1950’s).

            That is a ...splendid... century of ...(New England glassware) design ...decline. 

Old New England Glassware in the Home - Part Nineteen - "Delightful"

Old New England Glassware in the Home

Part Nineteen

"Delightful"

            It’s not just in the cupboard bottoms;

            The glassware

            In the old New England home

            Is everywhere.

            Let us just look around a bit more

            For just a minute.

            “DOWN cellar” are the

            Old Fruit Jars.

            They (the early design ‘old fruit jars’) are not a ‘utility’ glassware brought INTO the home.  They are a utility glassware IN the home.  They are not pressed glass.  They are, usually, ‘bottle glass’ (utilitarian glass metal) ‘aqua’ (color).  They are ‘mold blown’ glass almost exclusively.  They are ‘hand finished’ when ‘removed’ from their mold.  Many of the older ones have ‘ground lips’ or even ‘fire polished’ lips ... with this ‘that’ found on, especially, the ‘early’ ‘wax sealers’.  Napoleon, Josephine’s husband, is credited with ...creating the ‘Fruit Jar’; the “Preserve Jar”.  He... offered a substantial cash reward for a ‘food preservation method’ for transporting food to feed his army and

            Someone did... innovate... the design form called, casually, ‘the fruit jar’.   They are ‘down cellar’ ...old New England... glassware... in the home.  They are... ‘Empire Style’... in their ‘early (design) form’.  Too.

            I am not writing about them... even though they were... and are... THERE.

            THEY (fruit jars) ARE old New England GLASSWARE... in the home.  But they are too easy for you to understand ...now... with your ever-more discernment.  So I will skip along.  But:

 I will notice... that should one... be of the... properly decorating the ‘their’ old New England home...; that ‘doing that’ ‘down cellar’ ‘right’... would actively include proper (historically correct) ‘fruit jar’ (‘preserve jar’) (‘canning jar’) decorative etiquette.  Yes and that... done right makes one look... very bright... but ...done wrong... it is a decorative

            Fright.

            “I did not”, you say, decoratively include the cellar of the old New England “MY” home?  Well... THEY DID (the original occupying families).  If you don’t know what your doing; study... it (the fruit jar)... or consult a professional (fruit jar collector/dealer).

Should one seek to know a ‘fruit jar’ in the old New England home... by a name brand... that is also.... highly affordable (‘cheap’ in the current antiquarian marketplace).... (in ‘aqua’)... and a ‘classic’, follow the “Trademark” “Lighting” ‘jars’ trail.  These are old New England Home cellar classics.  They are forever ‘right’ although ‘too common’ to excite the knowing collector’s eye.  Many old Lighting jars are embossed with the word “Putnam” on their bottom.  This ‘furthers’ their old New England aura.  Do not worry.  Although not ‘valuable’ for the most part, there is a bevy of nuance ‘of  Lightings’ that “PEOPLE” (collectors) know and care about.

Example?  A DECEPTIVE nuance is the so called ‘cornflower blue’ ‘colored’ Lighting jar; a jar whose glass color is a distinctive but LIGHT ‘blue’.  Some funk such as I in an old cellar with... very... slight of hand will separate ALL jars of that color without the ‘anyone knowing’ (taking notice).  And it is a ‘”NEAT!” color to ‘know about’.  Too.... this corn flower

Blue.

The collector-‘adds value’ nuances ‘go from there’.  “Good luck with that”.

            Why not dwell... in old fruit jar Hell?  Because:  It is too boring (easy) as a design form to... get a gist of.  I am not entertained ‘of art’ by the fruit jar nuances.  I like a raw... ‘few travel there’ old New England glassware... object (“THING”)... that I find... in the old.... New England home.

            So... “Oh Victorians!” and Civil War era domestic décor.  Or is it better antebellum.  Yes it is better ‘that word’.  Why?  Well... the Civil War is responsible for changing the way “THINGS” in the “HOME” were “MADE”.  Coming TO the Civil War the influence and impact of industrial ‘practice’ retained the human (usually a ‘man’) as the controlling craftsperson... guiding and using the ‘machine’.  Glassware ‘pressed’ was ‘hands on’ managed by ‘old school’ glass craftsmen who... ‘knew what they were doing’ with the glass metal from ‘the old days’... and the ‘old ways’.  The machine of the Civil War... ‘got rid of that’.  The machine became a perfect craftsperson... so required... no longer... a human crafts person.  Just a person... to ‘work’ the ‘machine’.  Yes and going from Empire style to Victorian style... through the ‘transitional’ style... included ‘this’; the machine craft replacing the human craft... in the ‘manufacture’ ‘of’... ‘it all’.  Therefore:  When I look for signs

            Of design

            Decadence...

            With this ‘change’ (“decline”) in mind

            I know where to start... do I not.

            But I also spy that little antebellum window of ‘still there at work’ ‘a craftsperson’ ‘making’ some... thing.  Here I carry my eye-spy to glassware in the New England home and... peer around these old estates seeking that; old glassware that “I CARE ABOUT” and find some ‘peculiar’ that turns to ‘enthralling’ with that progressing to ‘absorbing’ to that carrying me off to ‘delightful’... ‘things’.  What could a ‘that sort of thing’ BE?  An Empire-Transitional-Victorian style antebellum glassware (handmade of old New England by an old New England ‘glass man’ of apex skill...?  IS THERE SUCH a domestic vanity... right in plain sight like today’s ‘television’.  But if so what could a THAT be?”

            Dancing past the ‘it must be for FORTY years I’ve LOVED THEM’ I rediscover FOR YOU the...

            Victorian... fish... bowl

            “I just oh

            Do love them

            So.”

            The old ones of course... from ‘before’ they were ‘machine made’.  I mean those large (9” by 10”) free blown clear glass bubbles of hand craftsman’s hand blown GLOBES of sphere space in GLASS... WARE sitting THERE with a ‘gold fish’ in  it.  “OH SO FRONT PARLOR... does it’s water need to be changed?”  I just...  I mean... once one finds one and, like... “KNOWS YOU CAN” find one and DOES... find one “IT’S NOT BROKEN”.  Usually they are empty and... ‘sort of’ put away.  Like... they are not on a (pillar style) stand anymore but only ‘tucked’ in the behind-the-chair-over-there-corner-of-room-by-the-desk-like... a trash basket sort of... whole and holy NOT ‘disturbed’ and no fish bones in it either.  I just run off with it to the truck.  I mean obviously I’d already spied it in the ‘walk through’ prior to ‘purchase’. And I don’t have to touch them.  Just my eyes:  The open top... rim... that is a ‘folded rim’ with that meaning the hot glass edge is folded over to create a sealed hollow space rim edge.  Then there is the rough glass pontil on the bottom... created there so that ‘a boy’ could hold the fish bowl while “HE” (master glassblower craft person) finished the rim; rolled the rim edge.  THEN THERE IS one hundred fifty years of ‘bottom wear’; a halo-around-the-moon (pontil) surface scratching to the bottom from ...’actual usage’.  THAT MUST BE THERE for a ‘real one’; a REAL OLD FISH BOWL.  Little usage scrapes and stains all over ‘it’ TOO.  THIS (a true antique fish bowl) WAS USED to hold the family’s GOLD.... FISH.  They (these old fish bowls) ARE old New England glassware... in the home.

            Most were made in the Boston area... by very skilled craftsmen having their job ‘taken over’ by a machine.  Due to the ‘blown big bubble’ scale of the fish bowl this... (glassware) ‘THING’ was harder to ‘get a machine to do’ so... since there WAS (and still is) a commercial demand for ‘a...fish...bowl’ ‘in the home’... these old veteran glass blowers ‘made them’.  SO FINE are they ‘of production quality’... that after (1) hearing about them from me and then (2) actually handling a REAL ONE...

            YOU WILL

            WANT ONE

            For... (yes you will)

            The (your)

            “Old New England Home”.

            Once discovered... they are delightful.

            Yes... you may put a fish in it.

            That does... make them hard to “I LOVE IT”

            Allow admiring to ‘handle it’.   But...

            Well...

            I, myself, prefer the ‘their sculptural presence’

            Now... I serve notice... that the observed craftsmen glass qualities of ‘folded rim – pontil – usage wear; these physical occurrence on this glassware; the old New England fish bowl... are retained ‘of mind’ and intensely used when one ‘suffers the  discernments’ of what makes EAPG (early American Pressed glass) a ‘delightful’ of

            Old New England glassware in the home. 

This notice includes the captured ‘little antebellum window’ of (in) time, too.