Old New England Glassware in the Home - Part Twenty-Six (A) - "Actual Glassware"

Old New England Glassware in the Home

Part Twenty-Six (A)

"Actual Glassware"

There are two ‘decadent’ ‘decline’ in and of... old New England glassware in the home.

            One is the actual glassware.  Second is the glassware’s habitat.  (Number) one, for this discourse, comes first... and may be considered to be a lifting of a manhole cover and then descending a ladder down into a dark sewer of “glassware”.   The second is the evolution of the ‘run amuck’ ‘all that is trash’ habitat of... old New England glassware... in the home.  The number “one” is easier to ‘get’ than the “second”.

            Number one is physical.  For the most part.  “Pretty much”.

            In its (“one”) beginning

            There is ‘think’ and ‘feel’; the denotation and acting upon the difference.

            And...

            There is ‘see’ and ‘touch’.

            And:

            There is ‘feel’, too, with both ‘see’ and ‘touch’.

            Refined (distilled?) by the observant antiquarian, these gather to garner the

            Magical states of “glance’, ‘never touched’ and ‘say nothing (“shut-up”).

            At first it is subtle variation... to the antiquarian eye.

            ?

            OR IS IT A “BAD (miss or uninformed) EYE”... smothered in pepperoni slices of

            ‘Bad taste’?  Is one’s glassware sense a brick oven cooked greasy pizza with applied mystery meat rosettes of self ‘I THINK’ on top of the ...take-away pizza of ‘old New England glass in the home’?

            That is ‘your problem’ to ‘figure out’.

            I say.

            Reorganize the self-deception of one’s ‘think’.

            When the first of the old New England - old Yankee antebellum time slot window... of ‘made’ EAPG glassware... ‘was made’...; from its ‘day one’... and on ‘day two’... ‘someone else’ “tried” ‘that too’.  Right away.

            Next door.

            Down the street

            Across the town

            State

            Region

            Wilderness.

            It (the New England Yankee created design form of pressed glass [EAPG]) was too much to ‘resist’.

            It could be made

            And made ‘very cheap’ with this including ALL of the ‘in more ways than one’.

            And... one’s antiquarian eye using ‘feel’ to ‘see’ and allowed to ‘touch’...

            May discern ‘that’ (‘this’) (“IT”).

            By classic example I notice the clear glass Boston area New England Yankee designed and fabricated... small... table top... spill holder in ‘Excelsior’ pattern WITH the bell and whistle of a ...not only ‘fire polished’ top rim edge but, too, having that rim edge ‘hand worked’ by a ‘glass maker’ to decoratively ‘finish it’.  This was done while the young boy ‘held’ ‘it’ on his iron ‘pontil’ rod (Part Twenty).  Broken off the rod, that rough glass base was ‘ground’ and polished’ so... one would never suspect... or notice... such finish work ‘happened’.  Yes a delightful design specimen of... old New England... Yankee ‘up to code’ finished... glassware... was created and commercially placed in ...the ...(old New England) home.

            A ‘Good Job’ done very well.

            I was surprised in my early days of EAPG observation and... my ‘hunting for it’ to discover... pretty much identical spill holders that... in a summarial statement... ‘were not as good (well crafted) as the ‘that one’ ‘is an early one’ I just described.  But, “you know” I said to self... “IT IS ONE”.

            Right?

            “No.” I... self taught myself.

            “It is NOT one (‘as good’)

            “Oh.”

            The Pittsburg region (Part Seven) Excelsior pattern EAPG sugar bowl is a splendid specimen of ‘what is this all about’.  It is of splendid ‘pictured in the (primary classic collector’s) book’.  Its form; absolute classic Empire-Transitional-Victorian style ‘sugar bowl shape’.  It is from the classic antebellum window date (1850’s).  It is of the classic (though a ‘mold variant’) pattern; a ‘good one’ (a classic... EAPG... classic... pattern).  It is properly mold pressed and then hand finished.  Yes it is.

            The boy waved ‘it’ (the sugar bowl bottom) (Part Twenty) on the end of his pontil rod.  He ‘fire polished’ the top rim of the sugar bowl bottom.  And then:

            Well, first; no glass craftsman ever ‘touched it’.  Just the mold-man pressed mold... ‘open it guy’... opened the mold and the boy with his pontil rod took it away and... this mold man then ‘took the lid out of the second mold...?  No.  Another boy ‘did that’... with his hands ...when it was the classic ‘cool enough to touch’.  That lid always did... ‘fit’.  All molded lids always fit all molded bottoms for they were... ‘interchangeable’.  The lid rim was not fire polished.  Notice that:  There was no further “any” finish ‘to the lid’.  ‘Out of the mold’ it was “DONE”.

            After the fire polish of the bottom’s top rim this sugar bowl bottom was ‘broken off’ the pontil rod and... was too... “DONE”.  That’s right; the whole grind and polish of the rough glass pontil ‘didn’t happen’.  The rough glass pontil was left on the sugar bowl bottom.  Then:

            I am not going to explore ‘decline’ in ‘glass metal’ quality; clarity... and of the disappearance of the ‘brittle’ ‘ice’ ‘feel’.  Nor will I expand on the subtle ‘soapy-plastic’ aura of the ‘this’ new molding glass metal.  Nor will I expand on the subtle ‘lesser’ ‘crisp’ edges of the molded pattern suggesting the ‘in fact’ decline in the quality of the mold craft.  No.

            I just want one to understand that the makers in Pittsburg left a rough glass pontil on the bottom ...in order to ‘cut finish cost’.  Then one may apply the ‘et al’ from there.

            “WHY?” do they get away with this?  Because they, at first and as fore stated ‘shipped east’ (Part Seven) their wilderness ‘glassware’ to be sold into the New England home because the ...consumer population ‘was there’ BUT...:  By 1850 the wilderness included cities ‘further west’ like “Saint Louis” “ON THE RIVER”, etc (New Orleans) that... could too... consume glassware... too.

            And ‘didn’t know the difference’.

            If you were a Yankee glassware maker and, using the local Yankee sea captain’s coastal trade ‘shipping’ services, one could and did ‘ship’ ‘glassware’ (packed by young girls in marsh straw in barrels) to, like, New Orleans.  IF one did that and off-loaded-cargo onto the merchant dock and found, once off-loaded, that “THEY” “HAVE” “GLASSWARE” for sale there “ALREADY” even though, at a glance, by the YANKEE SEA CAPTAIN, HE can tell it is a (“is a gravely inferior”) ‘sucks’ production “Ahhhh ...what should I do?  Sir?”.

            Especially after ...endeavoring (and failing) to ‘point out the difference(s).  So cheapness (manufacture quality and monetary cost) won out.  Old New England Yankee grade glassware for the home?  Game over.  “Decline” of the “industry” takes place.  NOT without a ‘lingering’.  TWENTY YEARS them Yankees lingered in the industry of EAPG.  They still ‘filtered in’ their original ‘high finish quality’ glassware ...here and there... ‘in spite of it all’.  Yankees are... crazy.  Never forget that.

            A wonderful example of ‘lingering’ is the 1860 Boston area made Yankee designed and Yankee finished EAPG classic pattern today called ‘Bull’s Eye with Diamond Point”.  “Collectors” at first called it “Owl”.  The... original maker’s title of the pattern was:

            “Union”. (1860-1876)

            It is a ‘late’ pattern (a ‘linger’).  BUT:  A specimen has “ALL” the bells and whistles of the ‘it is an early one’:  Brilliant pattern, form, glass metal... and ‘aura of’ ‘before thee’ eye.  It does... not... have the ground and polished pontil on the base.  This is because the Yankees had ‘invented’ a cage at the pontil rod end to ‘hold’ without ‘attaching’ the pressed glass specimen for its ‘fire polish’.  OTHERWISE:  A total grade “A”  ‘old New England Yankee... glassware in the home... to this day (an ‘is popular’ “STILL”).

            It was a forlorn hope.  The ever growing ‘they’... outside of New England and ...IN... New England too... (peddler’s carts and rural farms... leaving the train stations with ‘barrels’ of ‘glassware’ ‘to sell’:  They (the whole lot of ‘em) ‘didn’t know the difference’.  And the ‘that’... is... too... a whole ‘old New England glassware in the home’ subject TOO.  I will treat that TOO.  I have to... it’s THAT BIG.  But for today

            I stay

            “This way”; the way the old New England Yankees ‘did it’ ‘in spite of all’

            The Yankees were (are) crazy?

            I would like to hear what one has to say ‘of that’ after... holding and sipping (touch one’s lips) to a ‘that’; a Bull’s Eye with Diamond Point ‘old New England’ “UNION” pattern glassware goblet.  My exposure has self-taught me that it is an

            Exposure to a ‘taste’ that... lingers.

            And grows.

            One becomes a ‘crazy Yankee’ about the ‘glassware’ that ‘touches my lips’.

            One knows the difference

            And says nothing.