In the late 19th century, pressed glass novelties such as butter dishes, serving dishes, candy containers, toothpick holders, and much more were popular products of American and English manufacturers. They are sometimes illustrated in the glass company and glass sellers’ catalogs. Such catalogs and advertisements can provide insight into dining customs, food preferences, and the homes of a certain time period. Many companies made the same type of wares, but in a variety of patterns. Bob and Jo Sanford’s book Victorian glass novelties (2003) and other publications detail these patterns and types.
Pickle dishes were made in a variety of patterns; the “whisk pickle” dish is actually a serving piece in the shape of a whisk broom.
Tables in homes of the middle-class contained pressed glass and reflected the home-canning efforts of the housewife. Pickle dishes were made in a variety of patterns and a “whisk pickle” dish is a serving piece in the shape of a whisk broom. Tubular lanterns were made in various shapes and could be part of a kerosene lamp or lantern; they were used in domestic and public settings. And a spittoon (or cuspidor) was often found in public buildings in the late 19th century, for use by those who smoked or chewed tobacco.
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- “They will sell with quickness and rapidity” – apparently the Ivanhoe pattern was quite popular! The journal offered many types of pressed glass tableware to customers.
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- These water sets came in many different patterns and colors, like Orion Blue Diamond, Amberina, and Polka Dot.
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- This Elephant Covered Glass Bowl cost $7.90 per dozen pieces.
We recently discovered in our Library three issues of a rare glass trade journal that features these types of glass wares. First published as the Chicago Illuminator, and then The American Potter & Illuminator, it featured advertisements for pottery, glassware, and lamp goods. The American Potter & Illuminator, like many trade journals, was probably considered ephemeral. Because it was printed on newsprint and with mostly ads, it is quite possible that subscribers discarded the previous issue when the next one came out. Today, many researchers value these ephemeral publications for some of the same reasons they were discarded.
The April 1886 cover of the American Potter
& Illuminator (CMGL 60700).
The October 1883 issue of Chicago Illuminator includes ads for pottery, furniture, buckwheat flour, shaving mugs, pressed glass, oil and kerosene lanterns, library lamps, and more. One of the featured advertisers is the Chicago firm French, Potter and Wilson, a jobber and importer which opened around 1880 and about whom little is known. Founder Walter H. Wilson of Chicago was first involved with the firm Abram, French & Co. in Boston, and then established French, Potter and Wilson in Chicago in 1880; he “disposed of the business” in 1888. Jobbers were wholesalers, who purchased from manufacturers or other wholesalers, and sold to retailers; their catalogs are an important source for documentation of glassware, especially from about 1870 to 1940. Sometimes the actual manufacturer of wares are identified, but frequently not.
By April 1886, the periodical title had changed to The American Potter & Illuminator. There is an ad for French, Potter and Wilson, in which they advertise themselves as importers and jobbers for crockery, china, glass ware, and lamps. This 40-page issue primarily has ads for lighting and lanterns, tableware, and serving ware (in metal, porcelain, and pottery, and glass), fruit jars, importers, and clocks. The issue also has six pages of information related to the advertisers’ types of wares, as well as a price list for French, Potter and Wilson.
Our copy of the February 1888 issue (vol. 7, no. 2) is only on microfiche. The various pressed glass shown includes ware similar to that in 1886 – bowls, goblets, pitchers, covered hen dishes, water sets, and lamps.
Sometimes we are lucky enough to find issues of older periodicals and promotional catalogs in researchers’ archives, but this title is not in any of the pressed glass researchers’ archives held by the Rakow Library (including the Thomas C. Klopp collection and the William Heacock research collection). I could not find this title listed in the standard periodical lists or library catalogs, so the Library’s three issues are rare indeed!
The Rakow Research Library is open to the public 9am to 5pm every day. We encourage everyone to explore our collections in person or online. If you have questions or need help with your research, please use our Ask a Glass Question service.