'Collectors' series continues with pattern glass
The glass Ellen King will be presenting in a program April 26 at the Maridon Museum will feature patterns from the Victorian period.
“So starting around 1840 with the last genuine from around 1900 or 1910,” King said. “Then it evolved into mass production of glass, because of everything that happened in the '20s, the (stock market) crash.
“Pattern glass was a little more complicated because it was done with molds.”
Some patterns had lyrical names like flute; shell and tassle; fan and diamond; and king's crown.
The period King will be discussing was a hotbed for glass production.
“The Victorian era had little knickknacks for everything, when any big thing happened, all the historical things, like when P.T. Barnum brought the first African elephant into the country,” King said.
She said she recalls one of the most beautiful pieces of glass she has ever seen, though she doesn't own this piece herself, was a glass spoon holder with an elephant representing Barnum's “Jumbo” on top of it.
King also notes that Victorians were avid about anything to do with the natural world, so nature is well represented in the era's glassware.
She will be showing glass pieces that would have been used on a Victorian table or in a Victorian home, she said.
Western Pennsylvania was well situated in the pattern glass production industry. King said that in 1880, from Johnstown and Pittsburgh there were 750 glass companies.
“Pattern glass is one of the most difficult to research,” she said, “because if a glass factory burned down, the workers would take their molds and go from company to company.”
With all the variety of pieces and patterns and the problems researching it, glass still holds a meaningful place in King's estimation.
“That was the first thing I started to collect as a kid,” she said.
The program will be from 7 to 9 p.m. April 26.
Admission is free, but reservations are required because of the limited space. Call 724-282-0123.
