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People associate old Haviland porcelain with the French. In reality, in 1840 an American named David Haviland who owned a china shop in New York City went to France to establish an alliance with a manufacturer who could create pieces of porcelain.
He settled in Limoges, France to oversee production. This was near the source of kaolin mines, a very fine and pure white clay unique to Limoges porcelain. He established his own company in 1853 to produce china for the American market.
French artists clung to old traditions about how porcelain should be manufactured, which forced Haviland to set up a decorating studio within the factory where talented artists were engaged and soon the transfer technique of decoration was developed. Haviland china is sought after because of its whiteness, hard protective double-glazed porcelain, and the hand painted patterns.
Haviland China distinguished itself immediately from the old French porcelain dinnerware when Haviland refused to send his products to Paris for decoration, as was the standard practice. Instead, he set up a decorating studio within the factory to produce patterns more closely suited to American tastes. This offended French sensibilities, which clung to old traditions about how porcelain should be manufactured. For a while, Haviland China was so controversial that many of the decorators producing American patterns in Limoges could not travel alone at night. -- (excerpt from the Haviland Collectors International Foundation)
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Between 1820 and 1825, American manufacturers revolutionized glassworking with the invention of steel molds and a fixed-lever press that would shape and pattern glass. The first pressed glass goblets were made in the 1840s. They featured bold, geometric motifs inspired by more expensive cut-glass patterns and were pressed from lead glass.
Pressed glass, made by this mechanical process, became very popular. The glass exhibited a crudeness suggesting the many difficulties manufacturers had as they attempted to squeeze hot glass into predetermined shapes and patterns. By the 1860s, a less expensive soda-lime glass had been developed and patterns became increasingly delicate and representational in character. The lead, or so called "flint," glass pressed until that time was much heavier and more brilliant than soda-lime glass and emitted a beautiful, bell-like tone when struck. -- (excerpt from the Dorothy & Jacque Vallier Early American Pressed Glass Goblet Collection. Part of the permanent collection of the Edna Carlsten Gallery at the University of Wisconsin)
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White ironstone china was first patented in 1813 by Charles James Mason in Staffordshire, England. It was an improved china harder than earthenware and stronger than porcelain.
In the 1840's, England began exporting the undecorated wares to the American and Canadian markets. The English potters discovered that the “Colonies” preferred the unfussy plain and durable china. In 1842 James Edwards marketed the first white ironstone china in America. In the 1850’s through 1860’s huge quantities of “thrashers’ ware” were sold to the agricultural communities. These dinner plates were embossed with wheat, prairie flowers and corn in order to appeal to the farmer community. -- (excerpt from the White Ironstone China Association, Inc.)
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Originally, 17th through early 19th century flip glasses held a hot mixture of beer, molasses, lemon peel, perhaps sugar and spices, and were heated by plunging a red-hot poker or loggerhead into the mixture. By the mid-19th century, the drink type (but not the glass) had changed to a dessert drink that was typified by the ingredients wine or spirits, spice, sweetening, and egg. Only the name, glass, and foamy head connected these two distinctly different beverage types. The classic Flip glass (which looked much like a bar mixing glass but perhaps 1/2 as tall and with a narrower base) ceased to be manufactured before the onset of Prohibition. -- (excerpt from the CocktailDB in conjunction with The Museum of The American Cocktail)
•• Early American pressed glass cake stands
•• Antique monogrammed sterling silver or silver plated flatware
and napkin rings
•• Heirloom monogrammed vintage damask table linens
•• Slat folding lodge chairs
•• Primitive folding sewing tables
•• Early American Pressed Glass Celery Vases
•• Reclaimed Old Bottles from Battle Creek, Michigan
•• Early American Pressed Glass Water Pitchers
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The Small Masterpiece Collection
Early American Pressed Flint and Glass Goblets
Ironstone China
Flip Glass