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Rarities in the ACGA Collection: 

998.057     Hunt Glass Company “Lace” Octagonal Low Bowl

by Greg Randall

 ACGA Collection inventory item #998.057, shown in Figure 1, is an octagonal Low Bowl cut in the “Lace” pattern by the Hunt Glass Company about 1900-1920 and was donated to the ACGA Collection in 1996. It is an unusual shape and an elegant pattern combining brilliant geometric cutting with delicate, floral engraving.

Figure1.

The bowl has a border of a chain of twenty-two, 12 point hobstars separated by crossed miters. Twelve sets of vertical double miters, with notched prism cutting below the border, separate the bowl into 12 panels. Each panel is adorned with a floral motif engraving. Four of the panels feature a five petal, open flower, surrounded by 6 oval, pointed leaves and shoots. The other eight panels show a spray of 3 leaves and shoots (Figures 2 and 3).

Figure 2	Figure 3

The bottom of the bowl is cut with a 32 point hobstar. Geometric cutting was performed ‘in-house’ at Hunt, however, much of the engraving was performed in Corning ‘home shops’ until the 1920s.

The bowl is octagonal with a length of 9 inches, width of 6 inches and a height of 2 inches. The “Lace” pattern is shown on an unsigned, round Hunt bowl on page 99 of Volume II of J. Michael Pearson’s Encyclopedia of American Cut and Engraved Glass. The floral engraving is also quite similar to that found on the crystal gramophone or early radio shown on page 177 of Encyclopedia of Cut and Engraved Glass by A. C. Revi (copyright 2000).

 An undated copy of a Hunt catalog, from a private collection, shows two similar patterns “Royal W.R.” and “Brazilian” (Figure 4).  

Figure 4

“Royal W.R.”, on the left, shares much of the same motif layout, but the engraving is more elaborate. “Brazilian”, on the right, has similar engraving, but the geometric motifs are vertical, rather than horizontal. Other similar combination geometric and floral patterns shown are Diana, Peerless, Avon , and Queen. It is unknown if the name “Lace” was used by Hunt, or given to the pattern later, by collectors.

In The Complete Cut and Engraved Glass of Corning by Sinclaire and Spillman, the source of Hunt Blanks is listed as English, due to the company’s inability to purchase blanks from Corning Glassworks or Dorflinger. Recent communication from Ms. Spillman indicated that this was not the case: “Like all of the local firms, they probably got some from Corning (although not for long since Corning phased out blanks soon after 1900), some from England and the rest from wherever they got the best price.”

 Revi indicates that they purchased blanks from Corning Glassworks, Hawkes/Steuben and Union Glass Company. The blank for this bowl was not found in the Hoare, Hawkes or Dorflinger catalogs extant. Union has an octagonal bowl in their blank catalog, but the shape is different with larger corners, nearly as long as the long sides. As such, the source for this blank is uncertain.

 Hunt Glass Company was known for being innovative and for very high quality. Started in the late 1880s as Hunt and Sullivan, the firm stayed in business until 1973. They were among the earliest to mix geometric and floral motifs.  Over their long history they continued to be unconventional, but they always strove for high quality. The company’s motto: “As “ Sterling ” is to Silver, So is “Hunt” to Cut Glass” is shown on page HUN-2 of the LABAC ‘Ad Books’ (Figure 5)

The company continued to function until the early 1970s when Sinclaire and Spillman report that control passed to a New York company that was the source of the house-party based ‘Princess House’ decorated glass. The factory itself closed in 1973 and still stands, having been converted to apartments.

Contact Walter Poeth (530-873-6608) or Leon Torline (620-227-8154) for information about adding cut glass to the ACGA Collection. If you can provide additional information about this piece or would like to help catalog pieces in the ACGA, contact Ken Howe, (859) 331-8954, kenhowe@fuse.net.

 Bibliography

1. Sinclaire, Estelle F., Spillman, Jane Shadel, (1997), The Complete Cut and Engraved Glass of Corning , The Corning Museum of Glass , Syracuse University Press.

2. Revi, Albert Chris titan, (2000), Encyclopedia of American Cut and Engraved Glass, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

3. Pearson, J Michael, (1977), Encyclopedia of American Cut and Engraved Glass (1880-1917) Volume II: Realistic Patterns, J. Michael Pearson Publisher.

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