The upper photograph shows part of a group of 19 tableware items purchased by the writer in the spring of 1989 in Delaware County, NY. Measurements are as follows: 6 saucer champagnes: 4.75"H (12.1 cm), rim D = 3.5" (8.9 cm); 10 champagne tumblers: 4.0"H (10.2 cm), rim D = 2.25" (5.7 cm); and 3 water tumblers: 4.0"H (10.2 cm), rim D = 3.25" (8.2 cm). Each glass has a 24-pt star on its foot. The champagne's stem is solid and is not notched. The six saucer champagnes and the ten champagne tumblers sold for $275 per set in 1989. The three water tumblers sold for $40 each over a period of years.
Reflections make it difficult to see the small open diamonds and bordering row of "notched thumbprints" that make up the pattern. These motifs are more clearly seen in the above close-up of a 5"H (12.7 cm) wine glass, red cut-to-clear, that sold at an eBay auction in 2002 for $210 (Image: Internet). The writer also has had an identical red cut-to-clear wine glass in the past; he sold it for $115 in 1989. The eBay wine glass was advertised as a Dorflinger product, pattern unidentified, and the seller referred to COLLECTING AMERICAN BRILLIANT CUT GLASS by Bill and Louise Boggess where a duplicate glass is shown on page 78 (color item 46). It is not identified as to manufacturer. Reviewers of this volume (See the boggess.htm file in Part 1) also have not (yet) identified the glass as Dorflinger. The stemware have sets of five shallow notches; the tumblers sets of seven. No acid polish was used.
Normally, one looks first to the pattern on an item in order to identify its manufacturer. In this case the pattern matches none that are known, including those found in extant Dorflinger catalogs. But the blanks appear to be Dorflinger's no. 523, especially noticeable in the saucer champagne glass. The writer has had this no. 523 champagne blank, cut in the company's Diamond Border pattern. The blanks used for these two champagnes match exactly. Note, however, that the exaggerated distance between the glass's bowl and faceted knop is not immediately apparent in the relevant DORFLINGER LINE DRAWINGS sketch (p. 145). Nevertheless, this characteristic is shown on the champagne glass cut in the Diamond Border pattern that is illustrated on p. 19 of the ACGA composite Dorflinger catalog published by the American Cut Glass Association.
The unknown pattern also appears, slightly modified, on the compote pictured below. Because of the size of the "notched thumbprints", the open diamonds would have been too large for the pattern had they not been subdivided as shown. The panelled stem with its faceted knop is hollow. There are sets of seven shallow notches on the bowl. The foot has a 32-pt star.
D = 8.25" (20.9 cm), H = 6.5" (16.5 cm), wt = 3.5 lb (1.6 kg). Sold for $250 in 1988.
Compotes in this style are usually dated c1865-c1880 (Spillman 1989, p. 88), but Feller (1988, p. 28) dates a Dorflinger example as c1890, probably because it is cut in the Parisian pattern (pat'd 1886). Dorflinger called this item a "high compote". An example, also cut in the Parisian pattern, is shown on p. 80 of the composite Dorflinger catalog. The cutting on the compote, stemware, and tumblers suggests a date of manufacture in the 1870s.
The foregoing information indicates that C. Dorflinger & Sons may have been the manufacturer of these items. But, if not Dorflinger, then who? The cutting the shop of John Hoare is one possibility. Some time ago the writer received a single 8.5" x 11" sheet that is a photomontage of cut-glass stemware. It was described as a copy of a "miscellaneous sheet" that in in the Rakow Library of the Corning Museum of Glass. In the center of the sheet there are four glasses cut in Hawkes' pattern No. 3708. Surrounding them are seven goblets and wines. Five of these glasses -- two of which are labeled -- can be identified as Hoare products, cut in the Souvenir, Monarch, Regal, Croesus, and Russian patterns. Two goblets are unidentifiable, however. One is cut in what appears to be a pattern of overlapping gothic arches, and the other is cut in the pattern illustrated in this file. The word "Hoare" has been written next to this latter goblet, which has sets of seven shallow notches, but the name might refer to the page as a whole (in spite of the examples of the Hawkes pattern), rather than to this particular goblet. This "miscellaneous sheet" is made up of individual photographs clipped from unknown sources and is similar to the well-known bound scrapbooks kept by the Hoare company. These contain patterns from the company's competitors as well as patterns made by Hoare.
Although the evidence collected to date favors C. Dorflinger & Sons as the manufacturer of this "mystery" pattern, "John Hoare, Rich Cut Glassware" can not be entirely ruled out; neither can other manufacturers of quality American cut glass that was produced during these years, 1870 to 1890.
Updated 21 Sep 2002