1. Motifs: Cane Variation, Cross-Cut Diamonds, Fans, Hobstars, Russian Canterbury, and Strawberry (Fine) Diamonds. (Many thanks to Tod Arkebauer for bringing this item to the writer's attention.)
Martha Louise Swan, in her book AMERICAN CUT & ENGRAVED GLASS provides the image, below left, on p. 206. This large bowl, 15" by 9" by 7", is described as "authenticated Dorflinger", but the reader is not given the basis for this claim. At the time Swan wrote her book the Val St. Lambert catalog, mentioned above, was not available. (More on Val St. Lambert in nos. 3 and 4 below.) Had it been, she would have found her bowl on p. 41 (item 102). The catalog drawing, below right, describes the item as a bowl for nuts, and illustrates both the pattern (3848/17) and the shape (2911/17). In the 1986 printing of the Swan book the "Dorflinger" bowl is given a value-guide price range of $1,200 to $1,450.
Somewhat later, Bill and Louise Boggess introduced a near-twin of this bowl, with insignificant differences, as item 819 in IDENTIFYING AMERICAN BRILLIANT CUT GLASS. No manufacturer is suggested, but an American origin is implied. Neither Swan nor the Boggesses mention that this colorless item was also available cased in color, which would significantly increase its value. If this bowl were offered today -- and it surely will be -- it is likely that it will be offered as having been "made by C. Dorflinger & Sons". No way!
2. Not the Victor Pattern but a Close Match.
This example of faux Dorflinger is unusual in that the seller, a member of the American Cut Glass Association, has provided all the visual evidence one needs to determine that the bowl offered for sale, on eBay during May 2002, is not -- as advertised -- cut in Dorflinger's Victor pattern. The blank, on the other hand, does look like Dorflinger's shape no. 700 -- as claimed by the seller -- but, because the company sold blanks to numerous cutting shops this does not necessarily help one to identify the cutting shop that produced the bowl (additional remarks below).
The motifs one finds in the genuine Victor pattern (below, top, taken from DORFLINGER LINE DRAWINGS by the seller) and those that appear on the bowl for sale (below, middle and bottom) can be listed as follows:
Motifs in Dorflinger's Victor pattern: chain of Hobstars; one style of Beading (long-short-long) combined with a single Prism (i.e., no beading). (Optional motifs, confined to vertical objects such as jugs, cheese domes, etc. include Crossed Splits; Strawberry Diamonds; and Fans.)
Motifs in the faux Dorflinger pattern: chain of Brunswick stars; two styles of Beading (long-short-medium-short-long and short only) not combined with any prism; and Crossed Splits.
Visual evidence clearly indicates that the bowl is not an example of Dorflinger's Victor pattern. It is not necessary to belabor the point. But we have solved only one-half of the problem. We would also like to know the correct name of this pattern as well as the name of the cutting shop that produced it. The pattern appears on a shallow bowl (nappy) that is pictured in two of the books written by the Boggesses (with identical photos). In one book the bowl is said to be signed by J. Hoare & Company; in the other book the bowl is said to be unsigned but is identified as a representation of the Haydn pattern by Hoare and is shown in COLLECTING AMERICAN BRILLIANT CUT GLASS as item 546. Unfortunately, this can not be confirmed because there is only one example of the Haydn pattern in the extant Hoare catalogs, and it is a vase. The Hoare company is well-known to have significantly varied its patterns on vertical, compared to horizontal, objects. Several people have, nevertheless, questioned the Haydn identification made by the Boggesses. Consensus indicates that the pattern is not Haydn. A J. Hoare & Company attribution is reasonable, however, based on the style of the the cutting and the disappearing signature (an inconsistency typical of the Boggesses). In addition, the company is known to have obtained some of its blanks from C. Dorflinger & Sons.
Prospective buyers may have recognized the faux Dorflinger nature of the bowl because it was "bought-in" for $263.99 at the eBay auction.
"Made by C. Dorflinger & Sons?" Yes, but only one-half of the item -- the blank. It is safe to say that most buyers, here and elsewhere, would consider a cut-glass item's pattern more important than the shape of almost any bowl offered for sale. Few of us collect no. 700s!
3. Motifs: Double Mitering, Fans, Single Stars, and Strawberry (Fine) Diamonds.
The "Dorflinger" pattern below appears on the market with some regularity. It can be found in colorless glass, but is especially attractive, and expensive, in this green-cut-to-clear version (Images: Internet). It is also, but more rarely, found in red-cut-to-clear. The Boggesses, in their books, consistently describe the pattern as having a Dorflinger origin: see item 519 in IDENTIFYING AMERICAN BRILLIANT CUT GLASS and item color 53 in COLLECTING AMERICAN BRILLIANT CUT GLASS. These references probably account for much of the misinformation about this pattern that has become so wide-spread today. Encouragingly, however, at least one auction house that previously labeled such items as Dorflinger has ceased to do so.
The following vase was offered for sale with the notation: "We feel it was made by Dorflinger, but it could also be Boston Sandwich." H = 14.25" (36.2 cm), foot D = 5.5" (14.0 cm). The vase failed to sell at its starting bid of $1,195 at an eBay auction in 2004.
The vase was actually made by the Belgian glass factory CRISTALLERIES DU VAL SAINT-LAMBERT and imported. The pattern is identified as 1338/7920 and the shape, shown above in two views, 2982/17. The drawing on the left is taken from the 1908 Val catalog and shows the pattern on shape 2977/17. It must be emphasized that no such Dorflinger pattern has been discovered in spite of the considerable amount of authentic material -- catalogs, line drawings, and advertisements -- that has become available during the past few years. The 1908 Val catalog is available from the ACGA in an edition that includes catalogs from the years 1904, 1906, and 1908.
When a 22" tall specimen of this vase (pattern 1338/7920 on shape 2982/17) was placed in auction late in 2001, it was described by the seller, a ACGA dealer-member as "definitely Dorflinger", and the Boggess references were cited. The vase, in colorless glass, sold for $2,550.
A popular, quality item, yes, but made by C. Dorflinger & Sons? No!
4. The Florian/Renaissance Pattern.
Another popular pattern made at the Val St. Lambert factory and frequently attributed to Dorflinger is the company's Florian pattern. It was available in both colorless and colored glass. The drawing on the right shows this pattern on shape 3506/17 as depicted in a Val catalog dated 1905.
As early as c1890 C. Dorflinger & Sons was cutting an identical pattern which the company called Renaissance, while at the same time the Mt. Washington Glass Company also had a matching pattern in its catalog named No. 33. Over the years additional companies cut this popular pattern. As a result, today one must identify the shape that accompanies the pattern in order to arrive at a reasonable attribution. The pattern is so popular that, when the manufacturer can not be identified, the name Renaissance is used generically.
Fortunately, the 1905 Val catalog is available from the ACGA. Word of this has not, however, reached all sellers of cut glass, including the individual who placed the following set of six green-cut-to-clear wine glasses on eBay and advertised them as "Renaissance by Dorflinger". There is no record of this shape and stem cutting in the Dorflinger archive. The glasses match the Val catalog drawing, above, exactly (item no. 210 on p. 155 of the ACGA reprint). The six glasses failed to sell at an eBay auction in June 2002. It was "bought-in" at $440.98 (Image: Internet).
5. And Baccarat Too Is Sometimes Presented As Dorflinger.
The writer once had a colorless wine glass that was a slightly smaller version of the turquoise-cut-to-clear example in this section. The colored wine was offered for sale on eBay as "a slight variation of the Honeycomb pattern by C. Dorflinger & Sons, of New York...." Both glasses were actually made by CRISTALLERIES DE BACCARAT as part of its Juvisy service. (The name refers to the pattern/shape combination.) A decanter and glass in this service is pictured in Curtis's book on the company (Curtis 1992, page number not available). The Baccarat wine glass was offered by two long-time (35 years) member-dealers of the American Cut Glass Association.
Two views of a wine glass, turquoise-cut-to-clear by Baccarat but advertised as Dorflinger. Solid, paneled stem with faceted knops at each end. 16-pt star on foot. Late nineteenth or early twentieth century. H = 5" (12.7 cm), rim D = 2.25" (5.7 cm). Sold for $325 at an eBay auction in 2004 (Images: Internet).
The close-up image shows hollow figures that are barely six-sided. One is uncertain whether to call them hollow hexagons or hollow diamonds. In any case this Baccarat pattern is far removed from Dorflinger's Honeycomb which is composed of split hollow diamonds, as shown below on the left on a cigar jar from the Wetton portfolio catalog (Feller 1988, p. 322). The Baccarat cutting more closely resembles Dorflinger's Hollow Diamond pattern, below on the right, which has hollow hexagons. This image has been taken from DORFLINGER LINE DRAWINGS (1994, p. 36).
The pattern name Honeycomb is sometimes used generically, in place of Hollow Diamond, when the manufacturer is unknown. However, if the maker is known and is, as in this case, Dorflinger, then Hollow Diamond must be used. Dorflinger restricted the use of the pattern name Honeycomb to the pattern illustrated above, on the left.
Updated 3 May 2004