American Cut Glass Association

Pitkin & Brooks was a china and glass business in Chicago that began operating in 1872 and was incorporated in 1891. The company established a cutting shop at Valparaiso, IN (1911-1918) but the Bowling Green factory probably provided most of the company’s cut glass. Inventory was likely supplemented with purchases from independent, local cutters and from abroad. Pitkin & Brooks apparently had a business association with the H. C. Fry Glass Company but details are lacking. The company went out of business about 1920, soon after the death of its senior partner, Edward Hand Pitkin. *

*Additional information about Pitkin & Brooks has been researched by Don Quant, a member of ACGA, who has determined Pitkin & Brooks were dealers and importers of crockery and glassware, starting their business in 1872 only months after the great Chicago Fire. They operated in downtown Chicago for over 27 years before they began making their own cut glass in 1899. Over the next 23 years, they operated a series of cut glass factories that produced some excellent product and acquired five cut glass patents before getting out of the cut glass business about 1922. The company continued its china business until finally closing in 1940.

Apparently the only trademark found acid-etched on glass is the one shown above, on the right. At least one other trademark, more elaborately designed (“Diamond cut glass / P&B”) has been found in the company’s catalogs. It could have been used on a paper label and in advertising copy.

Patented Patterns

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Patent No. / Catalog or “Coined” Name / Patentee / Application Filed / Date Granted

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32,948 / Belmont / William H. Shanley / 24 Nov 1899 / 17 Jul 1900

38,422 / “Heart and Hob Star” / Harry H. Buckley / 23 Nov 1906 / 22 Jan 1907

44,753 / “Korea” / William P. Feeney / 7 Aug 1913 / 21 Oct 1913

44,754 / “Wild Daisy” / William P. Feeney / 7 Aug 1913 / 21 Oct 1913

45,188 / “Phena Star” / William P. Feeney / 1 Dec 1913 / 3 Feb 1914

 

Catalogs

[Compilation Catalog, 1897-1909]: PITKIN & BROOKS RICH CUT GLASS. Six individual catalogs bound together for the years 1897, 1902, 1904, 1905, 1908, and 1909. American Cut Glass Association, 2005, xlii + n. p. (Each catalog is paged separately.). Plus, SUPPLEMENTARY PATTERN INFORMATION. American Cut Glass Association, 2005, 16 pp. + 40 pp.

NOTE:

1. For many years the Crescent pattern was known by its “coined” name, “Dauntless”. Confusingly the Belgian company Val St. Lambert also cut this pattern which it named 1897/13386. Gerry LaCroix has discussed this problem in detail in the following two articles that have appeared in the ACGA’s publication The Hobstar: Bergen’s “Dauntless” pattern, Vol. 27, No. 6, pp. 4462-3 (Mar 2005) and “Crescent” pattern misnamed as “Dauntless”, Vol. 27, No. 9, p. 4518 (Jun 2005).