The Redford Glass works of New York glass hat whimsy.

[Steve/sewell]

In 1830 two Troy, New York businessmen, Gershom Cook and Charles W. Corning, established a glass-factory. The location they selected, at an old Indian ford made of red stones, became known as Redford, after “The Red Ford. The area was considered desirable for the manufacture of glass because of the superior quality of local sandstone and the new road connecting with Plattsburgh, twenty miles to the east.

The Redford glass works was a large supplier of window glass in its years of existence.
To many glass collectors though Redford made some of the finest lilypad pitchers and end of day canes hats and utilitarian glass this country has ever seen.For twenty years between 1831 and 1851,The Redford glass works produced many of the finest examples of glassware made in America. End of the day pieces, and whimsical items, were made after the daily quota of window glass had been filled.

Here is a glass hat whimsy from these works.The hat is 4 inches tall and 3 and a half inches long by 2 and 3 quarter inches wide. It has a very rough pontil and a good amount of glass debris and small dirt specs in the glass indicative of an end of day product.The color is a very pretty shade of Cornflower blue.The mold for this hat appears to be rounded on the bottom and is tough to figure out what was used.This one broke my bank for a while but is well worth it as it is very rare and collectable.It is also one of my most coveted pieces because of its rarity.

 

[Steve/sewell]

Number 2

 

[Steve/sewell]

Number 3.This hat has a large rough pontil.