Steve/sewell
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Mckearin's book is the gospel when it comes to bottle information Particularly in regards to historic American Flasks.
As time moves on the great minds that put this book together have left us for a better place.I would say collectively
The book American Bottles And Flasks And Their Ancestry written by George and Helen Mckearin,Frederick Hunter
along With Charles Gardiner,Stephen Van Rennselaer Kenneth Wilson,Harry Hall white is the best resource hands down for good research crossed referenced by the best minds in the hobby.On occasion however even the best minds collectively don't always give the best answer in regards to attribution to a glass house or a maker a particular bottle or style.This book has been proven wrong on rare occasions and I believe I have found another error in it, or at least an incorrect attribution to a glass house based on a similar style of side ribbing and the type of graphic motif on the bottle.
The G-II-55 has always been attributed as unknown or to Coffin and Hays Glass works in Hammonton New Jersey
Coffin and Hay made some of the best historical flasks this country has ever seen in regards to 3-D relief.The G-II-55
is listed as common but I will be honest the majority you will see are cleverly made Clevenger versions.The original G-II-55
has unmistakable marks and mold characteristics making it easy to tell it apart from it's modern made counterpart.
The flask is large as it is quart sized and has one of the best Eagle reliefs carved into it you will ever see.The backside of the flask
has a large vine of grapes covering 3 quarters of this side of bottle.The original bottle has a rough uneven shaped pontil mark.
The lip although straight on most is slightly rounded over where the Clevenger version is sheared straight off.The best way to tell
the real bottle verses the Clevenger made version is the pontil.On the Clevenger version the pontil is exactly like the cheaply
made G-I-28 Albany glass works flask.It is a round depression barley rough in nature.
Now for the reason for the Waterford New Jersey attriubution.Jonathin Haines founded the Waterford glass works in 1824.a few years
prior he was a partner in the newly founded works at Winslow New Jersey In 1815.These works today are called the Coffin and Hay glass works.His partner in that venture was William Coffin.He sold his intrest in the works to William Coffin in the year 1823.This flask matches color wise as identical to Waterford attributed bottles and other glass products.The WATERFORD WORKS PRIDED THEIR SELVES ON GLASS FINISH AS NO ONE DID IT BETTER IN THE DAY.Waterford glass won numerous awards from the Smithsonian institute and their glass rivaled the glass from Waterford Ireland.These flasks were made sometime around 1830.
The key to this theory is in the diary of Samuel Huffsey glass worker apprentice,blower,glass finisher and finally glass works owner.Young Sam began working in Port Elizabeth at the Union Glass works in the year 1811.He worked there until the works closed in 1817 a victim of the depression caused by the war of 1812. His next stop on his journey were the glass works of Jonathin Haines and William coffin of Winslow New Jersey.There he became a master blower working with John Keene and John Khullect.When Jonathin Haines sold his half of the Winslow works to William Coffin Young Sam stayed on as a worker with William Coffin.
By the year 1826 we find young Sam moving on again this time being lured by the better work conditions being offered at the Waterford works which were now being ran by three men Samuel Shreve,Thomas Eavans and Jacob Roberts. Young Sam wrote in his diary to his mother how beautifull the countryside here in Waterford is.Waterford and Hammonton New Jersey to this day are largely Farming communities specializing in grapes and crannberries.He tells her next that he has made a bottle adorned with Grapes,and an American Eagle filled with the finest of grape Brandy which is bound everyday on the coach road to the city Markets along the way to Camden New Jersey and then onto a barge to take it across the Delaware river to Philadelphia.To myself a novice glass historian it is a no brainer.The two flasks adorned with grapes and an Eagle on the other side a quart G-II-55 and the half pint G-II-56 thought to have been made in Hammonton New Jersey are in fact products of the Waterford works three miles away in Waterford New Jersey.The years of manufacture of these flasks can be somewhere in the 1828 to 1838 time period.Pieces of light blue shards of a cornucopia flask have also been found on the property that once was the Waterford glass works.
The G-II-55 flask in my possesion is a beautifull light blue aqua in color has a little high point wear on the Eagle.
As time moves on the great minds that put this book together have left us for a better place.I would say collectively
The book American Bottles And Flasks And Their Ancestry written by George and Helen Mckearin,Frederick Hunter
along With Charles Gardiner,Stephen Van Rennselaer Kenneth Wilson,Harry Hall white is the best resource hands down for good research crossed referenced by the best minds in the hobby.On occasion however even the best minds collectively don't always give the best answer in regards to attribution to a glass house or a maker a particular bottle or style.This book has been proven wrong on rare occasions and I believe I have found another error in it, or at least an incorrect attribution to a glass house based on a similar style of side ribbing and the type of graphic motif on the bottle.
The G-II-55 has always been attributed as unknown or to Coffin and Hays Glass works in Hammonton New Jersey
Coffin and Hay made some of the best historical flasks this country has ever seen in regards to 3-D relief.The G-II-55
is listed as common but I will be honest the majority you will see are cleverly made Clevenger versions.The original G-II-55
has unmistakable marks and mold characteristics making it easy to tell it apart from it's modern made counterpart.
The flask is large as it is quart sized and has one of the best Eagle reliefs carved into it you will ever see.The backside of the flask
has a large vine of grapes covering 3 quarters of this side of bottle.The original bottle has a rough uneven shaped pontil mark.
The lip although straight on most is slightly rounded over where the Clevenger version is sheared straight off.The best way to tell
the real bottle verses the Clevenger made version is the pontil.On the Clevenger version the pontil is exactly like the cheaply
made G-I-28 Albany glass works flask.It is a round depression barley rough in nature.
Now for the reason for the Waterford New Jersey attriubution.Jonathin Haines founded the Waterford glass works in 1824.a few years
prior he was a partner in the newly founded works at Winslow New Jersey In 1815.These works today are called the Coffin and Hay glass works.His partner in that venture was William Coffin.He sold his intrest in the works to William Coffin in the year 1823.This flask matches color wise as identical to Waterford attributed bottles and other glass products.The WATERFORD WORKS PRIDED THEIR SELVES ON GLASS FINISH AS NO ONE DID IT BETTER IN THE DAY.Waterford glass won numerous awards from the Smithsonian institute and their glass rivaled the glass from Waterford Ireland.These flasks were made sometime around 1830.
The key to this theory is in the diary of Samuel Huffsey glass worker apprentice,blower,glass finisher and finally glass works owner.Young Sam began working in Port Elizabeth at the Union Glass works in the year 1811.He worked there until the works closed in 1817 a victim of the depression caused by the war of 1812. His next stop on his journey were the glass works of Jonathin Haines and William coffin of Winslow New Jersey.There he became a master blower working with John Keene and John Khullect.When Jonathin Haines sold his half of the Winslow works to William Coffin Young Sam stayed on as a worker with William Coffin.
By the year 1826 we find young Sam moving on again this time being lured by the better work conditions being offered at the Waterford works which were now being ran by three men Samuel Shreve,Thomas Eavans and Jacob Roberts. Young Sam wrote in his diary to his mother how beautifull the countryside here in Waterford is.Waterford and Hammonton New Jersey to this day are largely Farming communities specializing in grapes and crannberries.He tells her next that he has made a bottle adorned with Grapes,and an American Eagle filled with the finest of grape Brandy which is bound everyday on the coach road to the city Markets along the way to Camden New Jersey and then onto a barge to take it across the Delaware river to Philadelphia.To myself a novice glass historian it is a no brainer.The two flasks adorned with grapes and an Eagle on the other side a quart G-II-55 and the half pint G-II-56 thought to have been made in Hammonton New Jersey are in fact products of the Waterford works three miles away in Waterford New Jersey.The years of manufacture of these flasks can be somewhere in the 1828 to 1838 time period.Pieces of light blue shards of a cornucopia flask have also been found on the property that once was the Waterford glass works.
The G-II-55 flask in my possesion is a beautifull light blue aqua in color has a little high point wear on the Eagle.
