Category Archives: made of glass

Paden City Glass

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Paden City Glass was founded in 1915 in Paden City, West Virginia, a town near New Martinsville, where the New Martinsville Glass Company was in production in the early Twentieth Century. The first workers at the Paden City plant were enticed from the New Martinsville plant, so it is not surprising that the very earliest Paden City production is reminiscent of that the New Martinsville. During the leadership of founding father and son David and Samuel Fisher, the company prospered for many years, only closing in 1951, at a time when many American glass houses were closing.

sandwich plate depression glass © by daisyelaine

Besides some new molds similar to the New Martinsville production, the new Paden City Company possessed some glass molds from the defunct Higbee Glass Company. The glass formula of the Paden City Glass Company is very clear, and their early forays into colored glass met with similar success in producing highly colored, bright glass. Although the company began its foray into colors with black (ebony) and white (opal) glass, soon the company added several several shades of green and blue to their production. Described by the present day glass collectors as depression glass, the Paden City colors included a strong yellow, amethyst, cobalt, two shades of pink and a fine ruby glass. Cheriglo, a true pink glass, has become synonymous with Paden City Glass Company.

Many lines of glass shapes were produced by Paden City, all of them known by the line number until named by later collectors. Some lines were robust enough to by used in commercial soda fountains and restaurants, and can be found in a myriad of different shapes and sizes for home or commercial use. Many of the Paden City glass forms were sent to decorators to be enhanced by those enterprises by hand painting or shallow cutting. Because of this trade, much of Paden City glass is not marked by the maker. It takes an educated eye to identify Paden City glass by the shape, color and brilliance of the glass itself.

Paden City is also known for its beautiful etched patterns, best demonstrated on plates and goblets. These etching patterns were modified to to fit any relatively flat, unmodeled surface of the glass pieces made at the West Virginia plant. The various etching patterns generally featuring birds or flowers, and have been given appropriate names. The more exotic patterns include Oriental scenes or dragons. Between the numbers of pieces in the many shapes and the possible etched patterns on those shapes, there are a multitude of beautiful pieces of Paden City glass available, and all from the 35 years of the company’s existence. If you own etched glass, you may already have some Paden City glass production in your collections.

Paden City glassware takes an educated eye to identify, but those selling antique or vintage glass should be able to show you some of this beautiful glassware on request. Ongoing research continues to quantify this glass, but no record of glass production has survived the company, so the numbers of pieces in any given pattern, etching or color are unknown other than a general “common”, “uncommon” and “rare” scale, and prices are set accordingly. Paden City also made glass from molds owned by other people on order, and the company’s molds moved to other glass companies when the company folded in 1951, so there is some additional confusion for glass collectors trying to identify Paden City glass.

Paden City glass is beautiful in its combinations of form, color and finish. Look for it at glass shows or antique stores near you or as your travel.

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Imperial Glass

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Established in Bellaire, Ohio in 1901, the Imperial Glass Company has seen and followed all the trends in American glass making. Initially the company made pattern glass, molded glass with elaborate backgrounds and lacy effects on rims. Pattern glass was followed by carnival glass when the effect of spraying metallic salts on hot glass was discovered, then followed stretch glass. These trends were then followed by two lines of molded “cut” glass. Imperial is also the original maker of Candlewick, a pattern of molded glassware made from 1936 to 1982. Candlewick as a glass term is more readily recognized than the maker.

After beginning with pattern glass, Imperial began producing carnival glass around 1910 with the name of Rubigold, an amber based form of the iridescent glass. Eventually Azure (blue) and Helios (green) carnival glass lines were added. Imperials continued to make these lines into the 1920′s.

After someone noticed that the shiny finish from the metallic salts sprayed on carnival glass crazed if the piece was worked after spraying, resulting in an onion-like skin on the glassware, a form which in now called stretch glass. This stretch glass is usually made with simpler glass forms and no decoration modeled into the outer surfaces. Imperials called its stretch glass Art Glass and started making it in 1916. The company made it in a number of colors and in over sixty shapes. The colors were called “Pearl” as in Pearl White, Pearl Ruby, Pearl Green, Pearl Silver and Pearl Amethyst. This glass is also now called Imperial Jewel glass.

Following a return in taste to clear glass, Imperial’s Nucut and Near Cut lines involve molding the glass similar to the cut glass of the American Brilliant Period. These molded glass pieces were much cheaper to produce than real cut glass, and were made from the regular glass formulas and not lead crystal, making the results lighter as well. These lines allowed middle class families enjoy the brilliance of cut glassware at prices within they could better afford.

Imperial is the maker of Candlewick glass, an extremely popular pattern. This pattern was made by Imperial from 1936 until the company stopped producing all glassware in 1982. Since the closure of the company, the molds have been dispersed and are now used by several companies. Candlewick forms are relatively plainly molded but have a series of small glass beads on the edges or stems of the piece. Imperial was also a prolific maker of milk glass items, having made most of their translucent or clear glass pieces in milk glass as well.

During the lifetime of the company, Imperial purchased the molds of the Central, Cambridge and Heisey glass companies, producing some pieces from those molds. The Imperials production is marked with the Imperials trade mark, two capital I’s crossed at right angles, and with the letters “IMPERIAL” placed in pairs in the four quadrants formed by the crossed I’s.

See Imperial Glass here.

Look for Imperial glassware at flea markets, antiques shops and glass shows. The company produced many wonderful examples of all the mechanized and semi-mechanized forms of Twentieth Century American glass in its lifetime.

Go to the Table of Contents to see all the topics covered so far.

Click American collectibles to go to the latest entry on this site.