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Newly discovered form on left- 18th Century America, Probably the glass works of Casper Wistar Alloway New Jersey.

Up until now not much thought was given (by myself) about the purpose of the bottle (above right) in the possession of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Personally I always thought that bottle was purely whimsical but now with the discovery of another similar bottle (above left) it has raised new questions about the function of these bottles. Both bottles are about 6 3/4" not very large. This has reminded me there is also a pair of related bottles known they are about the same size with decorated lips and are more of an emerald green color, Ill see if I can round up a photo of them. So to date I know of 4 examples although varying somewhat in decoration but they must have shared a common function. Anyone with any facts or ideas about this are encouraged to forward them to me. Cologne, Liquor of some sort ??

It has been suggested that these are "Pint" bottles used at taverns for individual servings in the 18th and early 19th century. Similar but later examples can be found made at the Gallatin Glass Works at New Geneva Pa. If that's the case and it makes perfect sense, the two 18th century decorated examples shown where made as a special order. Thanks

Some very interesting conclusions were included in the latest Archaeological Report of the Excavations at the Wistarburgh Site. The actual digging took place in April and November of 2001, but the report was just released in June, 2004. In all, there were over 100 shovel test holes, one ten foot square trench in the field, and a three foot by six foot trench near the house. The report included many artifacts found on the surface of the target field and across Commissioner’s Pike. In addition, many bottle closures and bottle bases previously found on the surface were studied. Some interesting conclusions follow.

The most prolific artifact found at the site of the Wistarburgh Glass Works is flat glass or window glass. Over 40 % of all artifacts retained from the various excavations, shovel tests or trench, were flat or window glass. The colors ranged from blue green, to pale green, aqua to light aqua as listed in the Archaeological report by Hunter Research Inc. of June 2004. Not listed was any flat glass in undisputable clear glass.

The importance of flat glass to the Wistarburgh Glass Works can be seen in the specific stipulation of the Casper Wistar Will. Richard Wistar, son of Casper, was given the Glass Factory, but Richard was required to supply his brother Casper, who was residing in New York City, with an amount of glass from the factory, which included some bottles and much flat glass. The Will stated that Richard was to supply 900 boxes of several sizes of flat glass, and 10 dozen bottles every year. The boxes of flat glass contained about 60 panes of glass. A box of glass panes of this type sold for $7.00, or $0.12 per pane in 1797. In 1752, the price may have been a little lower, but at the 1797 prices, Richard had to supply flat glass panes valued at nearly $6300, every year. The total value of the bottles in the Will requirement was about $5.00 per year. So, Casper Wistar placed much more importance on the flat glass business than he did on the bottle business. To make an equitable split of his possessions, he relied on the flat glass, which Casper Jr. was able to sell in New York. While this volume of glass to be shipped to Casper Jr. seems like a lot, it couldn’t have presented much of a burden on Richard and the Glass Factory. If this amount of glass was one eighth of the yearly production, then Richard’s gross income may have been $44,000 per annum for just flat glass. Although the plant operation, raw materials, and wages would be deducted, this is still a good sum for 1753 It is becoming very clear, with the help of the Archaeological investigations and reports, that the Wistarburgh Glass Factory was very successful due to the production of flat glass, and not so much the bottles and occasion tableware or whimsy items which are so highly desired.

The June 2004 Report contains good information about bottle openings and bases. This includes the common chestnut type bottle with the rolled lip. These bottles were found in a medium aqua to a medium green, but no blue The size may be less than a quart, but not quite as small as a pint, to the larger two quart size similar to the “Heston” bottles. There was some variation to the rolled tops, as seen at the top of page 4-28 of the report. There was also some variation to the base of the chestnuts. Some had a rather conical pontil, while others had a small push-up with a ľ to 1 inch pontil scar. Both types of bases have been found as artifacts and as examples, although the conical pontils are usually on the larger chestnuts.

Also studied in this report were the many so called “black glass” string lips. These included those found during this investigation, along with those previously found. A few of these tops are shown on page 4-28 of the report. The most significant being the left hand example on the bottom row.

This is a malformed, dark olive green, tooled string lip. This bottle top was discarded while still hot, showing that it was manufactured on site. In chapter four, the report explains the logic of “black glass” being made at the Wistarburgh Glass Factory. Earlier researchers have assumed that any black glass found at the site, was brought in as cullet. They also assumed that it was not possible to make black glass with wood as a fuel. Chapter four makes the case that black glass actually was made at the Wistarburgh Glass Works. This is a gigantic change in the view of products from the factory. Black glass mallets have not previously been accepted as products of the Wistarburgh Glass Works.

On page 4-17 of the report is a section on “Glass Items of Interest”. These items have the most interest for collectors. On page 4-19 are pictured a few of these items, including a triple knop knob, or handle; twisted sugar bowl handle with rigaree; hollow stopper; pieces of a broken ribbed, pattern molded pocket bottle; and several different size tubes from scientific ware or whimsical horns.

The glass colors found were pale green, various shades of aqua, dark green (black), amber, clear/uncolored, amethyst and blue. These colors were consistent with previous excavations at the site. Mentioned later will be an analytical report by J. Victor Owen, which found that some blue glass contains between 3 and 17 % lead.

There were also many rolled lip or folded lip artifacts from bowls, in aqua and clear glass found, both in the excavations and on the surface. The tableware and whimsical items were not part of the regular production of the glass factory. These items were made after hours or on Saturday. Glass factories have always allowed the glass workers to make items for themselves, sometimes to use at home, or to give to a special friend. There apparently existed this same custom at the Wistarburgh Glass Factory. These non-production items draw a lot of interest in the world of collectors. It has only been recently that enough artifacts have been unearthed to establish that many items attributed to later glass factories could have been made at Wistarburgh.

There have been a few items found recently that have been authenticated as being made at the Wistarburgh Glass Works. This authentication sometimes comes with written documentation that has accompanied the item through its 250 year life, or possibly by family authentication, which is verbal, but has been handed down through many generations of Wistar family.

J. Victor Owen

Another method used recently has been a destructive chemical and instrument analyses using an electron microprobe. This requires a very small piece of an item to be submitted for analyses. This piece is usually obtained from the pontil scar. This destructive analyses is much more sensitive and accurate than the previously used non-destructive x-ray fluorescence analyses. J. Victor Owen reports his findings, in the Canadian Journal of Earth Science #41, June, 2004, from 15 glass factories in New Jersey and Connecticut. This report “Geochemistry of Wistarburgh Glass” indicates that it is possible, with this analytical process, to distinguish glass of Wistarburgh from other 18^th and 19^th century glass factories in Southern New Jersey. Although the access to this analytical procedure may be limited, this report acknowledges identification is possible

Although the use and manufacture of glass vases in America has been widely disputed by many early American glass scholars in the past I purchased a piece last month that contradicts those thoughts, it is a glass vase made at the Wistarburg Glass factory in Alloway, Salem County New Jersey (1739-1780). The vase was handed down in the Wistar family and was acquired from a direct descentant of Casper Wistar leaving little or no doubt to its origin. Still intact is the label attached to it when an early member of the Wistar family inventoried it as well as many other of the Wistar antiques in the early 19th century. The old label is clearly written in the early 19^th century it states “Made by Casper Wistar’s Glafs works in about the year 1730”

In the past it was commonly believed that the glass vase did not come into use in America until the 19^th century. Although it was never a proven theory and not all agreed upon, up until now there had not been concrete proof of an American blown glass vase. This particular vase is made from green bottle glass and has an applied crimped and tooled base, This vase is a true relic left to us from a very early time in America. One of the other features is the way the foot was applied it was applied by adding a wide thread of glass rather than a solid piece. This technique is a purely 18^th century its use disappeared well before the start of the 19^th century. The solid family history of this vase coupled with many years of "hands on" research including two recent archeological digs at the site in Alloway New Jersey will hopefully change some of those old opinions regarding vase usage in 18^th century America.

While some may argue that this is not enough to prove age and origin, glass from the site has been tested using destructive analysis. Also tested were two Chestnut bottles and the two bottles match the shards exactly. Sometime soon we will report back with the test results of the vase,It is in the opinion of the authors that it too will also be an exact match.