Ask Ed

Send your questions and photos and I will try to respond as soon as possible. Please include a phone number.

Q. "There is a Broken Column pickle jar on ebay. Is it? It does not have a finial. Is that right?"

A. Apparently the ebay picture was labeled as a pickle. I faxed back a picture of the jam jar in my collection. The ebay one was apparently the jam jar. In looking for a catalog picture of the Broken Column jam jar I found a picture of the table set. Plate 30 of Kamm Book Six shows the U.S. Glass Pattern #15021 table set. The jam jar is shown in place of the sugar. I doubt that it was on purpose as there are just not that many jam jars in ruby stained broken column in the market and, relatively, there are lots of sugars. It is probably just a 110 year old screw up by the advertising department. Dilbert, where were you when we needed you in 1893? Note that the jam jar in Ruby Thumbprint also has no finial.

Q. "DKASTOR just paid $332.00 for a wine on ebay [Item #2646662811] what is it?"

A.  I guess you mean the pattern and not the insanity of Russian ruble oil money chasing Texas oil money. The picture that you sent cannot be reproduced but below are some pieces of this pattern from my collection. Note the staining variation, the ebay wine is stained around the rim and the horizontal lines. I bought my first piece of this pattern in Washington, Pennsylvania which I found of interest as the piece was identified as Duncan and Miller #46 pattern. There is a Duncan 1900 catalog page showing a catsup. The page is found in The Years of Duncan by Gail Krause, 1980 at page 150. A large "shaker" and a "catsup pressed [round & faceted] stopper" are illustrated. The same catsup is illustrated in Field Guide to Pattern Glass by Mollie McCain, 2000, at page 435. She cites a book on Duncan by Bones which, alas, is not in my library. McCain does call the catsup a "cruet." It features a pointed, faceted, pear shaped stopper along with a note that two sizes of cruets are known.

Just to add a bit more complexity to a simple question, I have been told that the pattern may have been called "Zipper Edge Panels" and "Paris" but I have found no written reference to these. There are also a tumbler and a toothpick in the pattern.

I have heard it stated that these vases are part of the pattern but I doubt it. All other known pattern pieces have edge ribbing. These vases do not.

For the final bit of complexity note that the engraver of the wine and the decanter variously shown above appears to be the man I call the Waynesboro Centennial Engraver. You can also see his work in the Ruby Stain Newsletter Volume I, Number 1 at the discussion of Fostoria's Atlanta pattern.

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