Dear Helaine and Joe: I have some goblets and tableware in what I believe is Duncan and Miller's "Early American Sandwich" pattern. They are Amberina in color (yellow changing to red) and I would appreciate any information you might have about them. — S.P., Gastonia, N.C.
Dear S.P.: We think you are right. These items are in Duncan and Miller's "Early American Sandwich" pattern, but we do not believe they were actually made by Duncan and Miller. Explaining exactly what we mean and why we feel this way is a bit complicated, but here we go:
Glassware was first made at the Duncan and Miller plant in Washington, Pa., in 1893. The plant continued to make fine, hand-finished pressed glass (and some blown wares) until 1955, when the plant closed.
Many of Duncan and Miller's molds were sold to the United States Glass Company, which established a Duncan and Miller Division at their Factory R. This facility was located in Tiffin, Ohio, and collectors generally call the products made in this location Tiffin Glass.
It is not clear when Duncan and Miller first made "Early American Sandwich," but it is clear that this was one of the patterns later made at Tiffin. This design is based on the so-called Lacy glass made in the early to mid-19th century at the famous Boston and Sandwich Glass Company in Sandwich, Mass. Lacy glass was also made by companies in France and in the American Midwest.
Duncan and Miller called this design Pattern 41 and produced it in crystal, pink, amber, green, ruby and cobalt. However, to the best of our knowledge and research, they did not make this or any other product in Amberina, which is a type of glass that starts out amber and, when an area is reheated, sees that section turn red.
Amberina was developed by Joseph Locke at the New England Glass Company in 1883, and is still being made.
S.P.'s pieces are a sort of Amberina color, but they are not classic Amberina because they do not appear to have been made by heat shading. As we said before, Duncan and Miller did not make any sort of Amberina glass — but Tiffin did, and that makes these pieces post-1955 at best.
We are very suspicious of these items because they are full of bubbles and imperfections and are not up to Tiffin's usual high standards. A telephone call to the Tiffin Glass Museum in Tiffin, Ohio, confirms our suspicion that these were not part of either Duncan and Miller's production or Tiffin's (unless they are a very rare experimental item).
This suggests to us that these pieces of glass were probably made by a company that bought the old Duncan and Miller molds after Tiffin closed in 1980, and are therefore quite modern. S.P. may be able to get more information by calling the Tiffin Glass Museum at 419-448-0200. They are nice and helpful people.
Helaine Fendelman is feature editor at Country Living magazine and Joe Rosson writes about antiques at The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee. Questions can by mailed to them at P.O. Box 12208, Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.