GII-31 • Double Eagle Flask Louisville Glass Works

Louisville Glass Works, Louisville, Kentucky

Blue Aquamarine Quart

Provenance: Brian Bingham Collection

Our quart GII-31 Double Eagle Historical Flask uses the same embossed eagle on both sides of the flask. The flask is found in a wide range of blue-green glass colors and was produced in the midwest at the Louisville Glass Works in Louisville, Kentucky.

The American eagle was chosen to decorate more flasks than any other single motif in the entire repertoire of flask design elements. It is not hard to understand why, as our young country chose the American bald eagle as its emblem to signify strength, power, and sovereignty on the Great Seal of the United States.

Museum example of a blue aquamarine quart GII-31 Double Eagle Historical Flask attributed to the Louisville Glass Works in Louisville, Kentucky.

When looking at our GII-31 quart “Double Eagle” flask, there is a large horizontal oval medallion with the upper and lower edges indented. Within the oval is a contained embossed American eagle with its head turned to the left. There is a shield with five bars on the breast. The eagle wings are raised and spread. There is a thunderbolt consisting of three arrows in the left talon and an olive branch in the right talon.

GII-31 Double Eagle Historical Flask illustration.

The reverse side of the flask is the same as the obverse. The entire flask except for medallions has heavy vertical ribbing. This includes the flask edges which are also vertically ribbed. The flask necks are terminated with a plain lip or a double-collared mouth. The base has a pontil mark.

Known colors are pale aquamarine, deep blue aquamarine, medium yellow-green, medium to deep teal blue, medium emerald green and blue-green.

See the museum example of a GII-114 Louisville Ky Double Eagle quart.

The flask was produced at the Louisville Glass Works in Louisville, Kentucky from 1855 to 1860. From 1850 to 1901, at least seven different glass manufacturing factories operated in Louisville, Kentucky. Six were utilitarian bottle houses, and the others manufactured window and plate glass. In 1850, the first glass bottle and jar-making firm, known as the Kentucky Glass Works was formed, which by 1855, was being referred to under the name Louisville Glass Works. “Louisville KY Glass Works” is the actual wording on some of the glass works embossed whiskey and scroll flasks of the 1850s and 1860s era.

Louisville Glass Works Douglas, Rutherford & Co. advertisement – 1855/1856 Louisville Directory and Annual Business Advertiser

In the mid-1850s, the Louisville Ky Glass Works was being run by Douglass, Rutherford & Co., replacing the previous partnership of Douglas and Taylor who used the name Kentucky Glass Works in advertising. The glass works remained on Clay Street near Main with a warehouse on the east side of Second Street, between Main and Market Streets. The partners were George Douglass, John Stanger, William Doyle, William Douglass, and Thomas Rutherford.

Primary Image: GII-31 Double Eagle Historical Flask imaged by Alan DeMaison at the FOHBC Reno 2022 National Antique Bottle Convention mobile imaging station.

Support: Reference to American Bottles and Flasks and Their Ancestry by Helen McKearin and Kenneth M. Wilson, Crown Publishers Inc., New York, 1978.

Support: Reference to Louisville Glass Works by Bill Lockhart, Beua Schriever, Bill Lindsey, and Carol Serr with contributions by David Whitten

Support Images: Auction Lot 56: Double Eagle Historical Flask, Louisville Glass Works, Louisville, Kentucky, 1840-1860. Medium yellowish green, applied double collared mouth – pontil scar, quart; (1/8 inch cooling fissure on medial rib, moderate exterior wear on one side, depression on mouth has possibly been polished). GII-31 A crude bubbly flask with two chunks of glass pushed into the base. Generally fine condition. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #195

Support Images: Auction Lot 157: Double Eagle Historical Flask, Louisville Glass Works, Louisville, Kentucky, 1840-1860. Raised oval panels with eagles on a vertically ribbed flask, pale aquamarine, sheared mouth – pontil scar, quart. GII-31 A comparatively scarce flask with attractive ribbing. Fine condition. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #161

Support Images: Auction Lot 6: Double Eagle Historical Flask, Louisville Glass Works, Louisville, Kentucky, 1855-1860. Medium rich blue green, applied double collared mouth, pontil scar, quart; GIl-31 Great example, strong color, fine condition. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #210

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