GIII-14 Sugar Bowl

Blown Three Mold

Covered Sugar Bowl

GIII – 14

Attributed to Boston and Sandwich Glass Co.
Sandwich, Massachusetts

Clear or Colorless Tableware

Provenance: Michael George Collection

This elegant GIII-14 blown three mold sugar bowl is made from the Group 3 sunburst pattern and has the matching Group 3 lid. Blown three mold lidded bowls are very rare, and this one is considered exceptionally rare. We believe this to be the same example pictured in American Glass, plate 112, #4. Attributed to Boston and Sandwich Glass Co. or possibly a product of Keene , New Hampshire. The tableware piece was produced in the 1820s.

Boston and Sandwich Glass Co.

The town of Sandwich was settled in 1637 and incorporated in 1639 and is the oldest town on Cape Cod. Initially settled by the English, Sandwich became an agricultural community, with its main export of timber sent back to England. It remained a primarily agricultural community, supplemented by coastal fishing during the American Revolution.

In 1825, the landscape of Sandwich would drastically change because of Deming Jarves, a Boston businessman and former agent of the New England Glass Company of East Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Read Yours Truly, D. Jarves–A Glassmaker’s Gifts by Elizabeth and Frank Creech, FOHBC Bottles and Extras, March–April 2014

Read Another Look at Sandwich Glass by Eric McGuire, FOHBC Bottles and Extras, November–December 2017

Deming Jarves did not choose Sandwich as a site for the glass factory because of the readily available beach sand, which is too impure to make glass that needs silica. The company shipped in pure silica supplies first from New Jersey and New York and later from the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. Jarves also chose Sandwich because of its proximity to a shallow harbor and the possibility of a canal being built through Cape Cod to allow for the shipment of goods. The local availability of timber could be used to fuel the glass furnaces. Even the salt marsh hay and grasses could be used for packing material.

Jarves brought master glassblowers with him from the New England Glass Company. He also recruited workers from England and Ireland. English and Irish glassmakers were considered the foremost craftsmen during the early 19th century. They were very skilled in making blown glassware with high lead content, the most desirable of the period.

Primary Image: Blown Three-Mold Covered Sugar Bowl imaged on location by Alan DeMaison, FOHBC Virtual Museum Midwest Studio.

Support: Reference to American Glass by George S. and Helen McKearin, Crown Publishers Inc., New York, 1989.

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

Support: Reference to Two Hundred Years of American Blown Glass by Helen and George S. McKearin, January 1, 1958

Support: Auction Lot 89: Blown Three Mold Covered Sugar Bowl, Boston and Sandwich Glass Works, Sandwich, Massachusetts, 1820-1840. Cylindrical bowl with galleried rim and applied 16 rib pattern molded foot with folded edge and cover with solid ball finial, colorless, tooled rim – pontil scars, ht. with cover 6 1/8 inches, greatest dia. 4 15/16 inches; (three 1/8 inch or less flakes on inner edge of cover). Bowl is GII-18, cover is probably GII-21 An attractive early American tableware item. Generally fine condition. Dr. Charles and Jane Aprill collection. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #174

Support: Auction Lot 136: Blown Three Mold Covered Sugar Bowl, Boston and Sandwich Glass Works, Sandwich, Massachusetts, 1820-1840. Cylindrical bowl with galleried rim and applied 16 rib pattern molded foot with tooled folded base, cover has tooled folded rim and button finial, colorless, tooled rim – pontil scar, overall ht. 5 7/8 inches, greatest dia. 5 3/16 inches. GIII-16, a similar example is pictured in TH plate 34, #5 Rare, wonnderful form and brilliant glass. Exceptional with bowl and cover having the same blown three mold sunburst pattern. Fine condition. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #167

Support: Auction Lot 39: Blown Three Mold Covered Sugar Bowl, Boston and Sandwich Glass Works, Sandwich, Massachusetts, 1820-1840. Bulbous form with galleried rim and applied solid circular foot, matching pattern domed cover, colorless, tooled flared rim – pontil scar, ht. with cover 6 1/8 inches, greatest dia. 4 7/8 inches; (pinpoint flake from rim of bowl). GII-18 Extremely rare and beautiful form. Generally fine condition. Ex Siegfried collection. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #154

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