Major New Discovery of Wistarburg Glass Vase
The Holy Grail for collectors of early American blown glass is glass which
can be firmly attributed to Wistarburg -- the first successful American
glass house founded by Casper Wistar in Alloway, New Jersey in 1739 and
successfully operated by him, and later his son Richard, until approximately
1780. Only a handful of pieces are known which carry a solid Wistarburg
attribution. This newly-discovered green glass crimp-footed vase can be
added to this elite group of colonial American blown glass. It was recently
acquired by William H. Flowers and John DeCaro of Glass International from
a direct descendant of Casper Wistar. According to an affidavit supplied
by the Wistar descendant, the piece descended to her directly from Casper
Wistar and his wife, Catherine, through seven generations of Wistar descendants.
The vase has affixed on its bottom a paper label on which is inscribed in
an early hand, “made by Casper Wistar’s Glass Works in about the
year 1730”. Two pewter plates carrying the engraved initials of Casper
and Catherine Wistar and the date 1726, the year of their marriage in Germantown,
Pennsylvania, came with the vase and add credibility to its attribution.
The light muted green glass of the vase exactly matches many glass shards which were excavated at Wistarburg during a 3-year archaeological excavation conducted by the state of New Jersey in 1998-2001 in which Mr. Flowers participated. Although vases of a form similar to this Wistar vase have been depicted in Colonial needlework and on 18th Century iron fire backs, this is the first glass vase to come to light which can firmly be attributed to an 18th Century American glass house. According to DeCaro, “Authenticated American blown glass of the Colonial Period is extremely rare, in any form. This unique Wistarburg vase is truly a major discovery.” ”
“All of the stars line up on this piece,” said DeCaro. “Provenance, construction, color and metal all validate the Wistarburg attribution.” The construction detail he was referring to is the unusual “ring” construction of the foot. “Usually we see an applied foot which was separately blown, expanded into the form of a concave disc and applied to the bottom of the bowl. On this piece, the foot is ring or doughnut shaped, fitting around the bottom of the bowl of the vase, much like a skirt,” he said. According to DeCaro, this construction detail appears on other known Wistarburg pieces and has long been considered to be an indicator of a Wistarburg origin. The vase will be chemically and scientifically analyzed and tested. The results of such testing, along with the unusual construction of the foot, the tool marks left by the crimping tool, and the character of the glass of this vase will provide a sound basis for future Wistarburg attributions. The vase, along with one of the pewter plates, has recently been sold by Glass International to Anthony P. Picadio of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who is a well-known collector of American Folk Art and early blown glass.
For further information, contact John DeCaro, Glass International, 134 Meeshaway Trail, Medford Lakes, New Jersey, (609) 714-2595.
ADDENDUM- since this brief article was written, we have obtained the original Wistar family ledger, logged by a decendent of Sarah Pennock Wistar in 1877. It mentions this vase as a "Bulb Glass". Also included in this ledger is the Corning Museum, blue Wistar cream bucket, or as it is called in the ledger a blue basket. The bulb glass was used to grow tulips and hyacinths.