Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: dreama on October 10, 2013, 09:44:26 PM
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I think this is called a memorial paperweight, i am not sure it appears to be for a football player. I have others with names birth dates, marriage dates, what are they called "memorial"? I think this is american, how would i find any information on this weight?
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This style originated in the midwest US and was probably made by John or Charles Degenhart or a member of their families in Cambridge, Ohio. The Degenharts made these weights to order and also made gearshift knobs with names or places written on a plaque, sometimes with a floral design. Your paperweight was probably ordered after the date (1923) and given as a remembrance.
John Degenhart was born in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1884. He started working in glass at the Dalzell, Gilmore & Leighton Company factory in Findlay, Ohio at the age of ten. John's brother Charles, also worked at Dalzell. In 1901, both joined Cambridge Glass in Cambridge, Ohio.
These folk weights started as an after hours activity while the men worked at Cambridge Glass (with the approval of the company). John retired from Cambridge Glass in 1946 and opened the Crystal Art Glass Company shortly after that. Most of the early production was devoted to paperweights. The factory also produced pressed glass novelties in an incredible range of colors.
After John died in 1964, his wife Elizabeth took over production. There was also a close association with Zack Boyd and his son Bernard, both of whom worked at Crystal Arts. The Boyd family continues to run Crystal Arts today in Cambridge, Ohio.
Here is a picture of a similar design by John Degenhart that has John's characteristic four flowers near the plaque and a blue border.
You can read about the Degenharts in the books American Glass Paperweights and Their Makers by Jean Melvin (1967 and 1970) and Degenhart Glass and Paperweights by Gene Florence.
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Thanks so much! I have some mosser PW's my dad and grandfather worked for Cambridge, Heisey and Tiffin, then my father at Mosser he made PW's in the 70's there. I have one for my birth and my daughters, and other ones with pictures in them, from mosser. These type to me were so fasinating, so I bought this one online, just because I liked it. I had not seen a degenhart one, I have some dogs, and a glass hand from Degenhart, not sure how my dad got it, but he did. I lived most of my life in Cambridge, my children are still there. By these being folk PW, can I assume these are each one of a kind?
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As for them being one of a kind, most are. But they did make orders of more than one for souvenirs and companies.