Ray Stutsman's Home Page
Pattern Glass Enthusiast & Collector
(Early American Pattern Glass)
July 1, 2009
PART OF MY COLLECTION
Primary Pattern: Feather - also known as - Doric, Indiana Feather,
Fine-cut and Feather, etc.
Kamm's book No. I infers on page 73 that the two variants now called
Feather are "reproductions of a very old pattern dating from the (18)
Sixties, which was heavy, brilliant, and resonant."
The first of the two Feather variants Kamm lists is Fine-cut and Feather (Indiana Feather).
The other is Doric (McKee & Bros. 1896 and Cambridge Glass Co. No. 669).
Doric is shown in McKee Catalog of Nov 1897, the 1900 National Glass Co
Export Catalog, plant 12 McKee Brothers, a 1897 Sears Catalog, and the
1903 Cambridge Glass Co. Catalog of goblets and tumblers.
It has been proven that Indiana Feather (Fine-cut and
Feather) was made by the Beatty-Brady Glass Co. of
Dunkirk, Indiana,
in 1900 (possibly as early as 1899) as documented in
a 1900 Sears Catalog. Beatty-Brady was the predecessor
to Indiana Glass Co. My friend,
Hal Hooper, found in a Falker Stern & Co. jobber
catalog (Spring 1901) a listing & picture for barrel
packaging for three pitchers - Shell and Jewel, Dewey,
and Indiana Feather. Since Dewey is a well known
Beatty-Brady pattern and they were all packed in the
same barrel, they had to be made by the same maker. He
is unaware that any jobbers did any repacking. Also,
Shell and Jewel with the stippled foot as shown in the
catalog listing below is attributed to Beaty-Brady.
For the reasons listed above, I am going to call what
Kamm called Fine-cut & Feather by its common Indiana name
- Indiana Feather since it was manufactured by the
Beatty-Bready Glass Co. of Dunkirk, Indiana.
FALKER STERN & CO. SPRING 1901 CATALOG LISTING
Kamm does a good job of describing the two Feather Variants in her Book I:
Indiana Feather (what Kamm calls Fine-cut and Feather): "The pattern consists of vertical panels running
around the body, slightly swirled at the base, each alternate panel
clear and decorated (with fine-cut). The clear panel is divided into
two sections by a row of tiny grating running vertically from near the
top to the waist. Each section is convexed and this panel is spoken of
as a 'feather'. . . . All panels are arched at the top, the space between
the arches and the rim filled with fine cross-hatching." Bottoms of
bowls have a radial design. All of the footed pieces
have the feather design on the bottom of the foot.
Doric: This pattern has more swirl than above. Pitchers and spooner
have a scalloped top instead of a smooth top. Pieces with a smooth top,
instead of fine cross-hatching between arched panel tops, have a crows
foot decoration between the arched panel tops.
Bottoms of bowls have a looped medallion
decoration. The footed pieces do not have the feather design
impressed on the foot except some of the milk pitchers
that have the feather design on the top of the foot.
In addition to clear, this pattern comes in green, and clear
with an amber stain on the feathers. A few chocolate milk pitchers
were made also.
Milk Pitchers shown with McKee Doric on the left and Indiana Feather on the right.
Relish Dishes with McKee Doric on left and Indiana Feather on the right.
THE CUT FEATHER WINE
Cut Feather Wine and Doric Wine
The Cut Feather Wine is neither Doric or Indiana
Feather. In fact this piece was made in ca. 1920
and was part of a set of 6 wines and a decanter
made by McKee Glass Co. The decanter was the Maiden Flush
Rainbow Pattern. This is why some of the Cut Feather
Wines had a pink stain. I have also seen the wines with
an amber stain. However, the stain was not good and
tended to wash off. The set included a chromed metal
tray and was sold as an "Orange Juice Set" during
Prohibition.
Darryl Reilly said that his grandmother
recieved a set as a wedding gift in 1919.
REPRODUCTION GOBLET
Only the Goblet has been reproduced at this time. Jenks,
Luna & Reilly describe how the reproduction can be
identified in their book "IDENTIFYING PATTERN GLASS
REPRODUCTIONS". There are a number of differences in the
old & new goblet. The one that is simplist to remember is
that there is a large flat spot in the bottom of the new
goblet and the origional ones have more of a taper so that
only one finger will fit in the very bottom. I have a
reproduction goblet that has been flared into a what
L. G. Wright, the manufacturer of the repro. goblet,
called a TULIP
SUNDAE DISH. L. G. Wright made the repro. goblet and
the Tulip Sundae Dish in clear, amber and blue in the
early 1960s. Fenton now owns the repro. goblet mold and
has made a few goblets in pink.
POSSIBLE ORIGINS OF THE FEATHER PATTERN
Early cut glass patterns show a similarity to the Feather pattern. A
book showing cut glass patterns which were copied by Meissen is THE
BOOK OF MEISSEN - Second Edition by Robert E. Rontgen. There is a
Meissen price list showing china patterns that are defined as cut glass
copies (p 186). A couple of the patterns are very similar to the Feather
pattern (Nos. 46 and 51). The price list is dated 1845. The cut glass
patterns must have preceded the price list a number of years. Bill Jenks
and Darryl Reilly brought this to my attention.
1845 Meissen china price list illustrating cut glass patterns copied.
Also, in the 1840s when lacy glass was being produced, The Boston and
Sandwich Glass Co. had a pattern similar to Feather. And, the pattern
was called Feather in Ruth Webb Lee's book SANDWICH GLASS - Revised Edition,
showing it on p 352 and 353 and on plates 123,124 and 125.
The pattern isn't the same as Feather; still, it bears a resemblance.
Plate 124 from SANDWICH GLASS by Ruth Webb Lee
I have as yet been unable to confirm Kamm's statement quoted above that
Feather is a reproduction of an 1860s heavy pattern with a good ring to it,
unless it is the above flint pattern illustrated by Ruth Webb Lee.
In a September 1940 HEIRLOOMS magazine, is a picture with a table set with
Feather dinerware. The caption reads, "One of the most attractive patterns
with which to set a table is Feather." Here is our TABLE SET WITH
FEATHER.
My collection of Feather consists of 179 pieces at the
present time. I add when I find new ones! 47 pieces are
Indiana Feather, 123
pieces are Doric, 1 piece is 1840s Sandwich Feather, 2 pieces are L G Wright and 6 Clipped Feather Wines are 1920 McKee Glass Co. used with their Rainbow pattern.
1 piece is an unusual Feather Doric Creamer with a Doric outside
with a ledge for a cover made to compete with the Indiana
Feather Creamer. See the picture
of the 3
FEATHER CREAMERS.
From left to right they are Doric, Doric w/ledge, & Indiana
Feather. Of the Doric 11 are green (GREEN COLLECTION)
and 9 are clear with the amber stain.
(AMBER STAINED COLLECTION) The jewels of my collection
are the
THREE FEATHER TOOTHPICKS.
I also save other patterns and have a few of each in the quantities listed
to the right:
