Monday afternoon, January 16, 2012

Historia, Tom Dimitroff sends along this background on Waterford and Hawkes:

Hi,

I saw reference to Waterford in a recent letter. Thought you might enjoy this.

The first member of the Hawkes family to leave England for Ireland Was John Hawkes. He made his trip to Ireland in 1726.

John had two marriages. In his second marriage they produced 11 childred.

One of John’s children,Samuel, married Sally Penrose. Sally was from the important Penrose family, the founders of Warterford Glass.

The seventh of the 11 children of John and Sally was named Quayle

Quayle’s third child was Thomas Gibbons Hawkes who came to America in 1863 (The Year of Carder’s birth) This T.G. Hawkes founded the Hawkes Cut Glass firm in Corning, NY in 1880.

The last Hawkes to operate the Hawkes business in Corning was Penrose Hawkes. Hawkes Cut Glass also had a Waterford Pattern.

Just a bit of history that I hope helps us all to keep looking.

Tom Dimitroff

1-16- 2012

Wayne Montano, Emmett, Idaho, of Montano’s Glass Repair gives us this historic background

Hi Alan, I have to pass on a story about Waterford that we had happen about 26-27 years ago. I was set up doing glass repair in a shopping center in Southern California. We had on our back table about 100 pieces of various patterns of Waterford glass with chips. Waterford Crystal was very popular at the time and we repaired a lot of it.

A gentleman walked up to our table and asked if we repaired this much Waterford on a regular basis. We said yes, and he introduced himself as a recently retired Waterford U.S.A. advertising executive. Now being so long ago, I don’t have the business card he gave me or remember his name, but what he told me has stuck for all this time.

What he told us about the making Waterford made sense. He said Waterford had an in-house saying that for the new post 1972 marketing of Waterford was: “You Buy Waterford, You love it, You chip it (or break it) and You replace it. The Waterford was designed and cut with one sharp edge to chip and break easily. That is the way we still see it today. Of the 300 shops cutting American brilliant cut glass, cutting 3000 different patterns only about 10-12 patterns have that same sharp edge.

I’ve been told that the Waterford factory in Ireland only cuts special orders like trophies and such. Also that there are 6-8 different factories that are cutting for Waterford in Europe. You are right about the blanks are being molded, but the table service ware is still hand blown and cut. We still get several repairs each year that has a cut on the glass going too deep and through the glass making a dribble glass. Now that Waterford has gone global, I would inspect each piece before buying.

Also a tidbit on the Scottish Thistle pattern. We have heard that the last engraver has retired and that only 2-3 times a year he comes into the factory to do special orders. We have started seeing the cut blank coming into the market place without the engraving. The prices 10 years ago for a goblet were about $45.00 and if you can find them today they are over $200.00 each. But then we don’t see too much of that type of glass in Idaho. If it doesn’t say Tupperware, well it has something to do with being a “Redneck”.

Great ready the blog from this site, Thanks, Wayne

The closing of Steuben is a piece of future history. The West Virginia Museum of American Glass is seeking information to preserve this history. www.magwv.com

If people are receiving info cards and sales solicitation on the Steuben closing we are not receiving them in West Virginia. Anyone who would like to help us save this moment in time please send your paper ephemera about this on to the Museum of American Glass in West Virginia. P.O. Box 574 Weston, WV 26452. Clipped copies or photo copies of any new stories or press releases are included in our request.

Thank you all

www.cardersteubenclub.org

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2012 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 20-22, 2012.