Sandwich Glass

Sandwich glass, glass made by the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company at the village of Sandwich, Mass., 1825–88. The factory was established by Deming Jarves and produced glass of different types, including blown, molded, cut, and engraved. Sandwich became famous, however, chiefly for its early pressed glass (glass pressed in a mold), for which the first American machinery was developed by Jarves around 1827. His pressed glass has some kinship with French Baccarat pressed glass, which had a parallel development from around 1830, though Sandwich glass has a different repertoire of ornament, less classical than its French counterpart. This repertoire was very large, as has been established not only from the many pieces surviving in collections but also from excavations carried out on the factory site during the 1930s, which revealed many fragments of hitherto unlisted patterns. Almost every conceivable item of tableware—as well as vases, lamps, scent bottles, and other objects—was made in pressed glass, in which patterns were given a stippled background. This production tended to overshadow other types of Sandwich glass that also achieved distinction, including a “striped” blown glassware and opaline glass, notably in a ruby-red colour.