Our workshop at the Bridgeville Area Historical Society (BAHS) History Center cataloging a recent generous donation of Higbee Glass was a resounding success. The donor was Mrs. Susan Sappenfield of Hampstead, North Carolina, and the two boxes of carefully packed Higbee tableware she sent us were filled with treasures. All told there were forty-two lovely pieces of well preserved Early American Pattern Glass (EAPG), all but three of which sported the distinctive “bumblebee” trademark confirming they were manufactured at the John B. Higbee glassworks in Bridgeville between 1907 and 1918. We speculate that the other three were reproductions made more recently by other glassmakers.
My fellow volunteers – Betty Copeland, Linda Tome, John Shipe, Laura Gibbons, Leesa Shady, and John Mincin – set up a very efficient production line. Each piece was carefully unwrapped and then carefully inspected in an effort to determine its authenticity (possessing the trademark), the type (berry bowl, creamer, etc.), pattern (Colonial, Delta, etc.), and the size. Our reference was the excellent book Bryce, Higbee, and J. B. Higbee Glass, published in 1998 by distant Higbee relatives, Lola and Wayne Higby. It is remarkably detailed with many photographs and descriptions of pieces and patterns. Once properly identified, the piece was given a distinctive BAHS serial number, carefully washed, identified by an attached bgrhtn4 tag recording its definitive characteristics, and then carefully placed on a shelf in the display area.
Determining the correct type is more difficult than one would initially expect. “Bowl”, “vase”, and “cake stand” are easy, but what about “jelly compote” vs. “sweetmeat ”, or “fruit bowl’ vs. “berry bowl”? We really were stumped by a highly decorated six-inch diameter cylinder with a flat circular base and two small tabs on its top. After much head scratching, suddenly Linda triumphantly announced, “Check out page 90!” Sure enough, there was a photograph of an “ice bucket” that was the spitting image of the piece that had us stumped. Consequently, we added a new characteristic for each piece – the page in the Higby book where it was shown, if appropriate. We also learned that we had mis-identified an “ice cream cup” as a “sugar”. In all cases the designation in the Higby book was considered binding.
Identifying the proper pattern is equally difficult. Some are very easy to recognize. “Colonial” was introduced in 1910; Higbee produced nearly one hundred different types in it. Unlike the other patterns, Colonial is elegantly classical, without adornment. It would have been a perfect match for my wife and me, when we “set up housekeeping” in late 1963 with a décor that included Paul Revere flatware and Ethan Allen furniture. Similarly, “Delta”, also released in 1910, is readily recognizable because of its distinctive “thistle” pattern, as is “Gala” (1913) and its “Hawaiian lei” pattern. The other two dozen patterns are considerably harder to identify. For a while we were stumped by a lovely nine-inch berry bowl until Laura announced, “Take a look at page 162!” No question about it, the piece was indeed a perfect example of the “Rosalie” pattern – the only one in our collection. In fact our collection includes examples of only about half of the patterns Higbee produced; we are focusing our future acquisitions on examples of patterns we do not presently have.
All the new pieces were greatly appreciated, but it would be inappropriate to not highlight some special ones. We already mentioned the (Paris) ice bucket, a type and pattern new to our collection. An “Iris” covered butter dish is another type that we had previously lacked. Two Delta pitchers, eight and nine inches tall respectively, and an eight inch “Alfa” pitcher provide us with the opportunity to display them with our eight-inch Colonial pitcher to illustrate the difference in different patterns and size as applied to a specific piece. Other very welcome additions to the collection include a lovely Colonial sugar and creamer set, a six-inch Gala rose bowl, a four-inch Iris wine glass, and a set of three-inch Colonial sherbets.
The exercise of cataloging these pieces has highlighted two contradictory concepts. It is impressive how much we know about this (J B Higbee) sub-genre of EAPG collecting and equally impressive how little we know about it. We confidently assigned type and pattern to new pieces, but none of us is totally sure about their classification. I suspect that we will be updating the tags on many of them as we examine the pieces more closely.
The impact of this addition to our collection has initiated considerable discussion about its future. It does seem appropriate to plan a special exhibit to show off the expanded collection, possibly in a dedicated display cabinet. The possibilities of comparing and contrasting types and patterns are intriguing. We have sixteen different types of Colonial pieces – it would be interesting to display them together to show how a pattern appears on a variety of pieces. Equally interesting would be a display of similar types (bowls, for example) of different patterns. Couple this with a few posters explaining the pressed glass production process and the specific history of the J B Higbee Glass Company and we could have an exhibit of interest to a wide variety of visitors.
An alternative, and more contemporary, approach would be to establish a virtual museum on our website and provide access to a photograph of each piece, supplemented by its type, size, and pattern, as well as text and narrative related to the J. B Higbee Glass Company. I personally prefer to visit museums and exhibits in person, but I must admit there is considerable advantage to the virtual alternative. This particular, much appreciated, donation resulted from Mrs. Sappenfield being aware of our interest in J. B. Higbee glass, via the Internet.
BAHS and its subsidiary, the J.B. Higbee International Glass Collectors Association, are sincerely grateful to Mrs. Sappenfield for her generosity and is committed to cherishing and preserving these wonderful pieces.