Pattern Name:BELLFLOWER

Pattern Motif:Plants

Glass Type:Flint

Era:1860s

Description:50 Favorites - 3. Ruth Webb Lee identified Bellflower as the single most popular pattern with collectors in her Antiques arcticle, "The Popular Ten in Pattern Glass" (August 1937). She previously had speculated it was one of the earliest patterns made for table use, dating some examples to a pre-1840 “blown period” because articles bearing pontil marks seemed to be mold-blown rather than pressed (Early American Pressed Glass, 1931). This logic is questionable for two reasons. First, both pressed and mold-blown articles were made before as well as after 1840. Second, the pontil marks she referred to might indicate how the articles were held for fire polishing rather than how they were formed. The earliest date Lee could associate positively with the pattern came from an 1857 patent date stamped into the brass top of a cruet bottle. (50 Favorites catalogue) Fine Rib, Rayed Base (not to edge). FF p16; U1 p.68; M1, p. 31