Handled Footed Mug

Possibly Coventry Glass Works, Coventry, Connecticut

Yellow Olive Drinking Vessel

Provenance: Richard S. Ciralli Collection, ex George McKearin Collection

Our medium yellow-olive handled mug, cup, or drinking vessel has applied threading around the outward rolled mouth and is footed. The small piece is pontiled measuring 3 1/4″ tall by 2 1/4 diameter. The condition and provenance are outstanding coming from the George McKearin collection. The glass color and handle execution are consistent with other known Connecticut pitchers and creamers.

The piece was acquired from Richard Schrunk while lecturing at the Eastfield Village workshops in the Albany area many years ago. It remains to this day a unique Early American tableware item.

Museum example Handled Footed Mug or Drinking Vessel

See our museum example of a Coventry Glob Decanter.

Coventry Glass Works

Seven men agreed to erect a glass factory in Coventry, Connecticut on January 14, 1813, along the Willimantic River. Four of the men, Captain Nathaniel Root, Ebenezer Root Nathaniel Root Jr., and Joseph A. Norton all of Coventry were not glassmakers. The other three included Eli Evans, Thomas W. Bishop, and Uriah Andrews, glassblowers from East Hartford that had the experience to run the day-to-day operations. Eli, Thomas, and Uriah were to use their expertise where needed in the glass factory and be compensated at $26 per month and $45 for each year they worked in the plant.

In 1816, there was an agreement to expand by adding buildings. Thomas Stubbins was operating the glassworks by 1820. Lafayette flasks having embossed “T.S.” were made sometime around 1825. The brother of Thomas may have entered the business sometime in 1825. The “S.S.” on some Lafayette flasks could be the entry of a brother to the glassworks or possibly a mistake. Later in 1825, Rufus B. Chamberlain joined the firm and they were now Stebbins & Chamberlin. The “S & C” is found on some flasks. In 1828, Jasper Gilbert, John Turner, and Rufus B. Chamberlain with John Turner’s brother Levi took control forming Gilbert Turner & Company. Lack of wood is said to be the reason for the glassworks closing in 1848, but accounting books seem to indicate sales into 1849.

Primary Image: Handled Footed Mug imaged on location by Alan DeMaison, FOHBC Virtual Museum Midwest Studio

Support: Reference to American Bottles and Flasks and Their Ancestry by Helen McKearin and Kenneth M. Wilson, Crown Publishers Inc., New York, 1978.

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