GI-54 • Washington / Taylor Portrait Flask

GI – 54

Washington – Taylor

Portrait Flask

Probably Dyottville Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Plum Puce Quart

Provenance: Mike Newman Collection

Quart GI-54 Washington Taylor Portrait Flasks can be found in an extraordinary range of glass colors. The flask mold is popular and can be found in many collections whether you are a historical flask collector or not.

Our museum example of a quart GI-54 Washington – Taylor portrait flask features George Washington in a classical profile facing left with a broad band of toga showing set in an oval frame. Washington does not have a braid of hair or queue worn hanging at the back of the head that occurs on other molds. There is no embossed copy. The opposite side of the flask pictures General Zachary Taylor in profile facing left, set in an oval frame. He is in uniform, with four buttons on his coat and an ornamental shoulder piece or epaulet on the coat or jacket of his military uniform. There is no embossed copy. The sides are smooth, the base has a rough pontil and the mouth has a plain lip.

See our museum example of a quart GI-39 Washington “Father of His Country” – Taylor “General Taylor Never Surrenders” portrait flask.

George Washington and Zachary Taylor were paired on twenty-six molds and variants, excluding molds where Taylor was absent. Within the McKearin historical flask groups, Washington – Taylor flasks start at GI-37 and go to GI-61. Two of these flasks are Washington – Washington (GI-60 and GI-61), two are Washington – (blank) (GI-47 and GI-48), and three are Washington – Sheaf of Wheat (GI-57, GI-58, and GI-59) flasks.

On a broader basis, George Washington appears on numerous flasks from the 1820s or before, pre-dating our subject Washington-Taylor flasks by 30 or more years. Taylor appears on other flasks that McKearin attributes to 1847-48, commemorating Taylor’s victory at Buena Vista. This victory helped propel Taylor, old “Rough and Ready,” as he was known to the White House in 1849. His term as the twelfth President was cut short by his untimely death at 66 in 1850. The flasks were most likely produced in response to his military successes and his death in office.

The group of Washington-Taylor flasks is primarily attributed to the northeast, including Dyottville Glass Works in Philadelphia, and possibly Crowleytown Glass Works, New Jersey, and Lockport Glass Works, New York. Therefore, these flasks are referred to as “Dyottville Type.” Only two flasks, GI-37 and GI-38, are embossed ‘Dyottville Glass Works.’ Current thinking is that there was no reason for just Dyottviille Glass Works to produce so many molds and variants.

Our Washington-Taylor portrait flask can be found in quarts, pints, and half-pints and have different necks; plain lip, round ring, double rounded collar, top-hat, single rounded collar, and broad sloping collar. The flask sides are smooth, and they were produced in the 1850s to sometime in the early to mid-1860s, as is evidenced by the presence or absence of pontil marks.

Only the Baltimore flasks approach, but can’t match the range of glass colors found on Washington-Taylor portrait flasks. Known colors are blue and green shades of aquamarine which is common; light green, clear green, apple green, bright blue-green, medium and dark green, emerald green (common), dark yellow-green, medium and deep blue-green, peacock green, amber, gold amber, olive amber, dark olive amber, dark olive-yellow, olive green, pale yellow-green, citron, ginger ale, honey yellow, apricot, copper topaz, pale violet-blue, teal blue, sapphire blue, cornflower blue, Prussian blue, cobalt blue, turquoise, medium to deep pink amethyst, claret, deep wine, and puce. The more exotic the color, the more desirable.

Primary Image: GI-54 Washington – Taylor Portrait Flask 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, New York, 1978.

Support: Reference to Collecting Washington-Taylor Flasks by Michael Roberts Spring 2004, Bottles and Extras

Support: Reference to Washington – Taylor (Portrait Only) Historical Flasks at PeachridgeGlass.com, January 2013

Support Image: Auction Lot 120: BUST OF WASHINGTON – BUST OF TAYLOR, (GI-54), Dyottville Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1848 – 1855, deep emerald green quart, smooth base, applied ‘top hat’ closure. About perfect, (a spot of wear is on Taylor’s forehead). Deep vivid color, great impression. The GI-54 mould is known for the wide array of colors it was blown in, making it popular with collectors of Washington / Taylor flasks! – Jim Hagenbuch, Glass Works Auctions, February 2020

Support Image: Auction Lot 101: BUST OF WASHINGTON – BUST OF TAYLOR, (GI-54), Dyottville Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1848 – 1855, Rich yellow olive quart, smooth base, applied sloping collar mouth. A shallow 1/4” by 3/16” size chip is off the base at the edge, also some high point wear. Rarely offered in this attractive color and the damage is not critical at all. – Jim Hagenbuch, Glass Works Auctions, Auction #80, June 2007

Support Image: Auction Lot 2: WASHINGTON – TAYLOR Portrait Flask, probably Dyottville Glass Works, 1855 – 1860. Medium emerald coloration, applied sloping collar with ring – smooth base, Qt, near mint; (just the slightest trace of very light high point wear, primarily on the reverse, and a minor pinhead bit of roughness on the inside edge of the lip). GI-54. A beautiful color, and with some nice whittling and character to the glass. – John Pastor, American Glass Gallery, Auction #19

Support Image: BUST OF WASHINGTON – BUST OF TAYLOR, (GI-54), Dyottville Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1848 – 1855, Medium Citron Green quart, smooth base, Perfect, Lots of character. From a private collection in Lancaster, PA. Blaske Collection sticker on base. – Ex Meyer collection.

Support Image: Auction Lot 74: Washington – Taylor Portrait Flask, probably Dyottville Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1840-1860. Bright yellowish ginger ale, applied sloping collared mouth with ring – pontil scar, quart; (light interior haze in the shoulder area and base, light exterior high point wear). GI-54 A rare, unusual and beautiful color. Fine condition. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #187

Support Image: Auction Lot 85: Washington – Taylor Portrait Flask, probably Dyottville Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1840-1860. Light to medium blue green, applied sloping collared mouth with ring – pontil scar, quart; (just a hint of exterior high point wear). GI-54 A nicely whittled flask with bold embossing. Fine condition. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #187

Support Image: Auction Lot 219: Washington – Taylor Portrait Flask, probably Dyottville Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1840-1860. Light to medium turquoise blue, applied sloping collared mouth with ring – pontil scar, quart. GI-54 An attractive flask with scattered small bubbles and an unusual bright color. Fine condition. Robert and Janice Weekes collection. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #170

Support Image: Auction Lot 81: Washington – Taylor Portrait Flask, probably Dyottville Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1840-1860. Medium cobalt blue, probably applied sloping collared mouth – smooth base, quart; (applied mouth has been broken away, overall exterior wear and haze, potstone to left of Taylor bust has several tiny radiations, 1/4 inch open bubble to left of Washington bust). GI-54 Beautiful color. Whittled and bubbly glass. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #138

Support Image: Auction Lot 72: Washington – Taylor Portrait Flask, Dyottville Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1860-1870. Prussian blue, heavy applied collared mouth – smooth base, quart; (minor manufacturer’s mouth roughness). GI-54 Beautiful bottle, rare color, strong mold impression, exceptional example. The Dr. Gary and Arlette Johnson collection. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #102

Support Image: Auction Lot 16: Washington – Taylor Portrait Flask, Dyottville Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1840-1860. Deep wine, sheared mouth – pontil scar, quart; (exterior high point wear particularly on the busts). GI-54 Gorgeous color. Warren “Bud” Lane collection. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #100

Support Image: Auction Lot 18: Washington – Taylor Portrait Flask, Dyottville Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1860-1870. Brilliant medium green, applied sloping collared mouth with ring – smooth base, quart; (1/16 inch bruise on the underside of the collar, 1/8 inch flash at the top of the mouth, a manufacturer’s defect). GI-54 Beautiful color, strong embossing. Warren “Bud” Lane collection. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #100

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