GI-14
“General Washington” – Eagle Portrait Flask

GI – 14

“General Washington” And Bust – “E. Pluribus Unum / T.W.D” And Eagle Portrait Flask”

Firecracker

Kensington Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Cobalt Blue Pint

Provenance: Sandor P. Fuss Collection

Here is a rather famous historical flask affectionately called the ‘Firecracker.’ We have two great examples in our museum, one in medium cobalt blue and another in dark amber, both extremely rare. This pint flask actually comes in a wide range of glass colors with some being quite attainable to collectors.

See the museum example of a GI-14 Firecracker in dark amber

The flask was made by Thomas W. Dyott to commemorate the passing of both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on July 4, 1776, 50-years to the day after both signed the Declaration of Independence. Thomas W. Dyott was a British-born American patent-medicine king, glassmaker, temperance advocate, and reformer. He was also the head of Kensington Glass Works, where the pontiled flasks were blown somewhere in the mid-1820s.

The General Washington – Eagle portrait flask features a three-quarter bust of George Washington in full uniform with the embossed copy ‘GENERAL WASHINGTON’ in a horseshoe configuration above the bust.

The reverse of the flask proudly depicts an American eagle turned to the right with rays and stars above. The wings are slightly raised with the left wing foreshortened to give the illusion of a more three-dimensional figure. The breast shield has seven bars. The left talon has five arrows or thunderbolts and the right talon is holding a large olive branch. The head is adorned with sunrays with ‘E PLURIBUS UNUM’ embossed in a semi-circle above the sunrays. The eagle is perched on an embossed oval frame with 28 small inner pearls. Placed in the oval is the embossed initials ‘T. W. D.’ which stands for Thomas W. Dyott.

What makes this flask one of if not the most important historical flask is that it is embossed along the flask sides ‘ADAMS & JEFFERSON JULY 4. A.D. 1776’ on the edge nearest Washington and ‘KENSINGTON GLASSWORKS PHILADELPHIA 1776’ with three small stars after 1776 on the edge nearest the American eagle.

The two references below can be attributed to auction sales of the blue GI-14.

WOODSTOCK, Conn. – A new world record for the highest-selling bottle at auction was set this morning after Heckler Auctions sold a light blue bottle, dubbed the “Firecracker Flask,” for $100,620.

Antique Trader, 02 April 2010

You can find examples of the GI-14 Washington – Eagle in aqua and light green which is fairly common. Clear medium green, clear emerald green, and emerald green are noted as rare. Deep green, blue-green, and deep green with yellow tone examples is considered very rare. Golden-yellow, dark amber, red amber, sapphire, and deep sapphire blue are extremely rare.

There is a grey example with a bluish cast that is probably the rarest color of all but not the most desirable color. The most desirable and most difficult to obtain colors would be amber followed by sapphire blue (some say cobalt blue). Both examples are represented in the museum.

Primary Image: The cobalt blue GI-14 General Washington–Eagle pint imaged by the FOHBC Virtual Museum midwest studio by Alan DeMaison.

Support Images: Auction Lot 1 (above): “GENERAL WASHINGTON” / BUST OF WASHINGTON / “ADAMS AND JEFFERSON – JULY 4. A.D. 1776” – “E. PLURIBUS UNUM” / EAGLE / “T.W.D.” – “KENSINGTON GLASS – WORKS PHILADELPHIA”, (GI-14), Kensington Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1825 – 1835, deep olive amber pint, open pontil, sheared and tooled lip Some high point wear and scratches exist, mostly on the Washington side, but no form of damage. Good overall impression and completely full of air bubbles. Fresh to the market recently found in a house in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and is one of only three known examples in the amber spectrum and the only one having some olive coloration. You are bidding on one of the most historic flasks and in an extremely rare color. – Glass Works Auctions, Auction #124

Support images: Auction Lot 29: “General Washington” And Bust – T. W. D And Eagle Portrait Flask, Kensington Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1820-1840. Medium bluish-green, sheared mouth – tubular pontil scar, pint; (slightly weakened impression in the upper shoulder area). GI-14. Beautiful color. The opulent firecracker flask. Fine condition. Ex Paul Richards collection #12. – Norman Heckler, Norman C. Heckler Auctions

Support Images: Light green glass; blown-molded; plain lip, pontil mark. Obverse: three-quarter view of Washington in uniform facing left. Reverse: American Eagle, head turned to right; shield with seven bars on breast, wings partly raised and right foreshortened. Thunderbolt (five arrows) in its right talons, large olive branch in left. Sun rays above eagle’s head. Eagle stands on oval frame with inner band of twenty-eight small pearls. Inscription: “GENERAL WASHINGTON” in semi-circle above bust. Reverse: “E. PLURIBUS UNUM.” in semi-circle above sun rays. In oval frame “T.W.D.”. Edges: vertically ribbed and with inscription “ADAMS & JEFFERSON JULY 4, A.D. 1776” and “KENSINGTON GLASSWORKS PHILADELPHIA”. Three small stars after 1776. – Corning Museum of Glass

Support Image: View of the Glass Works of T.W. Dyott at Kensington on the Delaware River, near Philadelphia Description This lithograph of 1831 depicts the glass works owned by T.W. Dyott at Kensington on the Delaware River near Philadelphia. Ships are visible on the river, and smoke is rising from the chimneys of these early industrial buildings. The print was published in James Mease and Thomas Porter’s Picture of Philadelphia from 1811 to 1831: Giving an Account of its Origin, Increase and Improvements in Arts, Sciences, Manufactures, Commerce and Revenue (Philadelphia, 1831). The illustration is by William L. Breton, a watercolorist and early lithographer of Philadelphia scenes, who was active in the city between about 1825 and 1855.

Support: Reference to Early Washingtons Part II, From rare to common, these classy flasks march ahead of most others by Mark Vuono, Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, May 2013

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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