GII-61 Eagle – Willington Glass Co. Flask

GII – 61

Liberty Eagle

Willington Glass Co. West Willington Conn

Willington Glass Works, West Willington, Connecticut

Red-Amber Quart Flask

Provenance: Anonymous

In a small town in Connecticut in 1814, just after the War of 1812, a small glassmaking venture was formed northeast of Coventry and only 26 miles from Hartford. Few facts of the early years of Willington Glass Works are known though by most accounts, they were moderately successful.

In 1847, six men purchased the glassworks and in April of that year incorporated the Willington Glass Company which is embossed on our flask. Their capitalization was $6,500 from 260 shares at $25 a share. Their main purpose was to “manufacture and sell glassware in all its various branches” and to establish a retail outlet for their products.

The concern, for various reasons, did not start producing bottles until the third quarter of 1849. They employed at least 26 men which included eleven glassblowers, one batch mixer, one for a “material borrow”, one to fill the wood oven, three to tend the pot oven, one fireman, one choreman, and seven bottle packers. In addition to the core workers, were three sets of boys to carry off finished products and one set of boys to presumably break off moils from the blowpipes.

The glasshouse initially produced a wide variety of green and black glassware and bottles such as inkwells, snuffs, demijohns, chestnuts, soda, mineral water, porter, wine, oil, syrup, varnish, druggist, and flasks including some Pitkin types, all blown to order. There were reportedly a few rare sealed bottles as well. From the 1860s to 1872, demijohns dominated the sales with wines, some bitters, and even a booze bottle cabin figural. Perhaps the most famous of the wares are the Willington gothic cathedral-type pickle jars of varying sizes and colors. They also produced base-embossed cylindrical bottles (there are 9 variants known), varying sizes of berry bottles in olive amber and olive green colors, and the popular Liberty Eagle marked flasks in half-pint, pint, and quart GII-61 through GII-65 molds. The Willington glassworks also produced utility bottles, insulators, rolling pins, and assorted tableware. The colors of the glass were similar to Pitkin and Coventry though the shades of greens are among the most beautiful glass ever produced in America. 

See our Willington Cathedral Pickle in our Food & Sauces Gallery.

Our museum piece is a quart GII-61 Liberty Eagle – Willington Glass Co. flask in an extremely rare red-amber glass color. When describing the piece, there is a prominently embossed American eagle with a long neck and its head turned to the left presented on the primary face of the flask. The right eagle wing is foreshortened in comparison to the left wing. The eagle stands on an oval wreath of laurel branches. The word ‘LIBERTY’ is embossed in a slight arch over the eagle which has a breast shield with six vertical bars.

On the reverse side of the flask are four embossed lines of copy reading, ‘WILLINGTON GLASS, Co WEST WILLINGTON, CONN.’ The first and third lines are arched. The ‘O’ in company is smaller and raised with no period.

The quart flask can be found with either an applied plain lip double rounded collar or a broad sloping collar. The flask has a smooth base and edges.

You can find the flask in dark-olive green and olive-amber which is somewhat common. Emerald green is scarce, and clear dark green, amber, and red amber are comparatively scarce to rare.

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

Support: Reference to The West Willington Glassworks 1814-1872 – The Connecticut Museum of Glass.

Support Images: Auction Lot 26: Eagle – “Willington / Glass, Co” Historical Flask, Willington Glass Works, West Willington, Connecticut, 1860-1872. Rich blue-green, applied sloping collared mouth – smooth base, quart; (1/8 inch flake on edge of base). GII-61 A beautiful, rare color with just the right density. Bold embossing fully showing the mold details. Generally fine condition. Glenn Quimby collection. – Norman Heckler, Norman C. Heckler & Company

Support Images: Auction Lot 38: “Liberty” / Eagle – “Willington / Glass, Co” Historical Flask, Willington Glass Works, West Willington, Connecticut, 1860-1873. Yellowish green with an olive tone, applied sloping collared mouth – smooth base, quart; (some very minor exterior high point wear). GII-61 Strong embossing, beautiful quart Willington flask. – Norman Heckler, Norman C. Heckler & Company

Support Images: Auction Lot 48: Eagle – “Willington / Glass, Co” Historical Flask, Willington Glass Works, West Willington, Connecticut, 1860-1872. Bright yellowish-orange amber with some red tones, applied double collared mouth – smooth base, quart. GII-61 Here’s one that has it all: beautiful color, crude glass and highly whittled surfaces. Fine condition. – Norman Heckler, Norman C. Heckler & Company

Support Images: Auction Lot 143: “Liberty” Eagle – “Willington / Glass, Co” Historical Flask, Willington Glass Works, West Willington, Connecticut, 1860-1873. Golden amber with an olive tone, applied double collared mouth – smooth base, quart. GII-61 Great condition, strong embossing, beautiful color. – Norman Heckler, Norman C. Heckler & Company

Support Images: Auction Lot 65: Eagle – “Willington / Glass, Co” Historical Flask, Willington Glass Works, West Willington, Connecticut, 1860-1872. Bright blue-green, applied sloping collared mouth – smooth base, quart; (shallow 3/16 flake and 1/4 inch bruise on edge of base). GII-61 A beautiful bright flask with no wear and a strong mold impression. Rare color. – Norman Heckler, Norman C. Heckler & Company

Support Images: Auction Lot 145: Two “Liberty” And Eagle – “Willington / Glass, Co” Historical Flasks, Willington Glass Works, West Willington, Connecticut, 1860-1872. Forest green with an olive tone and yellow olive, applied sloping collared mouth and applied double collared mouth – smooth bases, pints; (some exterior high point wear). GII-62 and GII-64 Handsome examples with good embossing and fine color. – Norman Heckler, Norman C. Heckler & Company

Support Images: “Liberty” eagle flask in bright blue-green, Willington Glass Works, Willington, Connecticut, 1860-1873: “Liberty” eagle flask made by the Willington Glass Works of Willington, Connecticut between 1860 and 1873. The form is an unusual one among those I encounter in the marketplace and the color is a bright blue-green. This exact flask was formerly part of the collection of renowned American bottle collector Charles B. Gardiner. The exact style is referenced in “American Bottles & Flasks & Their Ancestry” by Helen McKearin and Kenneth Wilson (1978, Crown Publishers, New York) as item “GII-62” [i.e., Group II, version 62]. The McKearin text was meticulously researched and serves as the Bible of flask collecting and production in early America. The imagery molded into the handblown bottle includes a spread-winged eagle with a Federal shield upon its breast, perched on an oval wreath of olive branches. The eagle is leftward-facing with the wing, neck, body and legs in a sweeping crescent pose and above, in a slight arch, is the word “Liberty.” On the reverse is the maker’s name and location, “Willington Glass, Co” and “West, Willington Conn.” In addition to the Gardiner provenance, the flask is also ex-Gail Ross. – 1stDIBS

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