Pomona Glass

Pomona, the Roman goddess of the fruit of trees, lent her name to one of the more subtle products of the New England Glass Works, and the delicate gelid appearance of Pomona glass has long been a source of eye pleasure to collectors of this ware.

Joseph Locke's first patented method for producing Pomona was issued April 28, 1885. The article to be produced was made and shaped from homogeneous crystal glass in the usual way, after which it was covered entirely with a wax or acid-resisting material. On the portion of the article which was to have the iced or frosted ground a series of curved lines were cut through the resist with a wheel or some other cutting agent.

This necessitated a great many lines crisscrossing each other. The outline for the ornamentation found on almost all pieces of this ware was also cut through the resist before the article was subjected to the action of the etching needle was assigned to several young women who daily turned out hundreds of such articles.

The object having been etched, the wax or acid-resisting pellicle referred to in the patent was removed. The outlined ornamentation was filled in with colored mineral stains and the piece was fired in a muffle to fix the colors.

In an interview with Joseph Locke which appeared in the Crockery and Glass Journal for 1901, he stated that Pomona glassware was colored with amber, blue and rose-colored mineral stains. The amber stain, more often encountered than any other color in Pomona, is a dilute nitrate of silver. The pale blue stain has a manganese base.

Locke illustrated his first patent papers with a tumbler on which the initials of his patent attorneys, Crosby and Gregory appeared. The top of the tumbler was decorated with a band of acanthus leaves. His second specifications were illustrated with a small footed vase, girdled about its tapered midsection with a band of flowers resembling wild roses. Other motifs found on this ware are designs of blue berries with red stems and gold leaves, butterflies and sheaves of wheat, grass, butterflies and pansies.

A delicately etched Pomona finger bowl engraved with the initials "I.H.B." and surmounted with a royal crown was acquired in Spain where it was reportedly received from a member of the Spanish royal family. The letters were said to represent the initials for "Imperator Hapsburg-Battenburg."

It very likely represents one of the pieces from a very large service made after 1893 by the Libbey Glass Company of Toledo, Ohio. On July 15, 1893, H.R.H. Infante Don Antonio de Orleans appointed Messrs. Libbey and Company glass makers to his royal house, with the use of his royal coat of arms for signs, bills and labels. The grant was signed by Pedro Jover Fovar, Superintendent of His Royal Highness's Household. This distinction followed close behind the Infanta Eulalia's visit to the Libbey exhibit at the Columbian Exposition of 1893, and Libbey's presentation to the princess of a glass dress.

Joseph Locke commented on his Pomona glassware in an interview granted in 1900 to the editor of the Crockery and Glass Journal. "Pomona," he said, "was twenty years ahead of the times. Connoisseurs bought it and were willing to pay a big price for it. Owing to the changes made in the New England Glass Company, and for various reasons, it was dropped. It could be sold now more readily than then, as the people are educated to an appreciation of such wares. 'Pomona' ware was needle-etched and colored with iridescent tints of delicate pinks, lavenders and amber. The shapes were bowls, vases and fancy pieces in artistic design."

Source: Nineteenth Century Glass - It's Genesis and Development