A glass engraver's design book, 1860-1880.(Henry S. Fillebrown )

In the third quarter of the nineteenth century, engraved glass became very popular in the United States. While it was certainly produced in this country earlier in the century, it was expensive and probably not available at most tableware factories. Engravers in several eastern cities advertised that they decorated glass with monograms and crests, but in practice, not much engraving was done here in the earliest part of the century except at the Pittsburgh factory established by Benjamin Bakewell (1767-1844) in 1808, where it is well documented. However, this had changed by mid-century. By the 1840s, factories that produced fashionable tablewares, such as the New England ...