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We decided that we could collect this beautiful glass, but to our disappointment, we could not find another piece in the entire 1500-dealer show.

After several years of looking for the Krys-Tol line of glassware throughout the Eastern seaboard and finding only several dozen different pieces, we luckily found a copy of a 1967 "Hobbies" magazine in a New England book barn. We were shocked to find a description of the genesis of the Krys-Tol line of glass in an article written by Dr. Arthur G. Peterson, who has for years been an accepted authority on American glassware.

Dr. Peterson wrote that the Jefferson Glass Co. of Ohio acquired the Chippendale designs (actually copied from samples made by Thomas Chippendale more than 150 years earlier) from Mr. Benjamin Jacobs, who had joined the company as general manager in 1907. Mr. Jacobs had bought the rights and molds from the Ohio Flint Glass company, with whom he had previously been employed. The Krys-tol Trademark was used on all utility glass made by Jefferson until 1912, at which time the company switched to making illuminating glassware exclusively.

The patterns and trademark were continued in a new plant that they had purchased in Canada. The new company was called "The Jefferson Glass Company Limited of Toronto." They continued making the Chippendale pattern and used the Krys-tol trademark at least until 1918. Things get slightly fuzzy about this time, but it is known that The Central Glass works of Wheeling, West Virginia, took over the rights to the molds and advertised Krys-tol extensively from 1919 to at least 1924. Also, in 1924, The National Glass Co. of England, offered Chippendale/Krys-tol by the barrel in their brochures.

In the Hobbies article, Dr Peterson gave information on the numbers of molds for the "Chippendale" pattern, and described other patterns that we had not yet seen . At that time, we had approximately 48 different pieces of the 350 distinct designs produced. Dr. Peterson thought that this might be a record amount of molds for this type of glassware. Since then, we have found evidence of at least 75 more patterns being manufactured. This would make at least more than four hundred different molds, a staggering amount for a utility glassware.

Joyce and I puzzled over the rarity of glassware that had been offered by the full barrel to retailers from coast to coast, including Canada and England and its colonies.

Although Mr. William Heacock, in an article in the Fall, 1982 issue of THE GLASS COLLECTOR, thought the Krys-tol trademark may have been deleted from molds sold to The George Davidson Company of England in 1933, the Chippendale design is so distinctive as to be readily recognized by anyone interested in that particular pattern. Subsequently, in response to our request, Mr. Heacock graciously photocopied the entire Central Glass Works catalog of over fifty five pages and sent it to us.

The Krys-tol mark was relatively short-lived (from 1907 to about 1926) but the copious amounts distributed thru 1924 by the Central Glass Works and the National Glass Company of England, all with the Krys-tol trademark, leaves some to wonder why more of it hasn't surfaced at this time. We now have about three hundred and seventy five pieces of Krys-tol, which represents about 135 individual designs in 12 distinct patterns. We have found several pieces marked "Chippendale/Krys-tol,"

and we have quite a few pieces marked "PATENTED FEB. 5TH, 1907" in a circular pattern, with "Krys-Tol" in the center. We have also found some designs in custard, vaseline, ruby flashed and saw pictures of a cobalt candy dish.

Because of the considerable confusion over which molds are called "Chippendale" or "Colonial", we have decided to name only the pieces with the distinctive and cursive side grips, "Chippendale", and all relatively unadorned glassware and those with plain side handles, "Colonial".

This year, a most most detailed and descriptive book on the Krys-tol line of glassware written by Jean Chapman Loomis was printed and must be considered the definitive reference tome for all who wish to know more about Krys-tol.

We have in most cases decided to rename some of our pieces according to Ms. Loomis' information, but have kept some of our names for some glass so as to be more definitive. All faceted, imitation cut glass and decorative molds will be called by the names that you see with their pictures.

The 12 different patterns we have found are named:

1776 Colonial,Azmoor,Buttons & Arches,Chippendale, Colonial, Diamond & Peg, Gloria, Iverna, Kenneth, KrissKross, Optic and Thumbprint.

Since we introduced this site, We have received a large amount of correspondence relating to the derivation of the Krys-tol line and Chippendale/Colonial. The information relates mostly to the production of "Krys-tol" and "Chippendale" by various companies and their auxiliaries.

While we appreciate and are grateful for some previously unknown facts about the manufacture and distribution of the Krys-tol line of glass, it would exhaust our site quota if we tried to list all of the information that we are receiving. Because many records and claims of manufacture and dates are so tenuous and too difficult to research and verify, we have decided to assign names attributed by those few authors of proven glass expertise who have concentrated for many years on the difficult task of tracking down many hundreds of pattern designs and names of this elusive and marvelously beautiful line of glass. Because there is reasonable confusion as to which companies produced the Krys-tol line and when, we are only showing samples of our collection which are imprinted with "Krys-tol" or "Chippendale".

The date it was made or which company produced it, therefore becomes inconsequential as far as we are concerned. We are still hunting.

Sy London