Holder, Match
Object number96.14.8
Manufacturer
Washington Beck
Datec.1876
MediumGlass
Credit LineMuseum Purchase with funds from Hillman Foundation Funds
DescriptionPressed colorless glass match holder. Relief of man's head hollow inside with semi-circular tab below, flat back with central scallop at top, circular hole in scallop. Pattern of cross hatching on front of bottom tab, used to strike matches on.Dimensions4.25 x 2.5 in. (10.8 x 6.4 cm)MarksOn back of tab, "PATENTED / JUNE 13 '76"
Label TextMany innovations in glass were born in the metal and machine shops of Pittsburgh. By the 1850s, though known as the Iron City, Pittsburgh was also becoming the nation’s glass capital. Glasshouses formed whole blocks in Birmingham (Pittsburgh’s South Side today). Streets teemed with craftsmen and men who engineered and maintained the machines which were rapidly replacing humans in the glass factories. Washington Beck was an independent mold-maker. Founded in a tiny room in 1858, his business grew in three decades to 30 employees making molds and machinery for use across the United States, Europe, and even the Far East. Beck was an innovator, too. His firm invented and patented machinery, glass designs, and production methods. He also became a financier, investing in glasshouse partnerships and founding the Iron and Glass Bank, still in business today. Colorless glass “Jolly Jester” match safe, pressed patented by Washington Beck, probably made in Pittsburgh, 1876. The patent for this piece covered the means to produce the hole used to hang the match safe; it had nothing to do with the design.
Subjects
On View
On view
1983
1983
1983
Aluminum Company of America
The Diamond Match Company
