Dorflinger Glass Was Brilliant

 

QUESTION: My mother liked to collect antique glassware. Her favorite was cut crystal. She often purchased items from a particular dealer in town. One of these objects was a tall vase with a concaved shape that was cut with a variety of intricate designs. I now have her collection and would like to begin identifying the pieces. She collected what she liked and didn’t really care to know what the pieces were. To begin, I’d like to know which factory made this magnificent vase. And also how to identify other pieces in this collection.

ANSWER: Based on the cut designs in the vase, it seems that it may have been made or at least cut by artisans at the Dorflinger Glass Company in White Hills, Pennsylvania.

The Victorians learned a lot about people’s manners and status from their tableware. The type and pattern of crystal indicated a person of a higher economic status. In the United States, this type of crystal became known as American Brilliant, an art form that with intricate designs and patterns and an unmatched quality. One of the leading producers of American Brilliant was the Dorflinger Glass Company which developed a weightier glass in the 1880s. 

Born in Rosteig in Alsace, France, in 1828, Dorflinger began an eight-year apprenticeship with an uncle at the Cristalleries de Saint-Louis in Lorraine to learn the glassmaking craft. In 1846, after completing his apprenticeship, Dorflinger persuaded his recently-widowed mother to emigrate from France to America in search of better opportunities. Dorflinger, along with his mother, brother Edward, and sisters Catharine, Madeline, Josephine, and Marie, arrived in New York aboard the Shakespeare on September 26, 1846. The family went west for a time where Charlotte and her daughters settled with friends in Oldenberg, Indiana. Christian and his brother Edward returned east to find work in the glass industry.

Dorflinger and his brother found employment at the Excelsior Flint Glass Company in Camden, New Jersey. Excelsior produced pharmacy glassware and also advertised “Rich Cut Glass.” During visits to New York City, Dorflinger became acquainted with Captain Aaron Flower, a former North River pilot and the proprietor of the Pacific Hotel. When Captain Flower and a group of associates formed the Long Island Flint Glass Works to make lamp chimney and lamps for burning coal oil or kerosene in 1852, they asked Dorflinger to head up the new firm. That same year, he married Elizabeth Hagen. 

By 1856, Dorflinger had added a cutting shop with 35 cutting frames and had begun producing rich cut glass tableware in addition to the company’s commercial products, making the Long Island Flint Glass Works a leading manufacturer of cut glass tableware in New York.

In 1860, Dorflinger built a larger glass factory, the Greenpoint Flint Glass Works, on Commercial Street at Newtown Creek on the northern edge of Brooklyn. Dorflinger, in partnership with Nathaniel Bailey, a vice president at the Greenpoint Savings Bank, formed C. Dorflinger & Co. to own and operate the new glass works. The Greenpoint works included a blowing shop to produce blanks for cutting, a cutting shop, wharf facilities, and housing for the factory’s workers. In less than a decade, Dorflinger had become the premier manufacture of cut glass in New York, operating the newest and most advanced glass factories in the city.

By 1861, the Greenpoint Flint Glass Works had received an order for a set of rich cut and engraved glassware from the Lincoln White House. The pattern, character of English and Trish glass during that period, was very light and intense, with no deep cutting. The Great Seal of 'the United States was on each of the 600 pieces. The eagle was facing away from the arrows because there was no war threatening in 1860, when the order had been placed. The state glass service went on to be used for the next 30 years. 

The following year, Dorflinger began experiencing health problems and decided to take a leave of absence and move to the country. In September 1862, Dorflinger purchased a 600-acre farm in Wayne County, Pennsylvania  from his friend Captain Flower. Dorflinger also purchased an additional 350 acres in White Mills, which later became the location of his Wayne County Glass Works. 

In 1863, Dorflinger moved to Wayne County. He sold the Long Island Flint Glass Works, but retained his ownership interest in the Greenpoint Flint Glass Works. White Mills offered all of the elements needed to build and operate a large, modern glass factory. The adjacent Delaware & Hudson Canal delivered coal from nearby Carbondale, Pennsylvania, to fuel the factory’s furnaces, brought in the raw materials needed to make the fine lead crystal glass, and delivered Dorflinger’s finished goods to market.

Dorflinger’s newest glass factory included a five-pot furnace close to the Lackawaxen River in White Mills. He also constructed a cutting shop and seven cottages for the skilled glassblowers he brought over from France. By 1869, the firm employed 182 workers. That same year, Dorflinger opened the St. Charles Hotel to house his visiting business associates, tradespeople, and friends, as well as a company store. In 1875, he added a decorating shop, and in 1883, a new cutting shop and a glassblowing shop.

The Dorflinger Glass Company exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and received a certificate of award for its glass table wares. The heavily cut glassware exhibited at the Centennial Exposition began what is now known as the “Brilliant Period” of cut glassmaking in America, which continued until about 1917.

In 1891, Dorflinger produced a new state table service for President Benjamin Harrison, replacing the Lincoln state service with a more modern design cut in the Russian pattern with the U.S. Coat of Arms engraved on a shield.

 two sons, Charles and Louis, joined the business, and the firm's name changed to C. Dorflinger and Sons, based in Wayne County, Pennsylvania.

Blowing, cutting and engraving were part of the manufacturing process fur more than 60 years. The recipe for glassmaking materials included pure Berkshire sand, imported German potash, lead oxide and cutlet.

Every morning, workers skimmed the glass mixture for impurities. Dorflinger produced pure crystal and colored glass with a high lead content, giving it brilliance and making it easier to cut.

The Dorflinger factory also supplied blanks in hundreds of shapes to a number of cutting shops  for almost 70 years. One such shop was Thomas Gibbons Hawkes, based in Corning, N.Y. During President Grover Cleveland's administration in 1885, Hawkes was asked to supply the White House with 336 pieces of tableware cut in the Russian pattern. Hawkes received 28 dozen blanks manufactured at White Mills, ready for cutting and engraving.

 incorporated several basic motifs into many heavy cut brilliant glass items. Among these were Renaissance, Buzz Star, aka pinwheel, 48-point flash star, a stone engraved rose design, Old Colony, Hobstar (diamond) and a Russian design.

A catastrophic fire of suspicious origin in 1892 heavily damaged some buildings and destroyed others. Dorflinger immediately rebuilt the factory. Five years later, he introduced new lines of tableware that were graceful and light, refined in style and cut in a new intaglio pattern. Buyers could order glass with various degrees of cutting. In 1910, the firm began producing a line of etched glass-ware and lightly cut tableware that was less expensive.    

In 1897, Dorflinger hired an Englishman, Walter Graham, to head the engraving department. Graham introduced stone engraving from his native country to the White Mills factory, creating the modern lighter floral designs known as “Rock Crystal.” In 1901, Dorflinger added a new subsidiary named the Honesdale Decorating Company managed by Austrian Carl F. Prosch. Honesdale Decorating produced a line of gold decorated table ware and a new line of cameo glass in the Art Nouveau style. This new art glass style used color cased glass and acid cutting with gold decoration. 

 introduced a second art glass line in 1907. The Kalana art glass line used acid etching to etch intricate floral designs on colorless glass. Some pieces were also cut and/or engraved. World War I interrupted Dorflinger’s supply of German potash, an essential ingredient used to make the company’s fine lead crystal glass. 

In response, in 1914, Dorflinger developed a third art glass line known as “Reproductions Venetian.” Made in solid pastel colors, this blown glass without decoration hid the imperfections resulting from the lack of potash. Finally, from 1919 to 1921, Dorflinger produced an art glass line known as “Opal Glass” for its opaque, opalescent appearance. These new glassware lines were attempts by the company to appeal to changing tastes as the demand for heavy cut glass began to decline.

Building on his success, he added a third blowing shop in 1902, and a coal gasification plant to produce natural gas for the newest furnace in 1905. At the peak of its operations in the early 20th century, the Dorflinger Glass Factory employed 650 people and was one of the largest enterprises of its kind in the country. The factory employed women as well as men. Women worked in the factory office and in the washing and packing department, but there were also some women cutters.

Christian Dorflinger died in 1915. His sons, Charles and Louis, continued to operate the firm. By the end of World War I, the heavy cut glass of the American Brilliant Period which had been the mainstay of the firm’s output had gone out of favor. The interruption in the supply of German potash during the war years had limited the company’s ability to produce fine lead crystal table ware, and Prohibition further reduced demand for the company’s table and bar ware. Faced with these challenges, the family decided to close the factory in 1921.

 glass is noted for the consistent clarity and brilliance of its lead crystal, the elegance of its designs, and its excellent cutting and engraving. Color cased pieces, in which workers laid colored glass over clear glass, then artisans cut the pattern through the color layer to the clear glass underneath, are among the most prized examples of the company’s work. Collectors also highly value pieces with silver ornamentation, known as silver mounts.

To identify Dorilinger glass, it’s necessary to compare a piece with others in pattern books. The company marked its glass with a small, round paper label depicting three items—a wine goblet, a cordial glass, and a bottom-heavy wine decanter----over which the name DORFLINGER was printed.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Sporting Life" in the 2025 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Choo Choo Chugging Around the Christmas Tree

 

QUESTION: Every Christmas since I can remember, our family has got out an old tine train set that belonged to my grandfather and set it up under the Christmas tree. It still runs and is in good condition. All we know is that the set was made by a German company named Märklin. What can you tell us about this company?

ANSWER: From the looks of your train, I’d say it dates from the 1920s or 1930s. At the time, these trains were more toys than authentic models. Their design reflects the boxy look of European trains rather than the sleeker, simpler lines of American ones.

As the 1930s dawned, the Great Depression forced millions of people out of work. Owning an electric toy train was the ultimate. Kids even loved observing the trains displayed in department store windows. What could be more rewarding to a young boy than to receive a model train for Christmas? But these little trains were expensive so were out of reach of many families. 

Manufacturers lovingly handcrafted the earliest toy trains, made prior to 1850, of shining brass to run on the bare floor. But by the late 1830's, a number of prosperous toy companies began producing toy trains.  Around 1856, George W. Brown, a Connecticut firm, produced the first self-propelled train made of iron and  coated with tin to prevent rust. A wind up clockwork motor drove the engine and carriages on plush Victorian carpets on straight or curved tracks.

In 1859, tin smith Theodor Friedrich Wilhelm Märklin began producing doll house accessories made of lacquered tinplate. Although the Märklin Toy Company of Germany originally specialized in doll house accessories, It became known for its toy trains.

By the 1870's, the most popular trains were powered by steam. Utilizing alcohol or sometimes coal to propel. they duplicated the might and energy of their big, big brothers.

The tin toy makers in both Europe and the U.S. realized that profits could be made by selling toy trains to the masses and jumped on the toy model bandwagon. Early on, they set their sights on wealthier people by promoting their products’ snob appeal.

In 1891, Märklin began producing wind-up toy trains that ran on expandable sectional tracks and the following year created a sensation by making the first figure eight track layout. It also established a track gauge settings numbered from 0 to 4, which it presented that year at the Leipzig Toy Fair. These track gauges soon became international standards. Märklin began producing 0 gauge trains as early as 1895 and H0 scale in 1935. In 1972, the company rolled out diminutive Z scale trains, the smallest in the world in competition to  Arnold Rapido's introduction of N gauge.

Märklin’s owners noted that toy trains, like doll houses, offered the potential for future profits when, after the initial purchase, owners would expand by purchasing accessories for years to come. So, the company offered additional rolling stock and track with which to expand its boxed sets.

Electric trains became commercially successful by 1897 when the Cincinnati, Ohio, firm of Carlisle and Finch manufactured and sold a two-gauge unit for only three dollars, It also was the first to issue a model railway builder's instruction manual.

Many consider the years prior to World War I to be the "Golden Age" of quality model trains. As the war approached, manufacturers converted their factories to produce war monitions, rifles and replacement parts. The Depression that followed the war precluded many of these operators from coming back and many disappeared.

But Märklin continued producing toy trains until May 11, 2006 when Kingsbridge, a London venture capital company, took it over. The company filed for bankruptcy on February 4, 2009, but on February 5, 2010, after purchasing the rival LGB Company, announced it had returned to profitable state. Many consider Märklin's older trains highly collectible today.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Lady Luck" in the 2024 Fall Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Managing Your Collections

 

QUESTION: I’ve been collecting antiques and collectibles for the past 30 years. Now that I’m getting older, I’m looking to sell off some of my items but I have little information on items in my collections. What is the best way to document my collections?

ANSWER: Failing to document their collections is more common than you may think. Many people enjoy the fun of collecting antiques and collectibles but don’t take the time to manage their collections. And many seniors, seeking to downsize, all of a sudden want to sell some of their items. They often try in vain to get valuations for their items online. But without previously documenting their collections, this can be a challenge.

Those who are just starting collections should record a description and history of each item, as well as the date purchased and the price paid. Those managing their collections years after purchase may have a harder time of gathering information, but with today’s technology, it’s easier than ever. One thing they may not have is the date of purchase and price paid—two very important facts when determining current value.

Collecting is a personal thing and most people do it for sheer enjoyment. They choose some objects carefully to build or enhance their collections, acquire others to use everyday, and inherit still others. While collectors treasure each item in their collections, many don’t understand the appeal or the value of it. 

Over the last couple of decades, the value of some antiques has fallen while that of some collectibles has risen. What many collectors lack is a comprehensive record, with supporting documents, of objects they own. As antiques increase in value, it’s important to know their provenance. While most people don’t think of their prized objects as part of their tangible financial assets, the IRS, insurance companies, banks, and courts do.

"To document" means to create a record that thoroughly describes an object and which also contains related documents about it, and keep together this record and supporting information on each object. 

A collector may already have some types of documents or can easily acquire them, such as a bill of sale, a note accompanying a gift, a snapshot, a printed description, a program from an exhibit, biographical information on the artist or maker, a description and picture of a similar object perhaps from a newspaper, magazine, or the Internet, a copy of a mark on the object, and others.

The objects in specialized  collections— furniture, dolls, quilts, kitchen utensils, guns, tools, even sports and music memorabilia—are prime candidates for documentation. Museums document each object in their collections. So it’s only natural that collectors do the same for insurance purposes, family heritage, preparing for appraisal, tax benefits, and connoisseurship.

At the very least, a collector should know what he or she paid for each object in their collections. Some insurance companies require that jewelry and fine art be placed on a special schedule. Often they also require an appraisal for the most valuable pieces. 

In case of theft, loss or damage by fire, flood or national disasters, a collector needs to prove ownership of any object claimed and provide descriptions with supporting information in order to be compensated or to help the police identify and recover the stolen valuables. If a collector cannot do this, there’s a risk of losing compensation in addition to being permanently separated from the treasured object. The more adequate the proof is, the greater the chances that will be satisfying. It’s more difficult to document after a loss occurs, and perhaps it cannot be done at all.

Every home has objects of value—whether monetary, sentimental or family-related. Documenting can help people decide which objects they wish to give to certain heirs. Recording the provenance and capturing the family history associated with a particular object provides a more complete picture for both the collector and the heirs. 

If certain pieces have been handed down through the family, they may have family stories associated with them. It’s important not to depend on those stories being passed down verbally. They should be written down. Additionally, heirs often carelessly sell off family pieces or give them away because succeeding generations are unaware of their actual or sentimental value. This is often done in the haste to clear a house after a loved one’s death. Documenting can assure that certain pieces  remain in the family, or at least that someone will make an educated decision before selling or giving away a special object.

Insurance companies usually require that a collector or an heir provide them with a professional appraisal. However, not every object in your household needs to be appraised. Documenting can help decide which objects need to be appraised, plus it can also provide the appraiser with valuable information, thus saving time and reducing the cost of the appraisal. The appraisal then becomes part of the object’s documentation.

And If an object is sold or given to a museum or other institution, its documentation can provide detailed information from acquisition to sale or gift, providing a factual basis for tax benefits. Museums look upon documentation as a benefit, as it provides valuable family and cultural history about an object for its visitors. 

If not documentation exists, it’s important to begin with a simple search for it on the Internet. While it’s possible to get results using a simple keyword search, that may not reveal anything. An alternative would be to conduct an image search. Using the same keyword(s), click on the Images tab in the search page. This will result in photos of objects related to search words. Clicking on one or more that look like or similar to the object being researched will bring up the Web site associated with it. 

Patience is required when searching. It may take several different keywords to obtain any useful information. 

To get an idea about value, it’s possible to search for online antique auction sites and there search for an object using the same keyword(s). By searching several auctions for the sold prices, then averaging them, it’s possible to get an approximate current value for the object.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "In the Good Ole Summertime" in the 2024 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The Smallest Olympic Souvenirs

 

QUESTION: In 1996, I attended the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. During the games, I acquired about 100 Olympic pins through purchase and trading. Can you tell me how the tradition of collecting pins began and what the market is like for Olympic pins today?

ANSWER: You certainly seemed to have amassed quite a number of pins during the Atlanta Games. Today, pins come in all shapes, colors, and sizes and represent a myriad of people, activities, and events at the Games. With the start of the Summer Olympics in Paris this week, it seems appropriate to take a look back and see how pin collecting began.

Pin collecting has become a sport unto itself. But it wasn’t always like that. The Olympic pin tradition began with small cardboard badges worn by athletes and officials at the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens, Greece in 1896. Athletes from competing teams traded them as a gesture of goodwill. At the 1908 Games in Paris, designs of pins grew as specific groups like judges, coaches, and reporters got involved. 

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued the first pins to be sold to spectators at the 1912 Games in Stockholm, Sweden. Today, the pins created for the 1940 games,  cancelled because of World War II, are highly sought after by collectors.

In 1968, the Mexico City games featured the first butterfly-clutch pin fastener, which  became the standard for Olympic pins. But it wasn’t until the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, California, that trading pins became a tradition. Sponsoring companies, such as Coca-Cola, set up official trading stations to market their own pins. Because the pins were small and affordable, fans quickly seized the opportunity to bring home keepsakes for themselves. At the 1984 Los Angeles Games, some 17 million pins circulated among fans, participants, media representatives, and officials.

Pins began as a pre-social media form of communication that gave fans a reason to start a conversation with each other. The individual country Olympic committees, sponsors, bid cities, media outlets, and many others issue these colorful enameled pins today. Hundreds of thousands appear at each of the Games. 

Pins are generally manufactured in limited numbered editions, and collectors seek out those produced in the smallest quantities or from the earliest Games. These also include pins issued by the various cities competing for a chance to host the Olympics. 

Some of the most popular ones to collect are those from the smaller countries, such as Bahamas, Senegal, and Lebanon. At the games, fans pin those they’ve collected onto a hat or the strap holding their Olympic credentials. As one fan walks by another, they look at each others’ pins and often one will ask where the other got a particular pin. From there, it’s onto trading and acquiring more pins. As the Games continue, fans try to either gather as many pins as possible or become selective as to the type of pins they want to collect.

The unwritten rule has always been to trade like pins for like pins. Of course, rules are meant to be broken and that’s the fun of it all. At the last Olympic Summer Games, fans were on the lookout for pins from Tokyo, the city to host the next Summer Games. At this Olympics, they’ll be on the lookout for pins from Los Angeles.

Somewhere in the host city, pin collectors representing pin collecting clubs from all over the world congregate to trade pins and stories. It won’t be any different in Paris. Also, hundreds of vendors set up tables to sell pins of every design and origin. Most of these cost about $5 each, so amassing a lot of them can cost a small fortune. The majority of people, however, acquire their pins by trading ones they have for ones they want. 

Some collectors have over 30,000 pins in their collections. They’re always on the lookout for pins from the 1936 Berlin Games, a hot commodity in the pin collecting realm. 

While it may seem that the only people trading pins are fans and athletes, everyone involved with the Olympics, from the members of the IOC to newspaper reporters, volunteers, judges, and coaches, all get involved.

It used to be that all a person you needed to do to begin collecting pins was to show up at the Olympics, find some pins and start trading. But today, beginning collectors can find thousands of pins online and while the fun of trading may not be there, the ability to collect just about any pin, even the important ones, is there—for a price.

Pin collecting is affordable and don’t take up much room, so they’re ideal for anyone just starting out in collectibles. Searching the Internet for  “Olympic collectibles” will undoubtedly result in links for collecting pins. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "In the Good Ole Summertime" in the 2024 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Understanding Fraktur

 

QUESTION: I live outside Philadelphia. About 45 minutes further west lies what the locals call “Pennsylvania Dutch Country,” a landscape filled with Amish farms. Browsing antique shops in the area, I often see elaborately decorated documents called fraktur. I understand these recorded births and deaths but would like to know about their origins.

ANSWER: Fraktur was a highly artistic and elaborate illuminated folk art that originated in Germany in the 18th century. Named for the Fraktur script associated with it, it reached its peak between 1740 and 1860.

Laws in what’s now Germany dictated that all vital statistics on a citizen be recorded, and the art of fraktur began as means by which people could document and preserve important family information.

This form of folk illumination was already a well-established tradition in Alsace and other parts of the Rhineland where it took the form of a Taufschein, a short greeting in verse with illumination recalling the baptism of a child and with only an oblique reference to time and place of the baptism. Its chief purpose was not to record baptism but to convey the wishes of the godparents who sponsored the child.

But Taufschein created later in Pennsylvania had another purpose. It was a formal record of birth as well as of the infant’s baptism. In a land where there was as yet no bureau of vital statistics this certificate became a legal document.. 

Fraktur styles were diverse and varied dramatically between artists. Some fraktur were extravagant documents that draw attention to an artist’s expert skill while others were simple drawings that contained little artistic flair. Most fraktur often had religious themes, though some did have secular ones. Men wrote most fraktur in German text, although they used English text on all types of fraktur after the early 1820s. . 

While Pennsylvania Germans created most fraktur for record keeping, they also made them just for fun. Some schoolmasters created drawings as rewards of merit for their students. Others were simply decorative pieces. Regardless of purpose, fraktur was a personal art that was extremely popular with 19th century rural families of Pennsylvania.

The first Fraktur typeface arose in the early 16th century, when Emperor Maximilian I commissioned the design of the Triumphal Arch woodcut by Albrecht Dürer and had a new typeface created specifically for this purpose, designed by Hieronymus Andreae.

The name Fraktur came from the Latin fractus, meaning “broken.” It was a blackletter typeface—a gebrochene Schrift in German, which meant “broken font”—which the bends of the letters were angular or “broken,” as abrupt changes in stroke direction occur. 

Although its roots lie in medieval Europe, fraktur was an art form that came into its own and flourished amid the Pennsylvania Germans, who brought it with them to the New World.

German-speaking immigrants brought their knowledge of Fraktur lettering to America. Members of the Ephrata Cloister—a religious community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania—produced some of the earliest American fraktur during the 1740s using inks, paints, and paper produced at the Cloister. Pennsylvania Germans made most fraktur between 1740 and 1850 in southeastern Pennsylvania, although many early German immigrants who settled in New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and even Canada made produced fraktur.

The Cloister’s brothers and sisters used fraktur letters to copy scriptures and hymn books. Some of the earliest frakturs done there were quite primitive. The written documents they created weren’t official in nature, but rather represented attempts at basic recordkeeping functions, such as birth and baptismal certificates, and marriage records.

Pennsylvania Germans made fraktur for a variety of reasons. The majority of fraktur were birth and baptismal certificates, called Geburts-und Taufscheine. Some of the many other types of fraktur include writing samples, rewards of merit, house blessings, bookplates, hymnals, New Year’s greetings and love letters.

In order to produce more fraktur in a shorter amount of time, the members of the Ephrata Cloister in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, began using a printing press in the 1780s to produce documents. Nearby cities of Reading, Lancaster, Allentown, Harrisburg, and Hanover soon developed important fraktur printing centers of their own.

Many professional fraktur artists used printed documents to keep up with customer demand. Even so, those living in rural farming communities continued to personalize each printed document. They filled-in customers’ personal information and often handcolored or embellished printed designs.

Pennsylvania German fraktur contained elaborate lettering and colorful drawings, along with intricate borders and scrollwork designs. Artists employed hundreds of different motifs to decorate these documents. Their drawings included vivid illustrations of people, buildings and animals, as well as complicated geometric patterns. The most favored designs were of angels, birds, hearts, and flowers. Some fraktur even depicted mythical creatures such as unicorns or the legendary Wonderfish. The American flag, the bald eagle and other political symbols of the newly formed United States became popular motifs at the beginning of the 19th century.

Prior to 1820, most Pennsylvania Germans belonged to the Lutheran Church or the German Reformed Church. Because of their larger population, followers of the Lutheran Church and the German Reformed Church produced most American fraktur, many of which were either  Geburts or Taufscheine, birth and baptismal certificates.

Berks County, Pennsylvania, families preferred “personalized” forms, and residents held onto the fraktur tradition longer than did neighboring counties. Fraktur artists and itinerants  crisscrossed the county producing birth certificates which by that time now recorded the details of births for vital statistic records. Reading printers created the printed source these artists and scriveners needed to expedite production.

Pennsylvania Germans usually made fraktur for personal use and put them in storage for safekeeping. The personal and religious information recorded on fraktur was of great importance to them. Only a few types of fraktur—such as house blessings or valentines—would have been displayed in their homes. More often, people rolled up fraktur documents and hid them away, pasting them underneath the lids of storage chests or keeping them neatly folded inside books and Bibles.

Fraktur thrived in Pennsylvania German communities for more than a century. By the 1850s, however, interest in fraktur began to decline. Prior to the Civil War, the United States experienced a surge in nationalist pride. With the encouragement of speaking only English,  traditional German-speaking parochial schools and their German schoolmasters, who created many fraktur, soon faded into the past. And baptism, a key force driving the mass-printing of fraktur birth and baptismal certificates, lessened in importance in favor of confirmation.

Ministers and school teachers created most fraktur on paper for individuals, although often more than one artist usually created them. A scrivener, or professional penman, wrote out the text of the document in the Fraktur scrips, then outlined drawings, and added scrollwork. A decorator, who may or may not have been the same person, applied the vibrant colors and motifs that decorated it. 

A variety of instruments filled the fraktur artist’s toolkit. Some of the most important tools included quill pens, brushes, straight edges, compasses, stencils, woodcut stamps, pencils and paper. Fraktur artists used laid paper during the 1700s. Woven paper—which has a smoother surface—became common after 1810. Decorators used imported pigments—carmine, vermilion, umber, gamboge and indigo—to make their colorful inks. They mixed these pigments with various binding substances to create glossy or muted effects. Scriveners usually wrote with iron gall ink—a standard writing ink blended from iron salts and vegetable tannins. Unfortunately, iron gall ink was very acidic and caused many fraktur to deteriorate.

Originally, the inks used to draw fraktur would had been concocted of natural ingredients such as berries, iron oxide and apple juice. However, the acids found in these inks led to deterioration and discoloration, or to brown stains left behind by the iron oxides. 

Perhaps because of these concerns, the Ephrata Cloisters’ fraktur artisans relied mainly on black inks and plainer styles of fraktur without the illumination and decoration of others produced at that time.

Images of the bird or distelfink were common on Pennsylvania German fraktur, and, as with most of the fraktur images, they had symbolic importance. Parakeets typically represented the soul, as people viewed the birds as liaisons between heaven and earth.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The  Vernacular Style" in the 2024 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.