Sandwich Glass Patterns

by Kathy Eickholt

Several glass companies made Sandwich glass and it can be challenging to tell their patterns apart.

Lacy swirls of scrolls and flowers were pattern motifs from the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company in the 1800s. While little glass from this era survives today, the spirit lives on in glass made from the 1930s through 1980s by companies such as Duncan & Miller, Hocking Sandwich Anchor Hocking and Indiana Glass. These companies acknowledged the Boston & Sandwich Company by calling patterns with similar motifs Sandwich glass.

With the number of patterns, all called Sandwich, how can the collector tell them apart? Here are a few easy tips.

The flowers in Anchor Hocking's Sandwich pattern (at left)are the only ones with double lines around the flower petals. In fact, a customer told me this was called "Double Sandwich." It's an easy way to remember! The scrolls are more scrunched together than other patterns, but unless you Indiana Sandwich have others to compare, just remember the double lines. Hocking made Sandwich in crystal, Ruby Red and Forest Green, and you can find some pieces in amber, white and pink.

Indiana's Sandwich (at right)comes in many colors because Indiana sold it in a rainbow of colors through their Tiara party plan in the 1970s and 1980s. Tiara's Sandwich was mostly the same pattern that Indiana sold originally in the late 1920s and 1930s. Indiana's Sandwich is pretty, with graceful long scrolls between simple flowers. The scrolls do not Duncan Sandwich touch in the middle. It's probably easiest to tell Indiana by deciding it is not Anchor Hocking or Duncan & Miller.

Duncan & Miller's Early American Sandwich glass (at left) is the best made and highest quality glass of these three. It was a long-running staple of Duncan & Miller until 1955 and was made in a full table service plus fascinating incidental pieces such as baskets and epergnes. To identify Duncan's glass, look where the scrolls come together. If there is a horizontal diamond connecting the scrolls, it is Duncan's Sandwich. A similar pattern is Princess Feather from Westmoreland, which has an oval connector instead of a diamond.

Webmaster's NOTE: The NDGA wishes to thank the author for permission to use this article. Kathy is a dealer from Midland, Michigan. Her web site is Cat Lady's Glass.