Welcome
Ian Simmonds is an independent scholar and antiques dealer specializing in the history and interpretation of 19th Century American glass.
Ian also sells to advanced collectors and museums, both privately and at leading shows. He lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Ian can be contacted at 
Meissen copies of American pressed glass
From as early as the 1920s, glass scholars have sought to account for versions of American pressed glass made in fine porcelain at the Meissen factory in Dresden. Designs correspond quite closely, suggesting that the porcelain was the model for the glass, or vice versa.
Published research about Meissen contained no answers for the questions of American glass scholars. In this absence, reverence for Meissen's 18th century porcelain led Ruth Webb Lee and others to tentatively assume that American designs were "apparently copied" from Meissen.
In 1987 the debate was finally settled with the translation into English of Joachim Kunze's study of the subject. Not only were the Meissen products based on North American pressed glass models, but Meissen had been eagerly producing porcelain copies of cut glass prototypes since as early as 1831.
| Meissen Porcelain designed from glass patterns (1831 to 1855) Joachim Kunze. The Glass Club Bulletin 153:3-7 (Fall 1987) Introduction by Jane Shadel Spillman. |
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| The definitive articles on the topic, based upon archival research in the State Archives in Dresden. | |
| Meissen Porcelain designed from glass patterns (1831 to 1855), Part II Joachim Kunze. The Glass Club Bulletin 154:3-10 (Winter 1987/8) |
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| The conclusion of the article. | |
| Sandwich Glass Ruth Webb Lee. Lee Publications. Northborough, Massachusetts. Fifth Edition, 1947. First published in 1939. | |
| Plate 152 illustrates a dish based upon the base of the covered dish discussed on this site. | |