W.J. Hughes Corn Flower Glass - 21st in Canadiana Collectibles Series
Hughes Corn Flower Glass, a Canadian tradition for over 75 years! A popular pattern of etched, hand cut glassware, it became a staple in homes and a perennial favourite wedding gift that has been passed down through several generations in many Canadian households.
William John "Jack" Hughes was born in 1881. Employed by Roden Bros Silversmiths as a silver-measurer, when Roden added glassware to their line, Jack Hughes learned how to cut glass in 1907. He began to cut his own glass blanks in his basement workshop in his home in 1912 and by 1914 he left Roden and was on the road visiting shops in the Toronto and small-town Ontario townships to sell his wares. W.J. Hughes was born!
For over 30 years, Jack Hughes would cut glassware blanks in his basement workshop, getting his "blanks" delivered by the barrel from manufacturers in the United States. Prior to World War II most of his blanks were supplied by Fostoria, Imperial Glass, West Virginia Glass Specialties, New Martinsville, Tiffin Glass, Heisey, Lancaster, Duncan & Miller, Paden City and Indiana Glass.
Imperial Glass Company was the most consistent source of blanks. Established in 1901 in Ohio, they introduced "candlewick" in 1936 and Hughes items with the distinctive ball edging are very popular with collectors today.
Here is an example of "candlewick" in Hughes Corn Flower salt & pepper shakers. Candlewick was Imperial Pattern Line #400. Candlewick was produced for over 50 years.
In 1945, Phillip "Pete" Kayser joined the company, Jack Hughes' son-in-law, and they entered into an official partnership in 1948 when the company name became W.J. Hughes & Sons and they built a factory on Kenwood Ave Toronto. In 1951 Jack Hughes died suddenly of a heart attack when he was 70. Pete took over the business and began expanding the product lines and marketing worldwide. He built a new bigger factory on Tycos Drive in Toronto to meet the growth in sales. In an exclusive arrangement, Supreme Aluminum Products of Scarborough Ontario made aluminum trays decorated with the Corn Flower pattern, and Federal Glass in the USA made milk glass ovenware decorated with a painted blue Corn Flower pattern as a complement line to the Hughes glassware.
For a period during and after WWII, Hughes had to source glassware blanks from Europe due to a shortage of product in the USA. Some items from this time period have yellowed due to metal components NOT in some of the European glassware.
Many glassware companies did a version of the Corn Flower etched pattern. One tip for identifying Hughes Corn Flower is to count the petals. As a rule of thumb, there are 12 fringed petals on Hughes. This only varied if the item was too small to etch the entire flower or he used the 3 petal or single bud version of the flower.
The ashtray (above) shows a 12 petal Corn Flower design.
My mother's Hughes Corn Flower creamer and open sugar bowl set. Note the decorative handles and scalloped top rim edges. I do not know the producer of these blanks.
Very early examples of Hughes' flowers are large with small cross-hatched centres. Soon he made the flowers smaller and the centres more proportional to the flower size.
Early Hughes Corn Flower was heavily etched, filling up most of the smooth areas of the glass. This began to be modified around the Depression Era to less etching on the surface of the glass, reducing the time it took to cut and keeping costs down.
A 1950's to 60's era dish, with period shaping and simple Corn Flower decor.
R.G "Bobby" Sherriff became a cutting apprentice to Jack Hughes in 1923. He left Hughes in 1940 and set up his own successful shop in Toronto. Unfortunately, he also put out the Corn Flower pattern and his labels were much like the Hughes' labels, right down to the shape and colour. Since the hand cut glass could not be copyrighted, the labels he used led to a law suit and he was ordered to discontinue use of these labels.
An example of the R.G Sherriff Corn Flower cut glass, in an ashtray with a rippled/shaped top edge and sporting the original foil label of the company.
Pete Kayser continued with the W.J. Hughes & Sons production well into the 1980's. Though demand remained steady, the companies who supplied the blanks from the USA all closed in the early 1980's. With reduced production due to the shortage of blanks, the factory on Tycos Drive was sold in 1985 and Hughes operated for another 3 years from Concord Ontario until ultimate closure in 1988.
The DCMA (Dufferin County Museum & Archives) located at Hwy 89 and Airport Road in Mulmur Township in Ontario houses the largest public collection of Hughes Corn Flower with more than 1200 pieces and exhibits every year between mid-January to mid-August along with a Corn Flower Festival held in June of every summer.
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I am so looking for info on the 8 petal cornflower. Could I get a history on it please. I do have a couple peaces and am curious about it.
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