In the late 1800s to 1914 American glass makers produced dazzling cut crystal with lead content as high as 50% and with intricate geometric motifs that won international prizes. We call this American Brilliant Period glass. (Helpful website here) Extremely expensive due to the immense amount of labor needed from skilled artisans this cut glass spawned many less costly imitators. One is prescut, a term I’m using here as a catchall for glass that combines pressed techniques with cut as well as patterns that use the same motifs but are solely pressed. Many of the patterns incorporate “Prescut” in their names, but not all.
This post is to show how “prescut” glass evolved over 60+ years and to clarify the difference between early “prescut” and the later patterns.
Early 1920s Glass Combining Pressed and Cut Designs
Several glass companies made pieces similar to this creamer. I believe this particular one is from McKee. The leaves are pressed while the flower blossoms are gray cut. You can find pieces like this, particularly creamers and sugars, with several variations on how much of the pattern is cut vs. pressed. Sometimes these are called “Innovation Cut” or have “Prescut” in the name or description.
Here is a very similar creamer, this time from Jenkins Glass.
McKee, Jenkins and possibly Imperial are three companies that made this type of glass. The pieces are quite heavy and thick.
Imperial and McKee Pressed Glass from 1914 – Prescut, Newcut
Around the same time as the Innovation cut, both Imperial and McKee made pressed glass with highly intricate designs modeled after the American Brilliant glassware which was much more costly. You can find many patterns with the syllable “tec” or “cut” in their names, for example Aztec, Fintec, Rotec from McKee or Nucut (with various line numbers) from Imperial. Replacements has some excellent line drawings that show these, and there are reference books on pressed glass patterns that can help. Be aware that Imperial and later Kemple made milk glass in this style as well as crystal and transparent colors.
This oval bowl and the Imperial Amelia gold pitcher below are good examples. At first glance you might think these are cut as the glass is thick and sparkly and the arch, miter, hobstar and crosshatching are typical Brilliant period cut motifs. However, if you feel it you can see that the cuts are smooth on the edges, unlike cut glass. Many of these will have the Imperial or Nucut mark.
At one point I had many pieces of this type of glassware but unfortunately do not have photos of more than a few items. These are heavy, thick glass with jagged rims that all too often get nicked on the inner edge. You can find bowls or vases in many estate sales and antique malls.
This punch set is a good example of the fancy designs. It is large, and even if you stored the cups and base inside the bowl is impractical for many homes.
Olive dishes or small condiment/relish bowls or comports are common. You might find iridescent pieces, especially vases.
1940s and 1950s Anchor Hocking Stars and Bars, Line 1000
Of course many depression era and later patterns copied some of the geometric motifs and somewhat resemble cut glass but they are pressed. One of the 1940s patterns from Anchor Hocking is Line 1000, Stars and Bars. Notice the arched miters and stars.
1960s and 1970s Anchor Hocking’s Early American Prescut
One of Anchor Hocking’s most popular and enduring patterns is Early American Prescut. This is purely pressed glass and there is no cut motif nor hand work. At one time I found pieces in every sale, thrift store, flea market and antique mall we visited.
This bowl shows the design: Simple 10-pointed hobstars and arched miters and simple stars. Mostly you’ll see crystal but there are also avocado, amber, light blue, milk glass, all typical colors from the era.
EAPC is a large pattern with many pieces, mostly items for serving but you can find plates and tumblers, and a cup for the snack set. But it is a nice pattern if you want a bit of sparkle in study glass for bowls, relish dishes, trays, cruets, shakers, creamer and sugar and many more.
Years ago we used to see tons of this pattern in hardware stores that sold housewares and people often got the gift set – creamer, sugar, butter with lid, small relish, salt and pepper shakers and cruet – for wedding gifts, quite often multiples of the item!
Anchor Hocking made a couple similar patterns, also with “Prescut” in their names, Pineapple Prescut shown below and an another dubbed Oatmeal Prescut.
Summary
I hope this short post shows the difference between the early “prescut” designs with included some cut features along with pressed motifs and the later glass patterns that are fully pressed.