Stiegel Glass Views

stiegel glass

HAVING not long ago presented to the Metropolitan Museum in New York an interesting and valuable collection of Colonial glass produced in Pennsylvania in the latter half of the eighteenth century by Henry William Stiegel, Mr. Hunter now comes forward with an excellent biography of Stiegel, which includes a full account of his career as a glass manufacturer.

stiegel glass

Nelson began his talk at the most logical starting point, the American colonies. Since the British viewed the colonies as suppliers of raw materials and a market for finished goods, American glass companies were slow to start and few and far between, Nelson said, with only a couple glassmakers such as Henry William Stiegel standing out from the European-dominated market.

stiegel glass

Stiegel glass is in fact bitterly contested today, as certain pieces were unmarked and history revealed that large quantities of what was previously deemed Stiegel glass was actually European-manufactured and almost worthless. I also found that the glass was particularly interesting given the wild personality of its maker; Nelson told of Stiegel's extravagant lifestyle. According to some, he was known to have his servants fire cannons whenever he left the house.

stiegel glass

You are absolutely right about the very dangerous consequences of the repeal of the Glass Stiegel Act, as well as the repeal or lack of enforcement of other New Deal measures that protected our economy and consumers for the last several decades. The most recent example is the repeal in 2005 of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935. These laws were passed to prevent the recurrence of economically disastrous activities of banks, utility companies and others that led to the Great Depression Over the last several years, they have been derided as antiquated statutes that strangle the economy. In reality, they were providing needed restraints on corporations that left to their own devices and driven by their own greed could destroy our present economy just as they did in 1929. This is precisely what we are witnessing today.

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