In 1880 Thomas G. Hawkes set up a cutting shop in Corning, NY. He bought handmade blanks from the Corning Glass Company. By 1886 Hawkes was making glass for the White House. In 1889 two of their cut glass patterns won the Grand Prize in the Paris Exposition. All of their pieces were marked after 1895 (with two hawks), the glass is easy to identify.

Thick lead glass,handmade blanks, and the hours of skilled craftsmanship required to hand cut decoration on blanks made cut glass expensive. Whenever there is a high quality product, imitators will follow. Factories making pressed glass made imitations of completely handmade articles. “Near-cut” and “press-cut,” as the imitations were advertised in mail-order catalogues as perfect imitations of popular cut ware. Then, the hand cut glass went out of fashion.

Cut glass has recently come into fashion, Collecting table sets (goblets, wines, sherbets, tumblers, plates, and odd pieces) or single decorative pieces, especially large fruit bowls, is driving demand in the antiques market.

Wow!  I would love to get my hands on this Hawkes Cut Glass Rose Bowl featured in this 1911 T.G. Hawkes & CO. advertisement.

“Give me Glass”, invariably a woman’s preference when the choice is Hawkes Glass.  Cut, Graview, Satin Engraved, Rock Crystal.  The artistic merits of Hawkes make it first in cultivated esteem.  Distinctive designs for all tates from the simplest Xmas candlesticks to sparkling bowls of New Year’s punch.  No piece without this tradement engraved on it is genuine.