42nd Pittsburgh Antiques Show & Sale
When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 18 (early buyers 9-10 a.m.), 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 19
Admission: $5, early buyers $10, free for children 11 and under
Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 164 Fort Couch Road, Bethel Park
Details: 412-734-5279 or pittsburghglassclub.org
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Updated 14 hours ago
Exquisite examples of antique glass barware will shine at the 42nd Pittsburgh Antiques Show and Sale.
Along with a variety of fine antiques and collectibles from 50 dealers and collectors, the event will feature an educational display by show sponsor, the Historical Glass Club of Pittsburgh, which is celebrating 125 years of barware — glass decanters, wine glasses, ice buckets, shot glasses and cocktail shakers — made in Pittsburgh.
The club, with more than 60 members from Pittsburgh and the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, promotes the education, appreciation and history of American glass, with an emphasis on glass manufactured in the Pittsburgh region.
“Vintage barware really has exploded in popularity,” says Martin Fuess, antiques show organizer and member of the historical glass club. “I think this may go hand-in-hand with a return to cocktail parties and more formal dinners. But antiques in general are doing well; the trick is to anticipate what the buying public is interested in at any given time.”
Fuess says every major glass company from the late 1790s through the early 20th century in Pittsburgh had a component of their business that dealt with hotel and barware.
“When you consider that by 1880, almost three-fourths of the glass produced in the U.S. was made in Pittsburgh, that gives you some sense of the enormity of the industry,” he says.
Kathy Roth, a member of the Historical Glass Club, is among club members who will provide pieces from her collection for the display, including an antique Pittsburgh Pillar Mold bar bottle with a marble top and decanter, made by Bakewell and McKee Bros., and an 1874 John Bull Tavern Shaker made by Atterbury Glass Co.
“Long before steel made Pittsburgh famous, the world looked to Pittsburgh for its glass needs,” Roth says.
Representatives of several regional museums also will be on hand to showcase their examples of historic glassware, including the Duncan & Miller Glass Museum from Washington, Pa., and the National Imperial Glass Museum of Bellaire, Ohio.
Kurt Shaw, Tribune-Review art critic and owner of Shaw Galleries in Pittsburgh, will offer fine art appraisals.
The antiques show and sale will include artwork, furniture, lamps and lighting, ephemera, Early American Pattern Glass, art glass, Depression glass, pottery, primitives, toys, books, vintage clothing, linens, jewelry and more.
“We have many of the public's favorite dealers returning again this year, but we are also fortunate to have many new dealers,” Fuess says. New exhibitors to the show include fine jewelry from Andrews Estate Treasures of Cleveland, Ohio, an assortment of antiques by Karen Hill at Wagon Wheel Antiques, and antique artwork and engravings from Pittsburgh Galleries.
“We hope that everyone visiting the show will find a little something to take home with them and also learn just a bit about what they have purchased. The history and the research behind an antique is half the fun,” he says.
Candy Williams is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.
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