Degenhart Glass - "Crystal Art Glass", Cambridge, Ohio
John and Elizabeth Degenhart opened the Crystal Art Glass Company in 1947 in Cambridge, Ohio. They made hand formed paperweights but also made small novelty items primarily to stock their gift shop attached to the factory building. Some of these novelty items were iridized but probably by another factory that had the right equipment to do so. Moulds used by Degenhart were first marked with a capital "D" inside a circle and then they moved to a capital "D" inside a heart.

John died in 1964 and Elizabeth took over running the company. On October 2, 1975, Governor James A. Rhodes of Ohio proclaimed that day to be ELIZABETH DEGENHART-FIRST LADY OF GLASS DAY.

A museum commemorating the work of the Degenhart's was opened. After Elizabeth's death, the Degenhart Paperweight Museum of Cambridge Ohio, commissioned glass items to be made by the Mosser Glass Company. To identify pieces made for the museum's gift shop, an underline was added to the Degenhart mark. Mrs. Degenhart personnally collected over 4,000 glass paperweights until her death in 1978 and these formed the bulk of the museum's exhibits. In Oct. 2011, the museum closed and some of the collection, including the paperweights, moved to the Museum of American Glass in Weston, W.V.

At the time of Elizabeth's death, an employee of the company, Bernard Boyd, bought the company and its facilities including the moulds and opened the Boyd Glass Company. The Degenhart marks were removed from the moulds and replaced with Boyd marks.


Above are pieces made by the Degenhart Glass Company and also by Mosser for the Degenhart Museum. The pink tomahawk is only 3 3/4 inches long. The Degenhart mark is underlined to denote it was made by Mosser. Several of these pieces can be seen in the ad to the left.
For more information on Degenhart Glass,

see Lloyd Reichel's books entitled "Modern Carnival Glass Collectors Book I" and "Modern Carnival Glass Collectors Book II".

See article written in December 1991 CCGA newsletter