The history of tea and its dispersion is not entirely known nor clearly understood, but it appears the first tea appeared in China at least as early as 350 BC. Eventually, tea drinking would expand across the world, to North and South America, Europe, India, Africa, and Japan.

In its earliest imported form, tea was considered a delicacy, highly prized and extremely expensive. Early tea caddies were made of wood (e.g., mahogany, walnut, and rosewood). They were equipped with lock and key to protect the precious contents.

Tea’s worldwide range led to many antique tea-related instruments for storage, brewing, and serving. Teapots came into use in China during the Ming Dynasty in the 16th century. Prior to the advent of the teapot, tea leaves were either chewed or ground into a powder that was mixed with hot water in tea bowls. The tea bag wasn’t invented until the 20th century, according to an article from NPR.
In China, tea was a celebratory and somewhat formal drink on occasions such as weddings and other family gatherings. A full tea set would include at least the teapot, teacups, tea strainer, kettle tray, and tea leaf holder.

The East India Co. in China had a monopoly in worldwide tea distribution until the 1830s and, like most monopolies, was able to name its price. Once tea started to be imported beyond China, prices began to moderate.

Teapot History

Earliest teapots from China were made of fired clay. The first European teapots were made of silver and looked like coffee pots, coffee also having reached Great Britain in the early 17th century, according to the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Porcelain teapots came into vogue later in the 17th century in China, which exported the form to Europe. Silver and other metal mounts “were also used to mask cracks or breakages to the handles, finials and spouts, caused by the perilous sea journey,” according to the museum.

By the 16th century, Japanese potters had moved the handle from the side to the top of the teapot, and most of these top handles were made of woven plant materials such as bamboo and reed. These were inherently non-durable, so most such handles are either missing or replaced with later materials.

Tea Strainers

Utensils called “mote spoons” came into vogue in the 17th and 18th centuries. Steeped tea could be poured through the perforated spoon, which would strain out the tea leaves. These spoons, which had long handles, weren’t entirely successful at keeping out the leaves from the cup. Thus, they gave way fairly soon to other forms of tea strainer that kept the leaves enclosed and away from the tea water.

Tea strainers as we would eventually come to recognize them were a 17th-century invention. They eventually came in a variety of shapes, but the earliest ones were ball-shaped. Tea strainers consist of screening to enclose the leaves, keeping them away from the hot water in which they are steeping.

This year, the American Stretch Glass Society celebrates its 50th anniversary (stretchglasssociety.org). The group holds an annual convention and show, this year scheduled for Aug. 15-17 at Comfort Inn in Denver, PA, the place where the Society was founded. It also holds regular educational programs via Zoom on various stretch glass topics, makers, and types. Log on to its web site and check it out!

On this golden anniversary year for the Stretch Glass Society, I thought stretch glass would be a great topic for my regular “Good Eye” column this month. Although the very first stretch glass was produced in lamp shade forms in 1912, this glass type didn’t become available in a variety of other forms until 1916. Some of those forms included bowls, vases, plates, candlesticks, beverage sets, and perfume bottles (Plates were made starting with a basic vase shape and then flattening it out). Early stretch glass is distinguished from other Depression era glass by its lengthier and more complicated two-stage production process.

Stretch glass was produced by spraying a metallic salt mix on the glass while it was still hot and then reheating and reshaping (stretching) it, which caused thousands of minute striations, most visible on the edge or lip of the form. This glass was made in pressed or mould-blown patterns that are usually (though not always) undecorated and un-patterned. American Stretch glass is no longer being produced, so examples today can only be found at auction, in antique shops, or elsewhere on the secondary market.

Stretch glass was produced by several companies, at least some of which will be familiar to readers of this column: Central Glass Works (Wheeling, WV); Diamond Glass-Ware Co. (Indiana, PA); Fenton Art Glass Co. (Williamstown, WV); Imperial Glass Co. (Bellaire, OH); Jeannette Glass Co. (Jeannette, PA); Lancaster Glass Co. (Lancaster, OH); H. Northwood & Co. (Wheeling, WV); United States Glass (Pittsburgh, PA); and Vineyard Flint Glass Works (Vineland, NJ). Some of these ceased glass production earlier than others; Northwood, for example, closed in 1925.

When seen in the wild, many of the forms of stretch glass made by different companies look so similar that specific manufacturers can be difficult to tag. For example, Fenton, Northwood, and Cambridge all made a very similar tall, footed candy jar, in a style sometimes referred to as “Colonial,” which are only subtly distinguishable from one another. The diagnostic difference between Fenton jars and the nearly identical ones made by Northwood are that Fenton has a straight lid lip while Northwood’s is indented at the top of the lip and has a cover mould seam on the right of the raised ray that appears left of the ray on Northwood. Those made by Cambridge are distinguishable by two narrow rings just above the panels and lack the ribs between panels that are found in the Fenton and Northwood examples. Early Fenton examples of this candy jar were done in stretch glass.

While most stretch glass colors were in clear, iridized form, US Glass made some opaque examples, with lesser quantities and types of opaque stretch also made by Northwood. It’s sometimes difficult to see the stretch effect in these opaque forms.

Old kitchenware, from pots and pans to small utensils such as mixing spoons, large draining spoons, jar openers, egg beaters, and so on, is not only an affordable option for collectors but is also usable and practical in modern kitchens. Many of these were better made than their modern equivalents, which is why the older versions have lasted in the preferences of today’s cooks.

Mom preferred the various small kitchen utensils she found on the secondary market. Many of these, such as large cooking spoons and egg beaters, had wooden handles, usually painted red or green. One of the most useful items she passed on to me was a jar opener that I often use today to remove stubbornly clinging jar lids. This item was also made with green handles as well as red. Items with the paint on handles in good condition are especially sought.

Mom had a special fondness for antique egg beaters, which appeared in antique shops in a surprising array of styles – and, yes, she still used many of them until she passed. She especially liked old graters and beaters that were screwed onto glass containers that could collect what was being chopped or ground.

Guys, too!

My dad was also fond of working in the kitchen, years before cooking became popular among men. His favorite utensils were cast iron frying pans of various sizes from the very small to the very large. His favorite brand was Griswold, manufactured in Erie, PA, for almost a hundred years, from 1865 to 1957. Wagner is another brand of old iron skillets popular with collectors. Prices today on old cast iron pans can be in the low three figures.

Keeping cast iron pans in good shape is a surprising, if easy, challenge in a process we probably wouldn’t dare use with modern cookware. Dad always took preemptive charge of cleaning these pans after use because Mom was obsessed with using dishwater to clean them, which Dad said increased the chance for rust in the iron and also caused food to stick to the heated surface when the pan was next used. Dad simply dry-wiped the pans clean after use so that a film of oily patina remained on the surface. After my dad used these pans and retained their patina, food never stuck to them. If my mother had gotten to cleaning the pan first her way, he’d season it with oil before putting it away (we never got sick!).

Kitchen Pottery

Not everything made in the past for kitchen use was made in metal. Pottery was popular in everything from kitchen mixing bowls to cannister sets.

Some of the oldest of the mixing bowls were yellowware, sometimes accented with a wide, colored stripe near the rim. Other examples of pottery and ceramic kitchenware included cannister sets for ready access to basic ingredients such as flour, sugar, coffee, tea, or salt (Some cannister sets could also be found in metals such as tin, and these were often quite a bit more colorful than the ceramic versions).