“Pressed” Jenny Lind Bowl

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101. The Press

A few years ago we resurrected an old glass press from West Virginia. It was built around 1880 and likely used by Fenton Glass.

The Pour

As we poured molten glass into the mold for our first test piece, we read the words “punch” and “custard” on the rim of the mold…

The company that sold us the press gave us a vintage mold to “practice with.” They picked a random mold from a pile, but it was more meaningful than they knew…

The Mold

The name engraved in the metal that caught our Swedish co-owner’s eye: Jenny Lind! She’s known as the Swedish Nightingale, a talented opera singer in the 19th century who made a fortune from her singing, and toured around America with PT Barnum.

The Name

In 1956, this design appeared in Cambridge Glass’s catalog, in honor of Jenny Lind. It sold as a “Custard Bowl,” which was fancy at the time, and in this same mold they could switch one part out and create a handle on the bowl, which became the “Punch Cup.”

Cambridge Glass sold the 13-piece Jenny Lind Punch Set for $15 in 1956 - about $165 today!

The Custard Bowl

Today, this bowl sees the light again, at the AO Glass factory in Burlington, Vermont. We use high quality lead-free crystal glass, but other than that, the technique is not too different than it was 100 years ago.

Brought to life

A retro design, harkening back to the heyday of American glass-pressing, and celebrating creativity and music. A dramatic entrance for Jenny Lind into the 21st century.

Vintage made modern