Welcome to the Ruby Stain Museum

Welcome to a small part of the wonderful world of glass. Perhaps discovered by some Phoenician traders sitting around roasting marshmallows at a roaring campfire on a Mediterranean beach and perhaps not, it is a remarkable substance. For example, it is not a solid. The ruby stain museum is devoted to a very small portion of the wonderful world of glass. In the beginning, about ten years ago, there was only this vague idea that I would collect a few pieces of ruby stained glass to "round out" my mother's collection. We have a collection of thousands of pieces, located in separate buildings, functioning as a prototype of a permanent study collection and museum. We have now created this web site as a source of research and information about the subject. Our journey continues.

Glass was first made in the Americas at Jamestown soon after it was founded some 400 years ago. Indeed, Sir Walter Raleigh sent some glass back to England along with tobacco. Beautiful glass, inexpensive glass, useful and usable glass, and handmade glass are all still made in this country and many others. Glass that effectively and efficiently combines all of these properties was only made in this country during the 20 or so years before and after 1900. It is called pattern glass, early American pattern glass, and EAPG. Hundreds of millions of pieces were made. It was shipped far and wide. It can, 100+ years later, be found around the world. It was a major industry in the United States.

Within the world of pattern glass is ruby stained glass. Made to look like very expensive color cased and cut glass or flash glass it was affordable and available, just check your Sears & Roebuck catalog from 1900. My glass cases have lots of fingerprints on them as people reach out to touch the glass. So welcome to the web site, reach out and touch the glass. Look around your real world and you will find it or visit our museum and you can really touch it. Happy hunting.