Possible Rawson and Evans?

[Bob Hovanec]

A guy from the local hardware brought over a piece of glass today that looks like it could be a Rawson and Evans piece. I looked through a catalog that I had around and I couldn't find anything exact, but it looked similar to what I have seen of their work. Here is a picture of the piece...

[Robare M. Novou]

Hey Bob, how thick is the glass? White Acid Etched or Sandblasted?

It looks like it could be an R&E, some of the elements in the design are in some of the Sash and Door Hardware Catalogs I have, especially that Chicago concern of John A. Gauger & Co. and their Catalog of 1898. You might have a copy, as I got my mine from Jeff Lang.

R&E supplied a lot of these types of Lights (windows for walls and doors) to many sash and door makers in Chicago and the Midwest.

RMN

[Patrick Mackle]

Nice piece. Hard to tell who originated these types of theme windows. I have seen a few in my career. I have noticed they generally have a center framed design motif of a theme like a harvest or a hunt that draws your attention like a story. Then the outer boarder is sometimes a random design that fills the background. I believe this device of the random background allowed for the stock sized design to be cut down in dimension to fit in a door or window. A sort of one-size-fits-all product that still kept a main focus theme.
They are mostly sand blasted, and I believe they were mass produced. Many have slight "pecks" of sand blasting in the clear areas were the resist was thin enough to let some grit strike the glass. I think some were screen printed with resist made of reduced india gum rubber or thinned animal glue. Some may have been made using a crude photo based resist like the one mention in the R&E catalog.
Back in 1981 I received a phone call from a company back east that was selling a large cash of paper art drawings for doing these photo etchings. Some where for shower doors with swans. They only wanted to sell the whole collection as one, and I did not see them as a good investment back then.
Pat

[Jeff Lang]

Bob,
Great piece of glass, thanks for showing.
Rob has a good idea with the Gauger catalog, I'll have a look tomorrow.
Who ever made this piece did a remarkable job.
Jeff

[Bob Hovanec]

Robare, the glass is 1/8" thick, sandblasted, actual size 20" x 24"