PITTSBURGH GLASS

American glassware produced from the end of the 18th century at numerous factories in that Pennsylvania city. Pittsburgh had the twin advantages of proximity to a source of cheap fuel (coal) and access to a good waterways system, which afforded an inexpensive means of distribution; thus, of the 50 glasshouses that sprang up in Pennsylvania between 1763 and 1850, 40 or more were situated in Pittsburgh (although of these only 14 produced flint glass, a type of clear crystal, the other 26 making strictly utilitarian items such as windowpanes and cider, beer, and whiskey bottles).