Hand-Made Decanter

Today’s Museum Monday treasure from the Museum of American Glass in WV is a massive hand-made decanter with cobalt decoration and massive stopper. It stands 15 ½” high. It has a foil label: “GLASS BY / KENWORTH / WM. A. MEIER.” This presents a bit of a mystery. William A. Meier had something of a glass empire in Rochester, Pennsylvania, becoming one of the major producers of American mid-century modern glass designs, with two large factories, William A. Meier Glass Company and Beaver Valley Glass Company, running concurrently for years, while also being involved in many other endeavors – but who or what was Kenworth
A good guess would be that there is a connection with William Meier’s son, Kenneth Meier, who became Vice President and then President of William A. Meier Glass Company in the early 1960s, before reorganizing the company as the Moderne Glass Company in 1969. There is no indication that Kenneth himself made glass himself nor were there any of the other Meier ventures that involved what we would consider the work of a studio glass artist. Hence the mystery – but that’s what research is all about, isn’t it? Someday the answer will be found. Meanwhile, enjoy this beautiful decanter.