Jamestown Glasshouse Collectible Lapel Pin

Glassblowing was one of the Jamestown colonists' first attempts at industrialization and manufacturing in America. In 1608, the Virginia Company of London brought several German and Polish glassblowing artisans to Jamestown, Virginia to set up glassworks in the new colony. This first attempt was not successful. Later, in 1622, the Company would again attempt to manufacture glass with Italian glassblowers, but this attempt failed also.

In 1954, the ruins of the long-abandoned glass furnaces were discovered in Jamestown. Years later, an operating 17th century style glass house was reconstructed near the ruins. Today, this site has become an interpretive glassblowing facility. Modern-day artisans dressed in colonial glassblowing garb produce masterful pieces of glass, much as the colonists did almost 400 years ago.

This pin measures approximately 1 inch by 1 1/4 inches.