January 2003 News from Readers

Oops. We should have credited David G. Smith, also known as the “Pan Man,” for the information about two Griswold fakes we ran in our November issue (p. 29). The warnings were originally published in the July-August 2002 issue of Smith’s newsletter, Kettles ‘n Cookware.

From a reader in Plainfield, Wisconsin: Help! I accidentally knocked my mother’s cut glass cruet off a shelf. The stopper broke off at the base, and the base is stuck in the neck of the cruet. The cruet itself is cracking in a U shape from the neck to the bottom. Is there some way I can get the base of the stopper out without further damaging the cruet? The monetary value of the cruet is gone, and you can no longer use it at the table. The stopper may come out if you run hot water on the outside of the neck, but the hot water could also enlarge the crack. If you want to keep the cruet on the shelf as a sentimental piece, you can restore its appearance. We would glue the top of the stopper back in place, then perhaps rub a little clear glue into the crack in the cruet. Write down what you know about the cruet, including how it was damaged, and be sure the history stays with this family heirloom when it moves to another home.

A Farmington, New Mexico, reader wants to give our readers information about her family’s furniture business: I am a subscriber and the great-granddaughter of an early Louisville, Kentucky, furniture manufacturer. The factory, built in the 1870s, made furniture in Eastlake and Renaissance Revival styles. Pieces were stamped “WF Co.” or had paper labels that said “Wrampelmeier Furniture Factory.” The firm sold furniture in 38 states, the Utah Territory, and the District of Columbia. One piece I own is unique-a 6-foot-high “silver chest” with an outer case of mahogany and an inner lining of camphor wood so silver inside will not tarnish.