NEARCUT Patterns
by Phyllis Smith
Issue 32, December 1975
As you know, Cambridge made many pressed patterns in their NEARCUT Line during their early years. It is hard to find any glass more beautiful than this early NEARCUT. But finding it can sometimes be a problem, especially if the piece is not marked - and we know that much of it was not.
Below are pictured just three of the more confusing patterns. Figure 1 as most of you know, is the #2660 Wheat Sheaf pattern. It is fairly easy to recognize, and it is even more so, if you remember that there is always an Arch over the wheat sheafs of Cambridge pieces. The new glass being made today by The Imperial Glass Co. resembles very closely this Cambridge pattern, but does not have this arch.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 2, NEARCUT Specialties Design #2696, is an absolutely gorgeous pattern and as you can see, is very much like Wheat Sheaf - the difference being the "fork prongs" (at least that's what they look like to many of us) across the top of the Arch. Of course there are other differences you can see as you study the pattern, but this seems to be the most outstanding feature for identification. To help in more easily distinguishing this pattern, it has been nicknamed "Forks". Not many pieces have been found to date.
Figure 3, NEARCUT Design #2694, has a nickname also. We call it "Spoons", since the main part of the pattern closely resembles spoon handles. It does not resemble Wheat Sheaf as much as the Forks pattern, but is close enough that we think of them as being very similar. This too, is not an easy pattern to find.
The pieces we have in Spoons and Forks pattern are not marked. The pieces we have in Wheat Sheaf are all marked but one. All this can mean to anyone is that they did not mark everything. So, you must study hard and be able to recognize your patterns, if you are going to make that really exciting find.