Cambridge, Ohio (1978 ~ 2014)
John Degenhart started Degenhart Crystal Art Glass in 1947, in Cambridge, Ohio, specializing in handmade pressed glass, primarily art and novelty glassware. After John’s death in 1964, his wife Elizabeth took over the glassmaking operation and ran it until she passed away in 1978. The factory was sold that same year to Bernard C. Boyd and his son Bernard F. Boyd, and was renamed Boyd’s Crystal Art Glass, officially starting business on October 10, 1978.
Some of the glass molds owned and used by Degenhart have also been used in later years by Boyd. However, all of the Boyd-produced pieces are marked with their “B in a diamond” trademark to reflect the change in ownership of the factory.
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Just as their predecessor, Boyd also specialized in entirely handmade art glass including a variety of ornamental and novelty items. Many new molds were produced over the years. Whimseys, covered chicken or “hen-on-nest” dishes (three sizes, including a 5-inch hen, a 3-inch hen, and the smallest one – 2 & 1/2″ in length which is called the “chick salt”), small animal, character and vehicle figurines, open and covered salts, and toothpick holders are made by hand.
As mentioned above, Boyd’s has been very diligent in marking virtually all of their glassware with their “B within a diamond” trademark.
Every five years Boyd’s Crystal Art Glass made a slight change in their identification mark by adding a straight line or letter to the basic B-diamond mark. For more information on dating their glassware, see this archived page illustrating their trademark variations used from 1978 to 2014. (This is a stored “snapshot” of the page, captured on the web.archive.org site (the “Wayback Machine”):
Boydglass.net archived site on the Wayback Machine
The range of colors that have been used for their glassware is staggering, numbering over 300 different shades of color, both single-color, multi-color combos, transparent, carnival, frosted (satin), opalescent and entirely opaque glass. (See the links at their site illustrating the great variety of colors their “chick salt” has been made in over the years!)
Bernard F. Boyd and his wife Sue retired in 2014. The last of their glassware still on hand was sold to a dealer in late 2014.
For some more general information on Boyd’s Crystal Art Glass, check out this webpage article posted on the Glass Encylopedia.com website: Boyd Glass
Boyd’s official website is at https://boydglass.com/ .
ETSY Here is a keyword search for glass items made by Boyd on the etsy.com sales site. This will bring up hundreds of glass pieces made by Boyd that are for sale currently on etsy:
EBAY And here is an ebay search for Boyd Crystal Art glass on that site:
Click here to go to the Glass Bottle Marks, Page One.
Also, please see this page on the “B in a diamond” mark seen on antique aqua utilitarian bottles, a similar mark that was used much earlier by an entirely unrelated firm, Binghamton Glass Company of Binghamton, New York.
Please click here to go to my Home Page.
Click here for some basic information on EAPG (Early American Pattern Glass).
Click here to check out my overview on Depression Glass.
Click here for my article on Carnival Glass.
Check out my article on another well-known manufacturer of handmade art glass: Fenton Art Glass Company.
Webpage about Uranium Glass (Fluorescent glass, Vaseline glass, Depression glass, etc).
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