Green glass and silver; blown. Bell-shape bowl of greenish bubbly glass attached by a wafer to a solid "capstan shape" stem; attached to a spherical hollow knop enclosing a silver medal; attached to a round domed foot with folded rim; rough pontil mark.

In 1797, the first glasshouse west of the Alleghenies was built in New Geneva, Pennsylvania. It was financed by Albert Gallatin, who had come to Pennsylvania from Geneva, Switzerland, in 1780. By the time his factory opened, Gallatin owned large properties in the western part of the state and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He later served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Thomas Jefferson and as minister to France and to Great Britain. The large drinking glass shown here was made at Gallatin’s glasshouse. It contains a silver “achievement” medal from the College of Geneva in Switzerland, from which Gallatin graduated in 1779. The goblet descended in the family of Charles Alexandre Mestrezat, one of Gallatin’s relatives.