1876

Wine glass

This wineglass is part of a "Centennial Set", which is comprised of a decanter and thirty-eight wineglasses. The set took highest honors for cut glass at the Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876. After the Centennial, the Museum received the set as a gift from the Dorflinger Glass Company. It was the first American glass to enter the Museum's collections.

Each wineglass represents one of the thirty-eight states in the Union at the time of the 1876 Centennial, and is engraved with its crest, its motto, and the name of its governor.

This glass represents South Carolina, which was ratified as a state on May 23, 1788. The state has a two-part motto, “ANIMIS OPIBUSQUE PARATI” (Prepared in Mind and Resources) and “DUM SPIRO SPERO,” (While I Breathe, I Hope) though only the former is inscribed on the wineglass. The governor in 1876 was Daniel H. Chamberlain.