Responses from collectors - please drop a line to glassmaster@pre-pro.com to have your comments added:
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My thought as to the history/mystery of
the glass: might this pre-pro shot glass date from 1898, or possibly close to
that time? American publishers Hearst and Pulitzer fanned the flames of anti-Spanish sentiment in the United States for many years while Cuba was fighting wars for freedom from Spain. When the USS Maine blew up in Havana harbor in February of 1898, Spain was immediately blamed. Anti-Spanish sentiment reached a fevered pitch in the U.S., and a war cry was sounded and repeated: "Remember the Maine! To Hell with Spain!" The United States declared war on Spain soon after, in April of 1898. From the etching on this glass, it appears that only the Spanish language was to be spoken in Hell henceforth (and that only Spanish people were being provided with seats in the Devil's realm! : ) This glass seems to illustrate quite well the second line of the 1898 war chant, "To Hell with Spain," and so I believe this glass might be an etched, visual display of U.S. history, one directly linked to 1898's war cry, " Remember the Maine! To Hell with Spain!". From Marion Noble. |