“Our best wishes for every / Glassmanufactory in the united States / God bless the City of Boston” is engraved in elegant, round hand lettering on one side of this impressive tumbler. The opposite side records: “Made at the Glassmanufactory / New Bremen in Maryland the 23 Jan. 1789 / by John Fr. Amelung & Comp.” The message documents the aspirations of the American glass industry immediately following the Revolutionary War as well as the efforts of one of its most ardent proponents: John Frederick Amelung. Amelung learned the glassmaking business in his native Germany. Suspecting a lucrative opportunity abroad, he made arrangements in the early 1780s to acquire a failed glass factory just outside Frederick, Maryland, and began sending tools and craftsmen. In 1784 he arrived in Maryland and formally established the New Bremen Glass Manufactory, named after his hometown of Bremen, Germany. Glasshouses were expensive to operate, and their prices were often undercut by imports from larger and more well-established factories in England and Europe. Amelung understood the financial precariousness of his business and in 1787 published a pamphlet that articulated the need for tax exemptions and interest-free government loans to ensure the longevity of the American glass industry. Concurrently in Boston in 1787, a group of merchants formed the Boston Crown Glass Company. Amelung created this large engraved tumbler as a symbolic token of support for the new firm. No record of its presentation survives, but on October 1, 1789, the treasurer of the Boston Crown Glass Company authorized a payment of one pound, ten shillings sterling, “in Sending an Express to Mr. Amelung at the Town of Fredericks, Maryland.” This was, presumably, an acknowledgment or reciprocal gift. With its masterful engraving and message of camaraderie, this tumbler reflects Amelung’s devotion to the success of the American glass industry.