Carriage Tour

Don Berkebile, in his extraordinary and classic work, CARRIAGE TERMINOLOGY: A HISTORICAL DICTIONARY, tells us that a vehicle such as the one pictured here was called a Glass Coach in order to distinguish it from a Hackney Coach (or public coach). The vehicle would have been used for only the most important or ceremonial occasions and obviously owned only by the wealthiest of families. Such a coach would have been highly uncommon in America. This vehicle was manufactured in Scotland by G. Glascow in about 1895. The gilded ornamentation on this coach is obviously beautiful; however, one wonders why so square a driver's seat was used or put in place. Berkebile, Don H: CARRIAGE TERMINOLOGY: A HISTORICAL DICTIONARY [Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., 1978]