Dallas Fair 1903 personal paperweight

I bought this today. It's pretty well chipped on the bottom, and heavily scratched on top. Personalized glass items like these were sold at fairs as souvenirs. Started researching it and learned a few things. The Dallas Fair was the precursor to the Texas State Fair. Searching JH Dowdy found a soldier serving in the Civil War in Ga. Dallas court records found a JH Dowdy sued a transportation company in 1916 and lost. Mrs JH Dowdy entered "Dowdy's Girlie" in the AKC dog show in 1915. Can't confirm the Dallas Dowdy is the same as the soldier. One thing I found that discounts this is I found an image of the soldier's signature that's very different from the paperweight. However, could the engraver have take the person's signature and etched it or done it in his own handwriting? Could signatures have changed over 35 years? Civil War soldiers were pretty young, so he would have likely been in his 50s when went to the fair and in his 70s when he filed the lawsuit...so many questions...but this why I love antiques, to learn the history of these pieces. Overall, I think they were different Dowdy's...but what fun! Well worth the $10 I paid for it.

 

Looks like the souvenir pieces from that era. Similar to pieces like this.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=red+stained+souvenir+mug+&_sacat=0

The writing would have been done for J.H. Dowdy.

Welcome to the forum!!!

 

Hello, busryde. Are you interested in the genealogy of this particular piece, of ruby flash glass fair souvenirs, or...? Should I go right now & attach a tag to the miniature goblet that says Bernice, Okla City, 1906, so that someone in the future will know the beau of an older sister brought it back as a gift for my grandmother Berenice, who was the baby sister of the family? Or is it more fun to speculate?

 

The engraver probably never intended the name to emulate a signature, many many names are too fancy, many are too plain, it was up to the ability of the engraver.

 

Oh me, too, me too!

Signatures can change, but I think @Cherryhill is right, the writing is meant to be decorative, not a signature.

Yes, woman!