Post Reply: Early 19th Century Funerals

   No one knows the origins of the glass leaf custom. However, it arose in the late 18th early 19th cents. in one of the many glass making towns.
The leaves became a popular "end of day" piece in the Glass Houses.  As many of the early skilled glass blowers came from Europe, it's been assumed the custom came from there and was a "replacement" for a natural leaf not available here.