Whenever someone in Kathy Brown’s family had a birthday or special occasion, she knew Uncle Ernie would have a special, hand-painted piece of glass for them.

“When my cousin got married, he created something for everyone’s place setting,” said Brown, a Mt. Pleasant resident. “He painted a very special vase for my brother’s wedding that we put the wedding flowers in.”

Ernie Brown was the head decorator for the Westmoreland Glass Co. beginning in 1971 and continuing until the company shut down in 1984.

The Scottdale native died in November, and roughly 400 pieces from his personal collection will go up for auction starting Monday, Jan. 17.

“I knew he was the head decorator, but I didn’t realize the impact until I got older,” said Brown, who discovered not just the collection but also a wealth of additional material as she and other relatives began looking over his possessions. “Westmoreland Glass was such a significant company around the glass world, and there were only a handful of head decorators there over the years.”

The company was best known as the first to create “milk glass,” made in opaque white and often hand-painted.

Ernie Brown was one of the decorators who did that painting.

“I knew Ernie for year and years,” said Gene Gornik, who is handling the auction of Brown’s collection. “He was really known for his floral patterns.”

Brown also created pieces in what is known as the “Mary Gregory” style — white-painted silhouettes, many of children frolicking. The style has been around since the late 1800s, but Westmoreland Glass Co. introduced the designs on pressed glass beginning in 1957.

“I really loved his ‘Mary Gregory’ designs,” Brown said. “When I was a kid, I didn’t realize that it was a design that had started a while back. I thought he was using my brother and I to paint these scenes!”

In addition to his hand painting, he also created designs of fruits, florals and animals that were mass-produced as decals. and used by Westmoreland Glass and for the INSTAR decal company out of New York.

He’s most associated with the designs he created known as “Ruby Floral,” “Almond Rose” and “Beaded Bouquet,” along with his ability to create and recreate the Mary Gregory designs.

Gornik said he’s gotten calls from a variety of glass collectors interested in the auction.

“I have a lot of contacts for people who are into this type of thing,” Gornik said. “He was really popular.”

Brown’s collection also includes samples, prototypes that would stay at the company, which other decorators would use as a model.

“There are others that are one-of-a-kind, things he painted that didn’t end up going into production, other things he was just tinkering with at home,” Brown said.

Even in retirement, Brown said, her uncle would receive packages from all over the country, boxes containing Westmoreland Glass Co. items and a request for him to paint them.

“He did tons of that even into his 70s and 80s,” she said. She said that while hundreds of Westmoreland Glass Co. pieces can be found in places like eBay, items painted by her uncle rarely come up for auction.

“People who are collectors are generally not trying to sell his stuff,” she said. “So these pieces are not going to just sit in boxes. They’re going to bring people joy.

“It’s sad, because he kept this collection together for years and years. But he poured himself into this, and now it will be able to be appreciated by others.”