Doric Iridescent Flower-Shaped Candy

Let’s talk about why depression glass patterns were reproduced or reissued.

1. Someone saw a popular item and decided to make fakes for profit.  These are counterfeits, made on purpose with the intent to deceive.
2. Someone saw some really pretty glass and decided to copy it or use the design, maybe with a different color or size.
3. The original glass maker – or the company that owned the molds – decided to reissue the design, in the same or  different colors.  These are considered reissues and they can be problems.

The Doric iridescent candy dish is a reissue.  Jeannette Glass produced Doric in the 1930s in the typical depression glass colors of pink, green or delphite opaque blue.  Iridescent glass became popular (again) in the 1970s and Jeannette reissued several of their patterns in iridescent.  There isn’t anything unethical with this although it can cause problems for collectors.

The most notorious reissue is the lovely Madrid depression glass that Indiana reissued as “Recollection”.  Indiana Glass bought the molds when Federal went out of business so they were perfectly entitled to use the design as they chose.  The problem is that collectors suddenly had a wealth of Madrid-like glass.  It hurt the market and made Madrid confusing.

Most of the Recollection is pretty easy to spot.  The colors aren’t right and the glass is thicker.  Plus Indiana creatively combined pieces to form new pieces; for example, they glued the candle holder to a plate to make a pedestal cake plate.  Most of these are pretty obvious.

Here is a video Deidra and I made about Recollection pieces.

The pieces that are more difficult are some amber that is the same as or very similar to the original.  Luckily Indiana made only a small set in amber, not the entire Madrid pattern.  I found the amber Recollection to be thicker and it didn’t feel quite right.  Also the color was a little more brownish.  Since depression glass color varied due to quality control, I would not want to rely on color to distinguish reissued Recollection.

Indiana reissued many patterns besides Madrid/Recollection.  Indiana bought some Duncan Miller molds and produced Sandwich for the Tiara party line along with their own Sandwich pattern that they originally made in the 1930s.  Indiana made clear Sandwich but made more in colors, including amber, green, blue.  The light Chantilly green Sandwich is attractive and popular.

The other pattern that causes collectors problems is Fostoria American vs. Indiana Whitehall.  Some pieces are very hard to tell apart.   In fact the easiest way to distinguish the two is by the glass quality because Fostoria was generally higher quality, with better clarity and finish.

As always, your best advise is to invest in a good book or two and spend a little bit of time getting familiar with your favorite glass.  Usually you can find clues to identify your glass and protect yourself.

There are actually only two patterns that have many every day pieces reproduced. One is Cherry Blossom and the other is Madrid. Let’s put those two aside and look at the others.

Most patterns have only a few pieces reproduced, usually the more expensive accessory pieces like shakers, pitchers, cookie jars or butter dishes. Some patterns have reproduced tumblers.

I went through my Gene Florence depression glass books and counted the patterns he lists with repros. There are 13 of them out of over 150 patterns.

What does this mean? First, when you pick a pattern (or two or three) that you like, do a little research and find whether there are any known repros.

If there are none, then stop worrying about it. If there are a few pieces, then read about the repros, learn which pieces to watch for. Then don’t buy those pieces until you have a little more experience with your favorite glass. Believe me, once you handle many pieces your fingers and your eyes will soon get good at spotting problems.

Let’s talk about variations.

Variations are when a piece looks or feels a little different. Maybe the color isn’t quite the same or it’s thicker or it’s not marked. The saucer below is Georgian, also called Lovebirds, from Federal Glass. Some cups, sherbets and saucers are marked and some are not. This one is not marked. It also feels just a tad heavier to me. Does that make it repro? No. Georgian hasn’t been reproduced.

I’ll cover more about reproductions and variations over the next several weeks.

Georgian Lovebirds Green Depression Glass Saucer - No Mark

Cambridge Chantilly Water Goblet

First one is mine. I do not have the extensive pattern gallery that others do, but I have photos of all the elegant Cambridge glass that we have ever had in stock. Here is the link for you:

Catladykate’s Elegant and Depression Glass – Cambridge Glass Photo Pattern Identification

The Chatabout site is bigger than mine with some very good photos.  You can search by keyword, floral etch, for example, or go through a given company’s glass.  The Chatabout site includes some obscure patterns and it’s fun to browse.  It is excellent for some of the border designs with clear close ups.

Chatabout Glass Etch and Pattern Gallery

Next one, Replacements, is huge, with a very large gallery of individual pieces and patterns.  Unfortunately it will take you a long time to go through all these.

Replacements Cambridge Glass Listings

The last one is the gold plated standard for a glass site.  It is the Miami Valley Study Group of the National Cambridge Collectors Inc.

If you think your glass is Cambridge, then try my site first – it is fast and gives a good overview of the shapes and many etches and pieces you’re likely to see.

If that doesn’t give you an identification, but you’re still thinking  you have Cambridge, then try the Chatabout site.  You’ll get another fairly quick tour of many patterns.  You can try searching if your glass has a distinctive feature.

Replacements has a great many pages and the overview page that lists many patterns has tiny thumbnails.  I like Replacements best when I know the pattern and want to confirm exactly which piece it is, of if I’m debating between two or three possible patterns.

For example, I had some Chantlly stems that I wanted to verify were the tall sherbets instead of the cocktails.  Replacements has photos of many Cambridge stems along with dimensions.

The Cambridge Study Group site is great if you want to get into nuances, like exactly which shape plate you have.

Good luck and have fun with your glass!

Here we go…

Cleaning Supplies

Magic Sponge (TM).  These are the most wonderful general purpose cleaning tools.  The brand I use is Mr. Clean.  I don’t know why they work – but they do.  My yellow stuff that resisted soap and water and a Dobie pad came right off.  You can use the sponge with regular dish soap or try a stronger cleaner.

The best thing about Magic Sponges is they don’t scratch.  If you have weird stuff, or old food residues, ground in dirt, crayon marks, try Magic Sponge first.

Goop Off (TM).  Use this if you have old label residue.  Be careful and do it where you have some fresh air since this stuff smells nasty and isn’t healthy to breathe for long.

Denture Cleaner.  Use a couple tabs in warm water and soak china.  Sometimes it will help get glass clean too.  I buy the cheapest type.

Bar Keepers Friend (TM) takes those nasty gray streaks off china.

Special Treatments for Special Dirt

What won’t clean off no matter what you do is bad haze.  Sometimes if your glass has just a little haziness you can remove it with the Magic Sponge and denture  cleaner, but almost always your hazy glass will break your heart.  Haze from dishwashers or hard water is permanent.  Some people say CLRZ – which is strong acid – will work but I’ve had no luck.  Now I discard hazy glass.

The other thing that won’t come off is dirt or colorant inside the glass.  This is called an occlusion and is permanent.

Glass with aged food stains or newspaper ink or crud gets nice and clean with the sponges and regular soap.  I keep a bottle brush for stemware which beats trying to get your hand inside a vintage tumbler.

Candle wax comes off with hot water.  First pick out what you can, then put your candle holder under running water and gradually increase the temperature.

It’s flea market season now, which means you will find nice treasures masquerading as filthy yucky glass.  Don’t be afraid to take a chance on dirt – it comes off – but do avoid haze or wear.  I like to bring a damp rag inside a baggy to wipe off plates before buying.

What Not to Do

Don’t put your glass in the dishwasher.  I know, it’s tempting and you can get away with it for a while.  Eventually glass gets stressed from the heat and the strong soap will make your glass hazy.  Imagine how disappointed you would feel.

Have Fun!

Glass is supposed to sparkle and it needs to be clean.  I hope these tips help you enjoy your glass!

Cambridge Rose Point Etched Crystal Line 3400 Plate

Fostoria Versailles Pink Cup & Saucer Set Elegant Depression Glass

One of the wonderful things you can do with depression glass is put small pieces on window ledges or those shelves in your kitchen or dining room. The glass is transparent letting the sun shine through and making a glorious display of color, pattern and shape.

Cups and saucers are perfect for this.  They are small, available in every pattern, and just the perfect sweet little piece to show off the pretty designs.

The set shown here is elegant depression glass, meaning it took skilled artisans to make this as many steps could only be done by hand, not by machine.  It is from Fostoria Glass, the Versailles etch.  Versailles is the right name for this pattern as the design features a central fan medallion surrounded by scrolls – classy, timeless and just formal enough.

Fostoria made Versailles in this rose pink, a medium light blue, luscious green and topaz.  I found nothing about any crystal with the Versailles etch, somewhat unusual since Fostoria made crystal in almost every pattern.  This is an older pattern, made from 1928 to 1940, spanning the depression era.

The next time you see some pretty depression glass and wonder how to use it, just remember that glass loves sunlight and will sparkle.  Pick several cups and saucers – they don’t need to match – mix colors and patterns and enjoy a happy rainbow of color.  It’s so cheerful and friendly it will make you smile.

Fostoria used their Greenbriar stem line for stemware – a full suite including cordial, water, wines, even the oyster cocktail – and Baroque for most dinnerware pieces.  Fostoria Baroque is the pattern with scalloped rims and the fleur de lis molded around the rims.

Crystal candle holders were always among the premier pieces for glass companies.  Think of it; the crystal sparkles in the flickering candle light and the designers could be as fanciful as they chose.  For Chintz, Fostoria used mostly the Baroque shapes, which have graceful sweeps and circular bases.

This first candle holder is Baroque, the tall single shape.  Baroque candle holders have the ridged wave that sweeps up in place of the fleur de lis molded shape.  If you look carefully you can see this candle uses the waves in a fleur de lis shape, with smaller curves at the bottom, tall in the center.

Fostoria Chintz Etched Crystal Tall Baroque Single Candle Holder

This next candle holder is one of the unique pieces of Chintz; it is etched on the Sonata blank. Fostoria developed Sonata to appeal to the mid-Century tastes for curves and smooth rounded shapes reminescent of Scandinavian glass.

Fostoria Glass Chintz Etched Duo Sonata Candle Holder

Those are two different candle holders! Oddly, Fostoria didn’t use Sonata for any other pieces. Instead the console bowls, serving pieces, accessories and dinnerware were Baroque.

Come back again for our last post in a couple days about Fostoria Chintz dinnerware.

Fostoria Chintz Etched Crystal Water Goblet

Fostoria used their Greenbriar blank for stemware.  You can see how easy this shape is to hold; it has grooved stem and small balls at the top and by the foot.  When you use vintage stemware you really don’t want to drop it!  Having the textured stem and balanced shape makes you feel safe and secure.

Fostoria didn’t use Greenbriar for many other designs, odd, don’t you think?  The stemware line is pretty complete – you can find a low stemmed water, more a footed tumbler than a short goblet, an ice tea, two sherbets, wine, cordial, cocktail.  Chintz spanned the era that dinnerware and entertaining fashions were becoming less formal and Chintz appealed to those who enjoyed quality crystal

The goblet shown was marketed as the water goblet.  Back in the 1940s wine goblets were still small, about the size we think of as cordials or cocktails.  Today the fashion is to use large goblets and fill them only a little with wine.  If you choose Chintz for your crystal today then consider using this tall goblet for wine and either the low water or ice tea as a footed water

Fostoria only made Chintz on crystal, no colored glass.  And this is real crystal.

Sometimes people ask me whether elegant glass is “crystal” meaning lead crystal, or simply “crystal” as in clear glass.  Fostoria used leaded crystal as did other American elegant glass makers.  Don’t confuse this with the heavy, pressed or cut crystal you find today in department stores around the holidays.  Fostoria was able to produce thin glass with enough lead content to sparkle and hold and etch or cutting, but was yet lightweight.

We’ll continue the Chintz story in future posts.

I like to put my glass and treasures in sturdy cardboard boxes that have separate lids.  You can buy paper by the case in these boxes, or if you know someone who works at an office maybe they can save you some.  Of course you can buy storage boxes; look for the ones called file storage.

Wrap your glass well and pack it tight but don’t cram too much.  Be sure to leave enough space under the lid for it to sag a bit.

Here are wrapping tips:

1. The simplest wrapping material is a bubble bag.  Put the glass in the bubble bag, fold over the top and place in the box.  Bubble bags are free of mess and easy to use.  If you want some please email me as I have a ton of them and will be glad to share.
2. If you have super fragile items, then wrap first in paper and then in a bubble bag.  I moved my carved wooden bird collection.  These birds have thin beaks and tails and I was afraid they might be fragile.  I wrapped each bird in paper and then gently in a bubble bag.  Perfect.
3. If you are moving dinnerware, try the same method as professional movers.  Get big sheets of white paper from the moving company.  Put a plate on the top sheet, wrap one corner of the sheet over the top of the, add a second plate, cover with a corner from the next sheet down, add a third plate and third sheet, so on.   Then wrap the stack of 2-5 plates in the rest of sheets.  Stand the plates on their sides.  I’ve used this method with vintage dinnerware and it worked great.
4. If you are storing your vintage glass collection, then use the bubble bags.   You can put more than one plate in a bubble bag. Just put paper plates between each plate before sliding into the bubble bag.  Wrap cups in tissue paper then you can stack two or more in bubble bag.
5. Another trick I use is to put a small piece of paper inside each bubble bag. The label has the item name, date bought and price paid. You will find this is a good idea even if you never sell a piece of glass. It’s a fun trip down memory lane to recall when you got favorite piece of vintage glassware.

By the way, the cup is Lorain from Indiana Glass.  It’s more fun to read a post that has a picture of something pretty!

Lorain Green Depression Glass Cup from Indiana

New Martinsville Etched #36 Pink Elegant Depression Glass Square Candle Holders

These were originally part of a console set with a huge square bowl.  I like the candle holders by themselves since the combination with the bowl was a little overwhelming.  The shape is New Martinsville’s line number 36 which has that little extra scallop in the center of each side.  I don’t know whether the pretty etch is from New Martinsville or one of the many decorating firms made it.

If you like Art Deco then you’ll notice the design borrows the shapes and contrast from that style.  During the depression New Martinsville made interesting shapes with zing – many with Art Deco good looks.   New Martinsville had more square shaped patterns than any other elegant glass company.  They were known for their shapes and were always right on trend.  One of their best known Deco-influenced patterns was Radiance.

New Martinsville Radiance Cordial Post

New Martinsville Radiance Sugar Bowl Post

These square pink candle holders are a softer style that blends well with other patterns.  They have a lot of looks but are not so extreme or highly stylized that they stick out when you combine them with other glass or china.

Thanks for visiting our Pink Saturday pink depression glass post this week, and as always a big thank you to Beverly of How Sweet the Sound for organizing this fun event. Please be sure to visit the other bloggers to see how pink we can be.

Doric & Pansy Pink Depression Glass Plate from Jeannette

This pretty pink plate is Doric & Pansy depression glass from Jeannette, the sherbet plate. Or is it? Jeannette made a little set of matching matching dishes for little girls to play with. The little doll dishes are called Pretty Polly and are so cute.

The largest doll dish is 5 3/4 inches wide while the Doric & Pansy small plate is 6 inches wide and mine is 5 7/8 inches. Darn, it would be so much easier if mine was a perfect fit! I’m sure that mine is the sherbet plate as many of the measurements are a little loosey-goosey. Plus it just looks too big for toy dishes.

This little cup and saucer set if Pretty Polly, much smaller than the real dishes.

Pretty Polly Pink Depression Glass Toy Doll Dishes Cup & Saucer

Doric & Pansy was one of the last mold etched patterns from the depression. It’s similar to its sister pattern Doric, also from Jeannette, except Doric and Pansy has pansy blossoms in every other square. It’s a little busier than Doric, a charming happy design.

We have the Doric and Pansy pink sherbet plate in our store here. Shopping with us is like antiquing with your best friend.