Cambridge Decagon Pink Elegant Depression Glass Sherbet Plate

Quick!  What do you call those little plates that go on the left just above your fork?  Bread and butter plates, right?

If you have china dinnerware, then yes, bread and butter plates.

If you have glass, then no.  This is a sherbet plate or sherbet liner.

Yes, it looks like a bread and butter plate and  yes, you would use it for a roll or a small salad or relishes or cranberry jelly slices at Thanksgiving.

But it is a sherbet plate.

Consider the origins of our glass dinnerware.  The companies that made glass dinnerware sets, like Cambridge or Fostoria, had a sure fire winner with stemware.  Everyone knew goblets and tumblers were glass.  But plates?  Soup bowls?  Glass was a hard sell for dinnerware, especially to homes that could afford it.

Consider also the stress on etiquette; the maxim of the day was that you never put your silverware on the tablecloth once it touched food.  Now put yourself in the shoes of a well-mannered hostess who has sherbet dishes.  These look like saucer champagnes and they have no place to hold a spoon once it has been  used.

Eureka!  The obvious answer is a sherbet liner, a little plate to go under the sherbet dish to catch drips and hold a spoon safely and politely off the table.  The fact that this little plate is the perfect size for a roll, well, that is just another reason to use glass dinnerware.

If you have sherbet dishes, try using them a small plate underneath and see how it works.  If you don’t have small plates you can pick a pattern you like.  Almost every glass pattern from the 1920s-40s had sherbet plates, usually affordable and even today readily available.  The one shown is Decagon from Cambridge Glass.  Then come back and tell us how it worked – I bet you will like it!

Thank you for visiting.

Be sure to visit the other blogs participating in Pink Saturday to see what everyone has this week. As always, thank you to Beverly of How Sweet the Sound who started this fun blog fest over two years ago and organizes it so well for us.

Shopping information:  You can find a wide variety of sherbets and sherbet plates in our store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass. It’s like antiquing with your best friend.

Cambridge Glass Rose Point Etched Crystal 3121 Water Goblet

Earlier blog post I told the story of the older couple who sold me their Cameo depression glass because “their daughters didn’t want it”.  The couple never used the glass so no one had memories tied up in it.

I have this glass now and will list it for sale so someone else can treasure it and hopefully pass on to their children as a tangible memory.

So… what are your suggestions for helping family enjoy your glass collection?  It’s more fun to collect and use special things when others share your appreciation of them.  How do you build that into your family life?

One tip from Linda Carannante of the Collectors Journal May 4 edition is to let each child have their own glass.  Yes, mom keeps it and takes care of it, but while the kids are growing up each one has their glass – and if you have children then you know what that means.  Kids get quite possessive and careful of their glass.

Linda tells how her kids would tell visitors about the glass and politely explain how fragile and special it was.

Maybe you can’t get each person their own pattern, but how about a few pieces?  Or if you collect a pattern that came in colors, mix in a few pieces of different colors and allot one color per child.

What other ideas do you have to help your family appreciate your glass and enjoy your hobby as much as you?

Link to previous post:  How to Help Your Family Appreciate Your Glass Collection Part 1

Shopping Guide:  We sell depression glass and elegant glass from Cambridge, Fostoria, Tiffin, Central, Monongah and others at Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.

Haviland Limoges Green Themed China

All the china pieces are vintage French Limoges, thin and light, almost translucent.

Haviland Limoges China Green on White

The dinner plates have a beautiful design of green and gold scrolls in a thin band around the rim – they would look great on a Christmas table, lovely and festive. Besides the Haviland Limoges backstamp these dinner plates are marked as being an exclusive for a department store. Back in the day this was not uncommon; high end stores might commission special patterns or exclusive lines.

Haviland Limoges China Place Setting

I like how the soup bowls compliment the dinner plates. The design is different but the greens blend perfectly. Here’s a close up for you.

Haviland Limoges China Green Borders Detail

Here is the full table. The little bread and butter plates are decorated with dark green flower sprays. The green is a little different, darker and more olive tone, than the green in the border on the other dishes. I like how it goes together.

Haviland Limoges Fine French China with Green Designs

The goblets are from Cambridge Glass. I bought them thinking they were a Tiffin design but they are etch number 701 from Cambridge with baskets of flowers connected with swags around the bowl and an intricate border on the rim. They go well with the china that also has border patterns. I like combining vintage crystal with older china.

Cambridge Glass Etch 701 Crystal Water Goblet

That gorgeous vase is from pottery artist Dave Eickholt.  It is porcelain with one of Dave’s exclusive crystalline glazes.

Thank you for visiting and thank you too to Susan from Between Naps on the Porch and friends for this fun Tablescape Thursday.

Shopping Information: If you would like to recreate this table the china and goblets are available in our store, Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.  Dave sells his hand made, one-of-a-kind pottery on Etsy at www.DaveEickholt.com.

Cameo Green Depression Glass Grill Plate

Let me share a sad story with you and suggest how you can avoid the same thing happening to you. This weekend I bought a set of green Cameo depression glass like the grill plate pictured.

The sellers were an 85 year old couple who were selling because “our daughters didn’t want this”.  The gentleman had gotten the glass set from his mother about 30 years ago and had not used it.  Not once.  Never.

He told me this was his mother’s most treasured possession and she used it once a year at Christmas.  He never used it, not even once a  year.  His daughters have no memories tied up with this glass; they don’t instantly remember happy meals and fun family times when they see it.

Of course they don’t want it.  Of course he doesn’t want it either.

Will this happen to you?  I encounter many people who are downsizing because their “children don’t want it”.  What about your children?

It’s easy to avoid this happening:  Use Your Glass.  Use it for special meals, use pieces of it on Sundays, use it when you have family or friends.  But use it.  Make your glass an integral part of your family’s memories and traditions.

Glass is tangible and it’s an easy way to tie a memory for your children.  But you have to use it or they will have no memories.

Vernon Crystal Depression Glass Cup

This Vernon cup is clear depression glass – but it looks etched.  How can you tell when etched-looking glass is depression glass vs. etched elegant glass?

One method is to feel the design.

Is the design raised on the outside?  Then it is mold etched and depression glass.  Mold etched glass was mass produced and needed little to no hand work.

Is the design inset into the surface of the glass?  Then it is etched and would be elegant glass.

Watch the video below to see a Lancaster Glass pink bowl and how we decided whether it was depression glass.

Please be aware some people consider a few etched patterns, such as Paden City’s Cupid, to be “depression glass”.  Sometimes this designation came from a noted author including a pattern in a book or the pattern became well-known when people first began collecting depression glass.

Normandie Pink Depression Glass Cup

Today’s Pink Saturday post is about a personal favorite, Normandie or Bouquet and Lattice pink depression glass.  I’ve a fond spot for this pattern since I purchased very first piece of depression glass – a Normandie plate – at an auction and that started me learning about and selling this wonderful glass.

Federal Glass made Normandie in amber, pink, some iridized glass like carnival and a few pieces in other colors.  It’s not been reproduced so it’s a safe pattern to collect and it’s not as well known.  It has a very pretty design of flower bouquets alternating with a lattice and Federal made it in many, many pieces.  It’s a great pattern to collect, and if you are new to depression glass, a great place to start – just as I did.

Be sure to visit the other blogs participating in Pink Saturday to see what everyone has this week. As always, thank you to Beverly of How Sweet the Sound who started this fun blog fest two years ago and organizes it so well for us.

Fostoria Glass Romance Etched Crystal Pickle Dish

No, this isn’t a bad romance novel or a blog about country western music. It’s about one of the neatest pieces of glass we just listed in our store, the oval pickle dish in Fostoria’s Romance etched crystal.

I like all the Romance etch glass we have.  I like the pretty flowers and ribbons and bows and the wonderful shapes.   There’s something special about this pickle dish.  It’s such a utilitarian object – a small shallow bowl to hold pickles or cranberries or applesauce – and it’s made special by Fostoria’s artisan glass workers careful hand work.   You won’t find anything like this in contemporary glass or china or plastic.

It’s important to have special things that help give meals or days a certain importance.  Vintage glass, especially pieces like relish dishes or pickle trays or stemware, is a wonderful way to convey meaning and create memories.

Shopping information:  If you like Fostoria’s Romance etched crystal please shop at Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass, where it’s like antiquing with your best friend.

eannette Petal Swirl and Tiffin Dolores Cut Crystal Vintage Stemware

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday. Today we have something different for you, a table full of ultramarine teal depression glass and Tiffin cut crystal stemware captured in photos and a video.

The teal glass is Swirl from Jeannette Glass.  It’s a simple design that looks great in the rich ultramarine glass.  How do you like the graceful cut stemware with the plates and cups.  The swooping line of the cut leaf spray picks up the swirl and scalloped rims on the plate, and the little faceted wafer in the stem looks grand with the circles in the plates and the angled cup handle.

Petal Swirl and Tiffin Dolores Cut Crystal Stemware

My mom had these linen place mats as far back as the 1950s.   The cheerful vintage design is yellow with blue and green.  There’s not a trace of teal anywhere but they look good with the vintage glass and stemware and I like the sunshine colors.  The only down side is the plates look green from the yellow peeking through.

Jeannette Swirl Ultramarine and Tiffin Dolores Stemw

Tiffin Glass, like a lot of stemware and dinnerware makers, used their favorite pattern names for more than one pattern. This cut stemware is the Dolores cutting, a simple line of stylized leaves. A second Dolores pattern is etched and looks nothing like this cut crystal; the glasses have different shapes and the etch is sort of a wreath. If you buy glass online always check the pictures and not just the description or title – you wouldn’t want to order cut Dolores and get the etched stems.

Tiffin Dolores Cut Vintage Stemware with Swirl Ultramarine Depression Glass

Jeannette’s Swirl glass has never been reproduced so don’t worry about that.  The only thing to be careful of is the ultra marine color varies a little and you may see pieces that are a little greener than the ones on this table.

Tiffin Dolores Cut Vintage Stemware with Swirl Ultramarine Depression Glass

Thank you for visiting and thank you too to Susan from Between Naps on the Porch and friends for this fun Tablescape Thursday.

For those of you who read my posts via email or RSS (thank you) here is a link to the video on Youtube:  Click here for video.

If you read this online at my blog site, Depression Elegant Glass to Share, here is the video link.

Shopping Information:  If you would like to recreate this look, please see my store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass. It’s like antiquing with your best friend.

One pattern that was reissued was Madrid.  Federal Glass made Madrid depression glass mostly in amber, blue and some pink, green and other colors during the depression.  They reissued Madrid for the American bicentennial and marked each piece with a “76″ in the design by the edge.  Then Federal Glass went out of business in the late 1970s and sold their molds to Indiana.

Indiana Glass has re-issued several patterns of their own and they added Federal’s Madrid to their line up.  They reissued Madrid in pink, amber and a light aqua blue plus clear and called it “Recollection”.  None of the pieces is marked in any way to distinguish it from the original depression era glassware but you can spot most of the reproductions by the color, feel or shape.  The bowl shown in this video fails the “real depression glass” test in two ways, by color and by shape.

I hope this is helpful.  Please leave me a comment so I know what you think.

Loop Optic Green Depression Glass Vase

What am I?  That’s obvious, a vase.  Who made me?  Do you know?  This neat vase has a loop optic that gives it a lot of looks.  The color is a lovely depression glass green that looks great with flowers.

This vase came from a guy at the flea market who saves glass for me and he had it with some Federal Glass green tumblers that didn’t match.  So no clues there.

Initially I pegged this as maybe Fostoria because of the optic but the glass quality doesn’t look quite good enough.  Of course not all Fostoria was supreme quality.  If this is Fostoria then it would be line number 4900, which was a giftware line in the late 1920s with a loop optic.

Can you help, please?