I was captured by Martians..& DG abbreviations

Well not really - but writing 6 blogs and listing dozens of items a week on eBay took it's toll. And then in January, it's always time for retesting DH's thryoid cancer status so I went away mentally and just got back. BUT...we did buy an amazing amount of depression glass (some even was green in honor of the Martians) at an estate sale... a local dealer..who shall remain nameless 'cause ALWAYS outbid me in real life and I got most of his stuff for way less than he paid. LOL........ AND we'll be bringing it to you over the next few weeks/months.

Today, let's review some standard (for glass collectors) abbreviatons/buzzwords found on eBay and elsewhere...

NM - near mint
fleabite..No no glass fleas here...but this is the unimaginably small invisible to the eye, chip you can feel with a nail or a fingertip but can't see even wtih a magnifying glass some times.  NO it is not acceptable to fail to mention it in a listing
Ding - bigger fleabite..

Inner rim - lots of Depression Glass has a sharper inner rim - like around the inside of a dinner plate or a soup bowl and those, in some patterns particularly are more brittle - Royal Lace, my favorite is especially susceptible to damage in this area.

Flake - this is a flat chip - normally, in my experience comes from a sideways strike..so if you bang the plate edge against the serving bowl or pitcher..when that's what makes it flake. Should also always be mentioned when selling glass - and MEASURE IT width wise...

HOW NOT to pack Glass for shipping

They say a picture is worth 1000  words so you've got about 4000 words worth here.  These are items we purchased, on eBay, for our personal collection.  Everything was described as perfect...so something has been lost in the translation...

Ok, #1 RULE of shipping glass, even NEW glass is?? DON"T USE NEWSPAPER.

#2 Rule is DO USE BUBBLE WRAP AND PACKING PEANUTS and use them together.  I feel safer with small bubble bubblewrap...a double layer folded with the bubbles in so it makes a nice sturdy layer.  Wrap the item with that, at least 2 layers of double.  IF it's a big item... make a BIG double piece

3. Take your packing peanuts and put them in a plastic bag.. This is a way to recycle all those plastic grocery bags. Fill them 1/2 to 3/4 full with peanuts, tie them or tape the shut. Use them like a "pillow" for your item.  One under and one over your item.

4. Put the under pillow in the box.. put cardboard over it.. Put another one on top of your cardboard.  Now put the item on the pillow, preferably in it's designed position. So the way it was supposed to be used... if it's a vase stand it on the base.  If it's a glass, same thing. Don't lay things down sideways. Don't put them in on an angle.

5, Surround the item with pieces of cardboard... then fill the rest of the space both inside and outside the cardboard fram with packing peanuts... next

6. put another piece of cardboard over the item... and fill the rest of the box with packing peanuts.

OVERFILL the box. Those peanuts settle.  Hold the box closed and shake so they settle sooner.

Now put more in..

Tape everything in..

MAKE sure you double tape all the closures and then tape across them in the oppsoite direction. Ya want your stuff falling out??? My shipping department goes to excess and tapes ALL 4 corners and all 4 top and bottom edges. NOTHING is getting out of my boxes without a razor knife in it's hand.

Ok, before you label it, shake it. Hear rattling?? NOT GOOD, open it up and put a stop to that with either more cardboard or more peanuts or more of both.

Do the tape thing again and apply postage and OFF it goes the PO or UPS or where ever..

The Wonderful World of Jadite

Jadite is green milk glass basically.  It's depression era but it's the milky, non-transparent green glass.  It was made by multiple companies but Jeanette did a lot starting in 1936.

Then McKee did some reamers in it and some other kitchen ware such as rolling pins, shakers, mixing bowls etc. Hazel Atlas got in on the act with some jadite bakeware.  This is just a small sampling of what's available in the market place. 

JUST BE CAREFUL!!! Martha Stewart made a line of jade kitchenware and consequently it's being reproduced in mass. Trust me K-Mart wasn't around during the depression era (not during THE GREAT DEPRESSION.. LOL) so what you see barcoded in the flea-market did not come from McKee or Jeanette. Get a book and find out what was reproduced.

And come visit us at DEPRESSION GLASS WAREHOUSE

Antique Hunting - sort of like Hunting for Yeti!

So I took a busman's holiday today and went to an "antique show" with my adult son.  He had his own agenda and I was looking at depression glass (among about 89 other things).  My primary objective was to "see" glass. To see how much was out there and what kind of prices were being asked "in the wild". 

I'll blog about the show and some thoughts I had there in my AntiqueDaze blog  so you can come back to that later.

All the pictures here were taken at the Antique Show in the Philadelphia Convention Ctr in Oaks Pa (think Pottstown PA).  

 I just loved this booth - mainly for it's display of Art Pottery but also for all the crystal Pressed and Pattern Glass (but wait til you see the Hummels picture)

THIS - pointing downward is more like it!

The vase is Greeen Tea Room priced at $70 and the butter dish (round lidded thingee) is a Green Sierra, purportedly in mint condition but I didn't check it and I did NOT look at the price.  We are NOT buying it.

Ebay prices, for the record, are better. For a buyer - not for a seller.

NOW! we're talking! Blue Royal Lace - in the picture to the back left is cookie jar WITH a lid, a straight sided pitcher (so it has an ice lip), moving forward on the left  side of the plates are some cups and saucers and a set of shakers. So far, the prices are all higher than eBay/online and WAY higher than my $27 budget for the day.    I can't tell you the individual prices (what you thought I planned this out and wrote it down? Silly you!).  BUT the prices are higher than Dear Hubby (aka SUPER BUYER) is paying on eBay as he rebuilds my collection and also nabs me some fantastic crystal, green and pink versions of every single thing. 

The right side of the plates includes 2 Cobalt Royal Lace candlesticks - straight-sided  - BV is about $110 for 1 by my higher price guide book so this pair should be a $225 item...not sure what the dealer was asking.  Next is the candlesticks are some footed sherbets - the all glass kind (royal lace has some that are metal holders and the glass insert sits in them. Don't like that kind personally but they exist.) and moving forward next to the plates are a creamer and a sugar with a lid. Along the front edge of the table are more sherbets and cream soups. Pretty much all you need to set a nice holiday table.

I love the Royal Lace pattern.  Hazel Atlas did this in 1934 - 41 and named it in honor of the Royal Family of England. The pink Royal Lace has not been reproduced but some cobalt tumblers have been so check a reference book to learn how to distinquish real from repro.

Ultramarine or Teal Swirl crimped epergne (eh purnnnnn) aka flowerholder in the back of this photo.  Pink Dogwood in the center and Pink Miss Amercan platter and the edge ofa  bowl in the front.   More later!!

Pink Lace Edge (Old Colony)

This pattern is near impossible to find without chips or more often cracks  in

the lace edge.  But these peices turned up locally a few weeks ago:

Pink Lace Edge Bowl - Top View

Pink Lace Edge Salad Bowl on Ebay

Pink Old Colony 7.5 HTF salad bowl (ribbed bottom)

The butter bottom looks the same as the salad bowl but without the ribbing in the base.

And also this lovely piece:  (on ebay- Lace Edge Plate) I have 3 listed so don't stop with this one. Check out the other 2 also!

Pink Lace Edge or Old Colony Depression Glass 10 inch Plate

And this is what cracks look like when they start...but they get much much worse.....

Pink Lace Edge Creamer - Depression Glass by Hocking

Lace Edge is a pretty extensive pattern line - there are 4-5 bowls sizes and 4 plates sizes in 2 styles, tumblers in 3 sizes, a fish bowl type cookie jar, vases and a candy dish and butterdish with a few other pieces thrown in.

It was made by Hocking (before they got "anchored" in 1935 thru 1938.  They produced Crystal (very limited) gree and pink.  And honestly in 35+ years of collecting depression glass I don't remember EVER seeing green in this pattern, not even at shows.   Of course, I don't travel like we used to but still you'd think I'd have seen a picture.

Gene Florence in his guides has a Woolworth's picture that shows some "yellow" that looks satinized.  Never saw that either.  

One nice thing about this pattern is, it's never, to date, been reproduced so if you collect this, you know you're getting the real deal.

If you haven't guessed by now...

I'm terrible at schedules and not too organized about this "blogging" stuff.  But I promise to try harder.  AND to reward your patience, I've got some fantastic new pictures to show you later this week.  First I want to pause and say a prayer for the faithful departed (what we ex-catholics call the dead and gone). 

Yesterday, I got my Kovel's newsletter and all it said was Collector Books was shutting down.

WHAT?
Yep...gone.  Now, if you're not a collector, you might not recognize their name but that company published Gene Florence's Encyclopedia of Depression Glass and all his other books on various collectible glass companies and eras.  Along with tons of other types of collector guides, pottery, cookie jars, etc.

So stop for a moment and lament the passing of another "great one".  And help me figure out, WHAT DO WE DO NOW, MA?

Royal Lace by Hazel Atlas

First let me tell you about my Depression Glass initation. I've been collecting and coveting depression glass since 1975. Right before my wedding, I saw a set of Green Cherry Blossom at an auction (be sure to see my other blog, Antique Daze). The green glass just called my name. However, it forgot to call my bank and arrange a loan. I brought $90 to the auction, a lot of money for me then. Hell, it's a lot of money for me now!

90 pieces of Green Cherry- including plates, butterdish, bowls, tumblers, pitcher, cups, saucers. Silly girl that I was, I thought $90 would do it. It went for several hundred. Some time later the next year, we started collecting blue Royal Lace (well I also collected Green Royal Lace when I could find it which wasn't very often).

Now, over the next week, we'll be liquidating my current collection of blue Royal Lace. So I thought I'd tell you about the pattern and the company and then as I list pieces, I can use the photos here to show you. (getting my money's worth out that digital camera, ya know?)

So, Hazel Atlas made Royal Lace from 1934 to 1941. It was made in Green, Cobalt Blue, Crystal, Pink and a few pieces in Amethyst. There are reproductions and I'll talk about them later.

The blue is far and away the favorite of most collectors but green is more popular all the time. The crystal suffers from looking "dirty" after time and the pink is a very pale pink with a tendency to look orangey.

Hazel Atlas was the child of a merger in 1902. By 1928 it was known as the "World's Largest Tumbler Factory" as they churned out machine made drinking glasses. They were one of the most modern, mechanized glass factories. In 1929, they added Green tumblers to their line and in 1933 Green, pink and topaz were added. In 1936, they added Ritz blue.

The pattern Royal Lace was a tip of the hat to the Royal Family of England and many assorted pieces were shipped to England then and are now, via the internet and ebay finding their way back to the State. Cobalt blue was introduced in Royal Lace in 1938, a time when war was looming and shipping glass to England had lost some of its priority so most of what is found there appears to be Green, Pink or Crystal. Which is fine with me since it's hard enough to put to gether a set of blue anyway.

Royal Lace has, give or take, 38 pieces in 4 main colors. This line has 5 sizes of pitchers, 2 kinds of candle stick a number of center or console bowls. There are dinner plates and grill plates. Lots to collect.

So, later this week I'll put in pictures of various pieces as I list them. And you'll see why this is my absolute favorite pattern. (but I'll also talk about all my other sort of favorite patterns later too).