Just for giggles & grins- a Twitter stream of Depression Glass Comments!

How do you figure out what's old in Depression Glass?

So, you're a beginning collector and you picked up some pieces you like and now you want to expand your collection. BUT...someone warned you about "repros".  How do you figure out what's new, what's old, what's genuine and what's a repro?

You do what I do, you buy a book and cheat a bit.  Meaning, the best reference books will tell you what are reproductions and Gene Florence's Encyclopedia of Depression Glass has some pages in the back where he includes pictures of those and "points" like book collectors use, to detail what the differences are between the GENUINE article and the reproductions.  As a glass collector and reseller for 35 years, I couldn't have lived with out this info.   So the first thing is use that widget on the right sidebar and buy his book. 

Now lets talk quickly about some telling points so you can go to the fleamarket/garage sale today and buy something.

This is Madrid - Federal and Others reproduced it...

Madrid was produced first from 1932 to 1939 by Federal Glass.  As they hit the economic hard-times of the 70's (believe me ...it was worse then and we did walk up hill in blizzards to get to work..I was too old for school. I had a crummy job. so I remember) Federal "reissued" this pattern in both Amber and light blue and in pink.  The "reissued" (their word not mine) pieces typically but not always had a 76 above the squiggly design element or in the corners of the plates.  Then in the 1980's Indiana glass bought the remains of Federal, including their "molds" and designs and reissued more of this pattern but with NO marks to differentiate the old from the new. A bad habit Indiana still has. 

Part of the problem with Madrid (which came in Green and Amber. Crystal, Pink and Madonna blue which is the solor of the "save now" button on blogger)  is that the amber in particular gets a "muddy" amber color darker more like buckwheat honey than clover honey if you're a honey fan. The plates in particular - which are HUGE plates were "muddy" most of the time from my experience.  If what you ahve is a bright clear goldy amber? it's probably new.

Indiana issued it in TEAL, but also in blue pink and crystal. So if you're buying it and it's those colors, I can guarantee it's only 30 years old not 80-100.  Not quite vintage let alone antique, ya know?  Check the Florence book for more details on the old and the NEW. 

This picture above is a "clambroth" jadite refrigerator keeper (bow your head here and pray for the poor departed thing. I dropped it and broke into a million pieces). THIS was an original (til I broke it).  The color was a "waxy" almost transparent green. Unlike what Martha Stewart Designs sells now in K-Mart etc.

There are MULITPLE books on this so if you want old, you have to get the books and read 'em cause THIS color has been totally bastardized in the last 20 years both by Martha and the chinese repro artists who know a good selling thing when they see it. And their version looks more like these 2 "bud" vases which are neither vases, budding or old.

Now this amber pattern below is called SHARON - It came in Pink Green and amber. I don't care much for the amber color because on a lot of pieces it got muddier than the Federal Madrid.  Meaning it wasn't a bright pretty amber color. It also gets "washed" out.  The pink gets orangey but the green is gorgeous. The problem with this pattern is it shows use marks fairly easily. BUT the great thing is? It's not the popular so it's more easily found and it wasn't reproduced.   I find the bowls (round 8" Master Berry or Vegetable bowls) more than anything else. The plates I find all seem to be "knife-marked" in the middle where you would cut your food. (logical see? it's all logical)

And cause I have this picture I'm gonna show you this because I have the picture right now and I will lose it before I can post about it.

This is King's Crown (a small sherbet) manufactured by Indiana. King's Crown was made back from the 1891 on.  Originally made by US Glass, it was produced in amber-stain, ruby-stained, and crystal.  Indiana made it from the 1950's on with a ruby-stain. The main difference, I learned the hard  way, is the older US Glass items were apparently a 3 part mold and Indiana's were 2 part molds.  (so you'll see either 2 or 3 lines down the sides)  And the ruby-stain from Indiana is not as deep and gets scratched more easily.

Ok, next post will be names and links to some great reference books.

Blue Royal Lace by Hazel Atlas

This is NOT my collection - I wish it was. it's from a local auction house that sold all this stuff on Jan 1. I just wanted to be able to look at it all regularly.  At one point I had all this stuff minus just one or two pieces.  Right now I'm real low on any Depression Glass and especially on this stuff...but I love it!

#1 Good Source of Info About Live Auctions - Walt Kolenda!

There's always omething to learn isn't there?  If we stop learning, we might be like sharks who can't stop swimming or they die. And those who hang around with me regularly know I love auctions. And last year someone "introduced" me to AuctionWally's website and his live online auctions. Well, Here is Wally's new blog MassAuctioneer.

Wally's a long-time auctioneer, and very knowledgeable about antiques and collectibles. He also writes for the Examiner.  And I've learned from him and I htink you can too. So Check him out. !  Follow him on Twitter as @auctionwally

Say Hi to Walt! (and tell him to do a live auction on Bonanzle again soon, they were SOOOO much fun!

Christmas Cookie Rules

Christmas Cookie Rules...

1.If you eat a Christmas cookie fresh out of the oven, it has no calories because everyone knows that the first cookie is the test cookie and thus calorie free.

2. If you drink a diet soda after eating your second cookie, it also has no calories because the diet soda cancels out the cookie calories.

3.If a friend comes over while you're making your Christmas cookies and needs to sample, you must sample with your friend.
Because your friend's first cookie, it is calories free, (rule #1) yours is also.
It would be rude to let your friend sample alone and, being the friend that you are, that makes your cookie calorie free.

4. Any cookie calories consumed while walking around will fall to your feet and eventually fall off as you move. This is due to gravity and the density of the caloric mass.

5.Any calories consumed during the frosting of the Christmas cookies will be used up because it takes many calories to lick excess frosting from a knife without cutting your tongue.

6. Cookies colored red or green have very few calories. Red ones have three and green ones have five - one calorie for each letter. Make more red ones!
7. Cookies eaten while watching "Miracle on 34th Street " have no calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel.

8. As always, cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.

9.Any cookies consumed from someone else's plate have no calories since the calories rightfully belong to the other person and will cling to their plate.

We all know how calories like to CLING!

10. Any cookies consumed while feeling stressed have no calories because cookies used for medicinal purposes NEVER have calories. It's a rule!



So, go out and enjoy those Christmas Cookies - we only get them this this time of year!

Some Royalty for all of us

So, I have been an avid collector of Royal Lace depression glass for 30+ years, and right now I've just liquidated a major part of my collection. I'd intended to post a link but it was 67 auctions and I just never got here to do that. SO, Here's a link to my current auctions on eBay

Now once you've checked that out, please come visit my new website and sign up for my mailing list. And there aren't thousands of items listed there yet but there will be soon. So peak around, look in the corners and tell me what you think and any suggestions for what you'd like to see listed there. Here's that link (oh and I will be able to offer coupons, sales, discounts and loyalty/referral bonus - bonusi? there. )

And I have lots of topics to explore. Use the comments to tell me what you'd like to learn about or read about. Thanks.

8-7-09 All eBay EPN links had to be removed and I'm so depressed I'm not replacing them. I'll be putting in links to Bonanzle.

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).