Royal Lace Cobalt Blue Depression Glass Plate

Bobbie sent me an interesting email asking for advice on evaluating her Royal Lace blue depression glass.  Blue Royal Lace is one of the most popular – and expensive – depression glass patterns.

I get emails every week asking:  ”What is my glass?  How much is it worth?  How can I sell it?”

It is unethical for me to do an appraisal without seeing the glass in person but I’m happy to share guidelines that may help.  If you’re in a similar situation, then let’s look at these points:

• What is the pattern, color and piece?
• What is the condition?

Once you have determined these points then a few places to judge value are eBay, which will be low end, Replacements.com, which will be high end, websites like my store.  Reference books, including Gene Florence’s guides, are useful to give you a ballpark but won’t be current.  (I find Florence’s guides tend to be low on the most desirable patterns.)

Value is determined by supply and demand just as for any other item.  It doesn’t matter how rare something is if no one wants it.  Conversely, a pattern like Royal Lace, which has many admirers, has strong demand and has retained a high value even though you can find most pieces without too much difficulty.

On the other extreme, the interesting S Pattern Stippled Rose depression glass from MacBeth Evans is a very slow seller, even at greatly reduced prices.  It is not as popular.

Patterns like Cambridge Rose Point, Royal Lace, Hocking Mayfair, Fostoria June, Federal Sharon and Georgian Lovebirds tend to maintain their value due to enduring popularity.  Certain pieces in each of these patterns are rare and can be quite pricey, but most pieces are still affordable.

As for selling glass, you can certainly try an ad in the paper or on Craigs list, take it to a consignment auction.  Selling online is not easy (I can attest to that!) and is time consuming to photograph, list, then wrap and ship the glass.  It’s a trade off whether you sell to a dealer for a small amount but quickly, or to a collector for more money but considerably more work.

As for identification help, you are welcome to post photos on our Facebook page.  I’m glad to look at your pieces and help if I can and your post will go out to a couple hundred other glass lovers too.

Fostoria Stemware: The Crystal for America Second Edition (Identification & Value Guide)

Do you like vintage stemware?  I do!  And I like to identify what I have.

If you have Fostoria stemware this book is a must.  Milbra Long and Emily Seate are a mother/daughter team that are consummate experts in Fostoria glass.  They have written several guide books divided by era and type of glass.

This book covers all the Fostoria stemware from the early 1910s and onward.  The best thing about the book is that it shows the entire stemline – goblets, sherbets, oyster cocktails, tumblers – and gives the size and capacity of each one.  Since it can be hard to differentiate the different pieces and shapes this book is very helpful.

It’s great to see the different stemlines that Fostoria used for their designs.  If you are interested in glass then browsing this will give you a sense of some classic shapes to watch for.

As an example, I found some Fostoria Evening Star sherbets at the Salvation Army.  I didn’t know the cutting but recognized the blank as Fostoria.  I bought the pair for a dollar each, looked them up in my trusty Fostoria Stemware book, and sold them for $20 each.  That’s a good outcome!

The book is organized by stem blank and shows all the different etches Fostoria put on each blank.  If you can identify the blank you can find the etch.  It’s another path to identify glass.

Fostoria Stemware: The Crystal for America Second Edition (Identification & Value Guide)

This link uses my Amazon affiliate and I do get a small compensation from purchases you may make via this link.

Last week Dave and I moved to a different city and we moved all our personal crystal, three sets of china and all my glass inventory for my store.  One piece, a small stem I got from my grandmother, broke.  It’s one of about a dozen undistinguished small cut stems that I like only because it came from her.  So I wasn’t too sad.

Three years ago I got my Mom’s Apple dishes and had the movers wrap and move them.  This time I used the same technique they did to get our dishes safely and wrapped and moved them ourselves.

Here’s how.

Dave bought 25 pounds of white paper from the moving company.  I took 4 sheets of this, put a plate on top, folded a corner of the top sheet over the plate, added a second plate, folded the second sheet over, then the same for the third and fourth sheets.  Then folded the paper over well around all four of the plates.

This method is great for plates, pie plates, Pyrex casseroles, bowls, lids, basically anything you can stack.  Just be sure to keep at least one layer of paper between each piece and wrap the paper around all the pieces in the group.

I used medium sized boxes with wadded up newspaper in the bottom (or towels until I ran out) and stacked the plates on their edges on top the newspaper wads.  I put enough pieces in the box to keep everything from rattling around.

This is the same method the movers used for my Mom’s Apple dishes.

For glasses I used the paper again, wrapped each glass separately and placed in the box on top wadded paper.  I have a ton of bubble wrap bags and put my Rose Point stems in those bubble bags, then into a box.  (Those boxes went in the car, not in Dave’s cargo trailer.)

My glass inventory is all in the bubble bags, held in those boxes that copier paper comes in.  Had I wanted the movers to take my glass, they would have rewrapped everything using the paper method.  Not only was this expensive, at the end I’d have a bunch of glass all mish mashed up, that I had to re-organize.

I figure that doing the wrapping myself saved us several hundred dollars and certainly reduced the mess at the end.  We put as much of the small stuff as we could in Dave’s cargo trailer or the back of the Tahoe and made several trips.  That helped with the moving cost too, but more important, gave me peace of mind for our most precious possessions, artwork, carvings from my Dad, my Mom’s clock and yes, all my glass.

Franciscan Apple Cups from Mom

It’s easy to spot most reproductions once you know what you are looking for. And the good news is that your fingers and your glass sense will get better over time and you’ll know almost instinctively which pieces are suspect.

Here’s what I mean. This dinner plate is authentic Cherry Blossom depression glass from Jeannette, made in the 1930s.

Cherry Blossom Pink Depression Glass 9 inch Dinner Plate - Authentic

The rim is smooth. If you run your finger from the top of the plate down over the rim to the bottom it feels smooth. There isn’t a step down. Depression glass reference books call this a “mould offset” and this took me a while to understand.

Cherry Blossom Pink Depression Glass Plate Rim Detail

The last point I can show you in pictures is the detail on the design. The flowers look like flowers, the design is nice and full. The leaves are the tell-tale. Real Cherry Blossom leaves look like leaves with serrated edges and veins. Some reproductions have simplified leaves that look like a little kid’s drawing. My book calls those leaves “canal leaves” and once you see them you’ll recognize them immediately.

Cherry Blossom Pink Depression Glass Dinner Plate Center Real

I had this plate and one other packed away in separate boxes. I got these before I had any sense (business sense or glass repro sense) and once I realized there were fake plates I put them aside and forgot all about them. Fast forward to this summer.

I consolidated my inventory to get ready to move this fall and came across the plates. It was obvious that one is real and one is not. How did I know that? Remember the comment about your glass sense? That is real. Once you spend much time with glass, especially within a few patterns, you will just know. Something will look off on the fakes, even when it’s subtle and you can’t describe it. Trust your instincts.

A really good way to protect yourself is by investing in a good reference book. You can get Gene Florence’s Collectors Encyclopedia of the Depression Era here at Amazon or save a little and buy an older copy from me here.

If you enjoy these blog parties then please plan to join me Thursday evenings for Fancy Fridays.  Pick out something fancy and fun and come join us.  I’ll bring the glass!

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.

Shopping Information:  We have the Cherry Blossom pink depression glass plate in our store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass with free US shipping.

I was asked to contribute a chapter to the Home Run Guide organized by Janelle Elms.  This ebook has chapters about all sorts of interesting and profitable niches you can use to make a little money on the side or grow into a small business.  I was honored to submit my chapter, all about the glass that is good to buy and resell, and what glass doesn’t sell so well.

Each chapter contains tips on what to buy, what not to buy (i.e., all the stuff I donated to Goodwill this last year!), tips on where and how to buy it, and how to sell it.  You’ll enjoy reading about Southern Heritage cookbooks, Lonaberger baskets, Swarovski figurines and collectibles, Hall Pottery, kitchen collectcibles such as pie birds, string holders, Tupperware, egg cups, vintage kitchen glass.

And of course you can read about elegant and depression glass too.  Of course!

If you would like to get this book, please click here.

I do get a small commission on each sale which is to compensate for my expertise and photos.

I like the Airko ones.  They feel good in my hand and look good.  If I had these in my kitchen I’d use the Airko ones for cooking, then switch the lids to the pretty Moderntone set if I wanted to show off a few pieces of depression glass.

Hazel Atlas Depression Glass Shaker Lot

Cameo Green Depression Glass Shaker With Partial Lid

Georgian Lovebirds Green Depression Glass Saucer Unmarked

Is this Georgian Lovebirds saucer real depression glass or is it a repro?  It is not marked.

This next saucer is marked.

Georgian Lovebirds Green Depression Glass Saucer with Mark

I have Georgian cups, saucers and sherbets with the Federal F in a shield and without.  Are any reproduced?

There are web pages that claim that any unmarked Federal piece is a repro.  Some pages single out Georgian and claim reproductions.

How can you know?  Is it safe to buy unmarked pieces?  Will you get ripped off?

Georgian has not been reproduced.  Here is why I say that.

• Noted depression glass authorities like Gene Florence and Barbara Mauzy know reproductions.  Both say Georgian has not been reproduced.  In fact I consulted Mrs. Mauzy who was extremely gracious and generous with her knowledge.  She confirmed Georgian has not been reproduced.
• Most patterns that have been reproduced have come out in odd colors.  The Georgian pieces are all the same shade of green.
• The fakers out there pick on patterns that are lucrative.  Georgian sells OK but it’s far less popular than Cherry Blossom or Madrid.  Cups, saucers, sherbets are among the most affordable Georgian pieces.
• Glass companies were not in the practice of marking their glass in the depression.  Hocking, for example, didn’t begin marking most glass until the 1940s.  Early Federal isn’t marked.
• Marking some pieces, like plates or bowls, would disfigure the pattern.

In fact few depression glass patterns have been reproduced.  And of those that have, most have had only a couple pieces redone.

You can protect yourself from scammers by doing a little research on your favorite patterns to know what to watch for.  Both Florence and Mauzy published excellent books with detailed information to help you spot fakes.  Your library can get you a copy.  Don’t believe all the spurious web pages but rely on people that truly are experts.

Finally, if you are not confident you will spot the repros then select patterns that have not been remade.  American Sweetheart, Petalware, Block Optic, Doric, Dogwood, Stippled Rose, Patrician, Windsor are a few of the patterns you are safe to buy.

I thought it would be helpful to have a good photo identification guide online that showed all the patterns that have passed through our store – at least those we have good photos of – and share them with you. This is by no means a complete pattern guide since I’ve had only a fraction of the hundreds of glass patterns Fostoria made.

This shows the etches, blanks, cuttings in different colors.

I’d love your comments. What do you like? What is missing that would be helpful for you?

As always, I’m glad to help you when I can. If you want help finding your pattern please post a photo on our Facebook site at www.DepressionGlassFun.com.  It’s all part of making our store like antiquing with your best friend!

Here is the guide:  Fostoria Glass Pattern Identification Guide for Collectors and Glass Lovers.

The cup and saucer set is Fostoria Tojan topaz yellow elegant glass.  Each piece is available separately here.

Fostoria Glass Trojan Topaz Cup & Saucer

Cane Landrum Yellow Depression Glass Bowl

This is a neat piece that’s not too common.  Lancaster Glass made several patterns that look like etched glass,  including this Cane Landrum design.  The paisley motifs are raised to the touch – this is mold etched, mass produced depression glass.

Lancaster made glass that is right on the border between elegant glass, with its quality and hand work, and depression glass.  Some Lancaster glass has ground base rims, yet we don’t expect mold etched designs in elegant glass.

The name of the design is Landrum and Lancaster used the same etch on pieces with this molded cane center and plain centers.  Combine the Landrum design with the cane shape and you get the pattern name, Cane Landrum.  Lancaster used their usual pink, topaz yellow and green glass for Cane Landrum.  Topaz yellow seems the most prevalent here in mid-Michigan.

If you like glass then shop our June coupon sale at Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.  Get 10% off anything or 15% off orders over $100.  Use coupon All10 or All15 for the savings.

Here’s the Old Cafe pink candy dish.  It’s a pretty piece, low and wide with small tab handles.

Old Cafe Pink Depression Glass Candy Dish

Here is the Fortune bowl from yesterday.

Fortune Pink Depression Glass Bowl

These are alike, aren’t they.

Hocking made both Old Cafe and Fortune mainly in pink and clear, with a few pieces of Royal Ruby Old cafe.  They are both small patterns, with no creamer or sugar, but Old Cafe has a few more pieces, including a dinner plate and sherbet.  The candy dishes are easy to find in both pieces – unusual for vintage glass.

Even the production dates are similar.  Hocking made Old Cafe from 1936 to 1940 and Fortune from 1937 to 1938.

Let’s see what we can find to tell these apart.

• One difference is Old Cafe ribs are rounded more than Fortune’s.
• The shapes are different, but if you have only one piece that doesn’t do you much good.
• Old Cafe pieces have one wide panel between two narrow ones.  Fortune has one wide and one narrow.

I hope this helps you tell these two patterns apart.  They are both attractive and good choices for new collectors.

We have a few pieces of Hocking Fortune in our store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.