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 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.

Cherry Blossom Pink Depression Glass

Tonight I have something for you from the Great Lakes Depression Glass Club meeting we went to yesterday. Jim Bistoff gave an excellent demonstration of a few of the fake Cherry Blossom pieces.

First, the most reproduced pieces are the dinner plates, cups, saucers and small berry bowls.  I have personally had reproduction juice tumblers and have seen the reproduction pitchers but apparently these are less prevalent.

Here are Jim’s tips for saucers:

• There are five characteristics of authentic saucers; all real saucers will have all five of these.  If your saucer lacks one or more then it is suspect.
  • Saucer is no thicker than a nickel.  Some real ones are even thinner.
  • Edge is smooth, no offset or mold seam.  I wasn’t sure what an offset was until the meeting.  He had a repro saucer that had a definite bump on the edge of the seam.
  • The flower design is in panels around the rim.  On the real saucer the patten ends sharply near the edge and doesn’t become indistinct.  They showed fakes that had grainy spots near the rim.
  • There are 20 arches that go over the panels.  These curve smoothly to a point.
  • There is a small raised dot of glass that touches the inside edge of each arch.
• The arches on some reproductions are not clear at all.  They look like three fingers.
• He didn’t know of any fake saucers that failed all five of these.

Would you like to attend a live webcast next Monday night to see how the Cherry Blossom saucers we have stacked up against these tests?  I’m hosting a  short Antiquing with Your Best Friend show at 8 pm Eastern time on October 4.

It will be available through the Vpype broadcaster on Facebook.  This is brand new for me and I’m not completely sure how to tell you to get there.  This may be the link:  Try This Please.  And if that doesn’t work, here is the link to my Facebook page where the invitation is:  Face Book Page. (Can you tell that I’m about as techy savvy as my cat Billy Bob?)

The plate in the picture is an authentic dinner plate.  The pattern is crisp; leaves are fully defined; it weighed under a pound.

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.

Cherry Blossom Pink Depression Glass Cup

Jeannette’s Cherry Blossom pink depression glass is exceptionally pretty with the entrancing design of blossoms, leaves and cherries dangling from a stem. Sadly this popular pattern attracted unscrupulous reproductions in the early 1970s.

So what’s a collector to do?  You want to protect yourself, but how?

You can spot most repro pieces pretty easily.  I was unsure I’d be able to recognize them from book descriptions, but last week when I went antiquing we found several cup and saucer sets that were obvious reproductions.

The repros didn’t feel quite right, true, but if you haven’t seen the real thing it’s not much use to tell you “it’s different”.  The biggest difference in the cups were the flower and leaf pattern elements on the side panels were further apart and looked unconnected.  The cherry leaves were crude and the bottom only partly designed.

Saucers also had poorly done, crude designs.

The cup shown here is the real thing.  The design is tight with little bare space between the leaves and flowers on the sides and the base has realistic looking cherries and leaves.

Gene Florence covers repros in his depression glass encyclopedias and collector’s guides.  It’s hard to feel confident just based on books but your best bet is to spend time reading and looking at pictures and getting familiar with your pattern.

It was a relief to find that yes, I can spot repros!

Shopping information:  We carry Cherry Blossom depression glass in our store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.   You may find Gene Florence’s books at your library and they are available from Amazon.   Here is a link to the most recent edition on Amazon:   Collector s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass,19th Edition (Collector’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass)

Madrid Amber Depression Glass Candle Holder

Once upon a time you could find real Madrid depression glass at every flea market, antique mall and thrift store.  Those days are behind us.  I found the cake plate and tumbler in pink Recollection reproduction glass this winter at an antique store and a few more pieces when antiquing in San Antonio a few weeks ago.  But the real stuff is elusive.

How can you tell?  Federal Glass reissued the amber Madrid for the Bicentennial in 1976 but marked those pieces with the number 76.  Those are easy.  The heavy pink tumbler, and the tumbler or candle holder refashioned into all sorts of pieces, are easy to spot and they’re ugly.  The amber is a little harder.  I bought some amber cereal bowls on eBay that turned out to be repros and they just felt wrong and the color was off a little.

It’s easy to tell reproduction candle holders from the real thing.  The original candle holders are smooth inside and the reproduction have ridges to hold the candle.  See the inside of this one:  It is smooth, no ridges

Madrid Amber Depression Glass Candle Holder

I got these candle holders from someone who had a large set of Patrician amber glass.  Federal Glass made Patrician and Madrid so the colors match and the patterns go well together.  Federal made no candle holder in Patrician so Madrid is a good choice.

Your best method to avoid buying reproductions by mistake is to learn a  little about the glass you are interested in.  Many of the repro patterns are pretty easy to spot once you are familiar with the real thing.  I recommend books by Gene Florence, especially Collector s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass,19th Edition (Collector’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass) which have sections comparing reproductions to original by pattern.

Like this?  We have the Madrid amber candle holder at Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.  It’s like antiquing with your best friend.

Federal Glass Georgian Lovebirds Sherbet - Never Reproduced

This is a Georgian sherbet from Federal Glass, a very nice and favorite depression glass pattern.  Georgian is nicknamed “Lovebirds” due to the medallion of two lovebirds alternating with basket medallions.

I recently got an email from an eBayer informing me that my sherbet is most likely reproduced because “it was too heavy, too large and not marked with the Federal glassmaker’s mark.”

This individual unfortunately is misinformed, but even more unfortunately, there are guides on eBay and possibly elsewhere that claim glass without the Federal F in a shield is not truly by Federal Glass.

I consulted my reference books by Gene Florence and by Barbara Mauzy and none mention Georgian reproductions.  Further, it is well-established that Federal, like most depression glass makers, marked only a few pieces.

 I emailed a very gracious author, Barbara Mauzy, who was extremely generous with her time and confirmed that Federal marked very few pieces.   “At this time there is no information pertaining to the existence of Georgian reproductions. Yes, some of the pieces are marked, but the vast majority of this pattern is unmarked. The “F” symbol actually would be an interference to the Georgian motif. This is why you rarely see any company’s mark on dinnerware. I hope this helps and relax and love your glass!”

As for the size and weight of my sherbet, the eBay correspondent based their comment solely on the photo, which shows the small sherbet close up.  It is the normal size and weight.

So what does this tell you?  First, if you collect depression glass then learn about your patterns.  There is good information on the internet and there is not-so-good.  Read and ask questions.  I recommend Gene Florence’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass and Barbara Mauzy’s books for excellent discussions of fakes and reproductions. There are patterns that I seldom buy online, such as Cherry Blossom, but if you know your patterns you can buy with confidence.  Here is a post I wrote about my Cherry Blossom butter dish that I got online because I knew what to look for to assure authenticity.

Also, even if pieces are marked, don’t assume they are authentic!  Sad to say, some fake Heisey glass has the H in a diamond mark, and some reissues also have marks.  Your best assurance to buy safely is knowledge!