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?

Jeannette Petal Swirl Teal Ultramarine Depression Glass Low Bowl

Remember a few years back when teal was THE color? It’s perennially popular and it’s a good choice since it goes well with so many shades of blue, cream and green  (Try adding a touch of teal to spice up peach and antique  gold too.)  Jeannette Glass made quite a few patterns in their teal depression glass.  They called their color Ultra Marine and used it for Swirl, as in the bowl shown here, Doric and Pansy and their Jennyware kitchen glass.

My favorite of these is Swirl, also called Petal Swirl.  I like the simple design and pretty shapes and the color just adds so much to the glass without over powering the pattern.  You can find a smallish set fairly easily and it won’t break the bank as Swirl is one of the moderate priced patterns.

Some of the neat Petal Swirl pieces are the bowl and candle holder, vase and cute shakers.  Although Swirl is thought to be rather common I have not seen it in person more than a couple times and I bought all that was available when I did find it.  That’s why we have some listed today in our store, including the dinner plates and this nice sized salad bowl.

Do you have a favorite Ultra Marine pattern?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Shopping Information:  Our Jeannette Swirl depression glass is available in our store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.

Georgian Green Depression Glass Dinner Plate

Wow.  Just got some eBay feedback love that was awfully good to see.  I had some Red Wing china and sold the last few pieces a few weeks ago.  Customer’s comment was “VERY PLEASED with Random Harvest cups/saucers! EXCELLENT PACKING, RECOMMEND 5*s”

This was great to see since some of the last few didn’t sound like the customers were as happy with their purchases as I strive to deliver.

Surface wear is the hardest to describe.  What’s bad wear to one person may be minor to another, and exhaustively describing every utensil mark is tedious to read and not helpful.  I usually give the wear a rating, e.g., “noticeable” or “very light” and show a close up.  Even so I believe wear is the item that customers may not know exactly what to expect.

Chips are pretty easy too.  Describe the chip and give dimensions and show a close up.

The other thing I learned to do with damaged glass is to photograph the specific item.  The plate shown in the photo is Georgian green depression glass dinner plate.  It has wear and some icky mold marks but is otherwise in good shape.  Click on the photo expand to full size.    The person who sold it to me described it as mint because it has no chips or cracks.  It’s perception yes, but as a seller I need to be factual and accurate.   It’s hard work but my customers deserve it.

Georgian Dinner Green Depression Glass Worn Wear Close Up

Starlight Crystal Depression Glass Lunch Plate

Today I picked this plate to blog about by the most scientific of methods:  I went to my eBay store and it was the first piece in line.

Hazel Atlas’ Starlight is not quite a forgotten pattern, but it sure doesn’t get the attention and the clamor of more popular patterns, like Sharon or America Sweetheart.  That’s too bad because this is a good depression glass pattern.

• See the interesting grooves on the rim and little pressed diamonds in the center.  These catch the light and make this sparkle.
• You can put together a small set for dessert with friends or lunch.
• Affordable.  I’m offering this plate for $10 and that’s about the norm for Starlight.
• Pretty pieces.  The three large serving bowls look sharp.
• You can find bowls in cobalt blue and pink which would look great with clear plates.  Hazel Atlas made this in a soft white glass that is more translucent than their contemporaneous Platonite glassware.

All in all this is a pattern that deserves a second look.

Thank you for coming today.
Shopping information:  Please see our eBay store Vintage Elegant Depression Glass or Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass for Starlight plates, coaster ash tray and creamer.

S Pattern Stippled Rose Band Yellow Depression Glass Plate

I came across this pretty little piece of depression glass when I was getting some Dogwood out to wrap and ship to a customer.  This is S Pattern or Stippled Rose Band from MacBeth Evans.

S Pattern is like Dogwood in shape and feel with thin glass and a delicate pattern on shapes that are not round.  It doesn’t photograph well and is prettier in person.  The beautiful band on the rim has roses and leaves on a textured band – thus the name Stippled Rose Band – and the center medallion is the same rose blossom, leaves on a textured circle.

MacBeth Evans’ depression glass always amazes me with how light it feels.  This dinner plate weighs about 1 pound and it’s over 9 inches across.  Yet I’ve found very few pieces of this pattern with chips or much wear.  Somehow it combines delicacy and light weight with durability and usefulness

That’s a good combination to have.

Shopping information:  We carry Stippled Rose Band in our store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.

Sunflower Pink Depression Glass Coaster

Isn’t this a neat piece?  It’s the coaster in Jeannette’s Sunflower pink depression glass pattern.  You can this was originally meant to be dual purpose used as either a coaster or an ashtray.  If you were hosting a bridge party you would put matched ashtrays on the table between each player.  If you didn’t smoke you would use this as a coaster.  The dimple in the center elevates the glass from the flat center so the coaster doesn’t stick to your wet glass.

You probably have seen the Sunflower pattern cake plate.  It’s one of the more common pieces of depression glass because flour companies gave it away when thrifty housewives bought a big bag.  The coaster is less common, and in fact I didn’t recognize this as Sunflower, I just thought it was neat.

Thank you for visiting this week’s Pink Saturday and a big thank you to Beverly of How Sweet the Sound for organizing this fun event.

Georgian Lovebirds Green Depression Glass Dinner Plate

We call Federal’s Georgian green depression glass “Lovebirds” because it has triangles with two birds around the rim that alternate with baskets.  The rim has a geometric band and there’s a medallion in the center.

Now we come to this plate.

• Rim design:  Check.
• Center medallion:  Check
• Birds:  Oops, no birds

Yet this is Georgian from Federal Glass.  It isn’t a reproduction and it isn’t a fake.  So what happened to the birds?

For some reason Federal Glass made two versions of the dinner plate, this one that has the center medallion and rim design, and one that has the birds and baskets.  This dinner plate isn’t the only piece Federal did some change ups to fool us.  The tumblers have the baskets but no birds.  Some pieces are marked and some aren’t.

All these variations are true Georgian depression glass.  It’s one of my favorites and I buy it whenever I can for our stores.   Some pieces are hard to find, especially the tumblers, serving bowls, cereal bowls and dinner plates in good condition.  The dinner plates without birds or baskets are less expensive and mix and match well, a good choice to extend your set.  You can have birds flying around your cups and lunch plates, perching on your bread and butter plate , leave your dinner plates birdless and still set a pretty table.

Floral Poinsettia Green Depression Glass Relish

Today is a good day for a fun piece.  I’ve been kind of serious lately with exquisite stemware and etched elegant glass that reminds me of stately manors.  Today it’s back to depression glass and a beautiful springtime green piece.

This small relish is Jeannette’s Floral or Poinsettia pattern.  It’s mold etched – which was a technique to mass produce elaborate designs – with big flowers in the bottom that look to me like passion flowers but are always called poinsettias.   There is a parade of smaller flowers around the sides and the center divider and tab handles are plain.

This is an exuberant pattern that looks great in both pink and green but I like the green better.  It’s a lively pretty color with a lot of life and good cheer.  In other words, it is fun.  This is listed as a relish tray but it’s too small if you are having a party.  It’s perfect for an intimate dinner with your family and you could put the vegetables that are good for you on one side and cheese dip or whatever on the other side.  Or put carrots in one and small celery pieces in the other.  Or apples and pears.  Whatever.

Floral is a fun pattern to collect too.  Jeannette made lots of pieces and they are relatively available at moderate cost.  It’s always more interesting to seek a pattern you can find and one you can use and enjoy without worrying about its costliness.   This relish tray would make a good gift for Mothers Day or a fun shower gift, or even better, would add some fun and good cheer to your dinner table.

Shopping guide:  Jeannette Floral is available at Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.

Hocking Colonial Knife & Fork Clear Depression Glass Wine

We’ve looked at a lot of colored glass – blue, pink, green depression and elegant etched Fostoria – and I thought it would be a fun change to see some clear depression glass.

One conundrum is what to call this stuff.  My depression glass reference books by Gene Florence call colorless glass “crystal” but as a dealer I found that confused my customers.  Some see the word “crystal” and visualize the gorgeous quality lead crystal.  Ummm, nope, sorry.  This is depression glass so it’s decent quality but very far from high end lead crystal.  (Let’s not even talk about the confusion with the clear Waterford Waffle pattern.)

So I’ve taken to calling it “clear”.  This is what Replacements.com does too so I’m in good company.

The small stem you see here is the Colonial pattern from Hocking Glass.  It’s typical depression glass with a molded pattern and ordinary glass.  You may recognize the nickname Knife and Fork, which refers to the ridged design between the scallops.  Hocking made this pattern in green and pink, some yellow, some opaque white, a little blue and of course in clear.

The clear is not as enticing as the colored glass but it has its own charm.  For one thing it plays well with other colors and helps if you want to merge multiple colors.  Putting a few pieces of clear along with green and pink really helps.  For another the clear is much less expensive – true for almost all patterns – and you can add a few pieces to use every day without breaking the bank.  For another, colored depression stemware is getting harder to find.  Naturally stemware and tumblers took a beating over the past 80 years so when you can find clear stems to augment your depression set, go for it.

Buying information:  All glass shown is available at Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.

Princess Green Depression Glass 9 Deep Hat Bowl

Since St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner so let’s look at a few green items.  This is one of my favorite green depression glass patterns, Princess by Hocking Glass.  I have a large selection in pink but have to admit I prefer green to the pink.  Hocking’s green in this pattern is just a tad lighter color, a little fresher than the usual green.

I like the way the scroll designs on this pattern look like curtains sweeping away on a stage.  It makes me feel like I’m at the theater waiting for the curtain to go up and the play to begin.

Most of the Princess pieces are octagonal, really squares with the corners cut off, and this bowl is round at the top and octagonal at the base.  It is called the 9 inch deep hat-shaped bowl.  It is 9 inches across and almost 4 inches deep and it looks deeper than it is.  A bowl of this style would be great for a pasta salad, especially one with some green peppers or green rotini in it

If you like Princess depression glass be sure to check out our store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.  It’s like antiquing with your best friend.