Besides monax MacBeth Evans developed a creamier, almost beige colored glass during the depression they called Cremax or Ivrene.  Usually the Ivrene refers to the darkest shade, which is opaque and Cremax can be translucent.  They didn’t make as many pieces of Petalware in Cremax and only a little American Sweetheart.

I’ve seen American Sweetheart in Ivrene and found it rather ugly.  I didn’t buy it and don’t have a picture, but imagine the ethereal American Sweetheart on solid, flat, blah looking dark cream color.  Not so pretty.

Petalware in Ivrene can be attractive, especially decorated.  This plate is Petalware salad or lunch size in Ivrene.  At one time it had a wide gold band on the rim but it’s mostly worn off now.  The plate is translucent around the rim, unusual and I find it attractive.  It has a sophisticated look to it.

Petalware Ivrene or Cremax Depression Glass Lunch Plate

You can see the remnants of the gold border better in the picture than in person!

Besides this darker colored plate, we have a Petalware plate set that I believe is Cremax.  It’s a little darker than the monax white glass I have but no where near as dark as the Ivrene plate.  Tell me what you think.

Petalware Cremax Depression Glass Salad Plate

I just finished listed my Petalware glass in our store Catladykate’s Vintage Elegant Depression Glass.  Take a look at the different colors and decide which one you like best with this elegantly simple design.\\

American Sweetheart Monax Depression Glass Big Serving Bowl

I’m not a big fan of white as a color but I’ll make an exception for monax depression glass from MacBeth Evans.  I love this glass.  It’s thin and opalescent on the edges and the color is soft white that invites you to touch it.

MacBeth Evans used monax for American Sweetheart and Petalware in the depression era.  They made the same patterns in pink too, but I prefer the monax for both.

Monax American Sweetheart always reminds me of angels and Christmas. Maybe it’s because the glass looks so pure. It is truly lovely.  This big bowl is one of the pieces I just finished rephotographing to get listed on eBay.  It made me happy just to hold it.

Here is the monax Petalware lunch plate.

Petalware Monax Depression Glass Lunch Plate

You can imagine how appealing amateur artists found that blank white center.  You’ll find Petalware plates with tons of different decorations, from colored bands to fanciful flowers and scenes.  MacBeth Evans themselves made at least some of the decorations, the colored bands and the red flowers shown here.  This Petalware design is called Florette and makes a stunning table setting by itself or mixed with the plain white.

Petalware Monax Depression Glass Florette Decorated Plate

MacBeth Evans made monax partly to compete with china and over time their glass got thicker and lost its opalescent edge.  Their later patterns were creamy colored and had designs on the rims and of course decorations in the centers.  Chinex or Cremax are the later patterns.  They look more like dishes and not so special as the ethereal monax.

Other news for you:  I currently have two online stores, one on eBay and one on the TIAS mall.  I’m closing the TIAS store soon and am offering some exceptional coupon savings.  If you are interested in purchasing any glass then please use coupon code All10 for 10% off any order, Christmas201110 for 15% over $50 and Christmas2011 for 20% off orders over $100.  These coupons end on Christmas.

Petalware Monax White Depression Glass Plate

Soft and white and slightly translucent, this plate is Petalware from MacBeth Evans.  MacBeth Evans is the same company that made Dogwood and American Sweetheart.  They were one of the few companies that made full lines of white depression glass dinnerware and their monax white is the prettiest.  You can see the blue where the glass is thin and opalescent.

Eventually Corning Glass bought MacBeth Evans and continued making white glass dinnerware.  (Corelle anyone?)

You can find Petalware in solid white, transparent pink and white with many, many decorations.MacBeth Evans produced full sets in several designs, notably pastel bands and red flowers.  That plain center must have been irresistible to amateur painters as there are a lot of one-off designs.

I’m not normally fond of white but this is so pretty.  The glass looks thin and delicate – but it isn’t.  (After all it’s over 70 years old!)  The color is soft and tempting and of course, the white plates blend beautifully with other dinnerware, both glass and china.  Petalware is among the less costly patterns too, which makes it nice if you are starting to look at glass.

We carry Petalware depression glass including this plate in our store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.  Shopping with us is like antiquing with your best friend.

S Pattern Stippled Rose Clear Depression Glass Tall Creamer

It’s just like high school.  There are the belles of the ball, Mayfair, Cameo, American Sweetheart and Sharon.  There are popular kids, Floral, Georgian, Petalware.  Then there are the neglected ones, the ones that are charming and pretty, that just don’t have a big fan base, like Stippled Rose or S Pattern depression glass.

Stippled Rose, also called S Pattern, is delicate and pretty in clear, yellow and amber.  I had a few pieces of clear trimmed with platinum that caught your eye and last summer we found a tea set with a colored band that was intriguing.  You can put the trimmed pieces with plain crystal and have  a good looking set or seek out the yellow and amber.

This is one pattern you can mix and match colors or put together a set all one color without spending much.  Yellow and amber plates are $10 to $15 and even tumblers and serving pieces are quite affordable.  It’s also a pattern that doesn’t seem prone to damage, just like MacBeth Evans’ better known American Sweetheart or Petalware depression glass.

Why not take our Stippled Rose out for a date?  We have a few pieces at Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass where shopping with us is like antiquing with your best friend.

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.

American Sweetheart Monax White Depression Glass Tidbit

A lot of depression glass patterns included tidbits in their line up which were meant to be fancy serving pieces for little cakes, tarts and candies.  People use these for weddings, showers and open house type events where guests can serve themselves.  The tidbits look special and make even store-bought cupcakes look great.

Recently I bought a set of American Sweetheart monax white depression glass which included this neat piece.  It’s the original vintage depression glass assembly – in fact the metal has a patina (aka tarnish).

My only problem is that I am hopeless with tools and taking things apart.  So I’ll ship this to the lucky winner intact.  I have a lot of confidence in my packing abilities, just not so much in disassembly!

Original tidbits like this usually have two plates.  The top plate is 8 inches and the bottom is just under 12 inches.  Both have the American Sweetheart scroll design all over, including the center.

Some tidbits from the 1960s and 70s were made up from bowls or plates or a combination.  Federal’s Petal glassware is a good example where you will find several interesting ways to combine pieces.

From what I’ve read, this is the typical configuration for American Sweetheart.  You can imagine this with holiday goodies, maybe trimmed with a bit of greenery or ribbon.  The white monax is perfect for wintertime and Christmas!

American Sweetheart Monax Translucent White Depression Glass Oval Platter

It’s Friday!   Another week nearly done and the wonderful weekend blossoming.  I do like Fridays!

Last weekend I bought a set of American Sweetheart white depression glass.  MacBeth Evans made American Sweetheart in the translucent white glass shown here and pink.

The lady who sold this to me had it displayed with some gorgeous Flow Blue china and cranberry Fenton glass.  The color combination was incredible and I’m showing you one of the cranberry pieces.  What makes this combination pop is the opalescent white hobs on the pitcher pick up the white in the platter.

This platter is offered with free US shipping in our eBay store and the link will take you to all our American Sweetheart listings.  I must get busy this weekend and list my new pieces for you.

Fenton Glass Hobnail Cranberry Opalescent Pitcher

MacBeth Evans American Sweetheart Monax White Depression Glass Cup

We’ve talked before about the way I buy glass, which is from local flea markets, estate sales and eBay. Locally I can usually find elegant glass but depression glass in good condition is getting scarce. Last time we went to the flea market I left behind some Normandie, Sharon and Madrid glass that was worn.

We were able to get some nice glass at an estate sale but they had more elegant glass than depression, and again the depression glass was priced sky high. So most of my depression glass comes from eBay which is good and bad. It’s good because I can get glass that I won’t find here and it keeps me in tune with the market. Most important, my experiences – good and bad – have made me more aware of the need for descriptions that are as accurate as possible and a full money back guarantee that includes return shipping when I goof. That leads me to the bad.

About half my eBay purchases have had problems, usually small nicks that weren’t disclosed and rarely there’s a problem with shipping. Like I said, I’ve learned from mistakes, both mine and others, and now take exhaustive care to get the descriptions spot on.

What has this to do with American Sweetheart you ask? I’m excited to tell you that my last four purchases were American Sweetheart monax cups, saucers, 8 inch plates, sherbets and the elusive oval platter. And all the pieces were in perfect condition – which is great! I have the cups and saucers listed now and the rest will follow soon.

MacBeth Evans Petalware Florette Decorated Monax Depression Glass

We’ve had a couple posts about MacBeth Evans Petalware depression glass, the more recent is about the monax white Petalware and the other looks at the pink Petalware depression glass. This will be our last post about Petalware for a while, but it is such a neat pattern that so many creative people felt compelled to decorate that I wanted to show you a couple of the designs.

This plate is the Florette design which has red flowers and leaf sprays hand painted.  You can see this is a simple design that effectively decorates the plain center and looks great on the translucent white glass.

The other one we’ll show is an older piece we no longer have (so there are no links and the photo is poor) but it shows the darker cremax color and one of the striped designs.   From what I’ve read there were several versions of the stripes in different colors, including a pastel one with blue and pink stripes.  This saucer is bold colored.

Petalware Stripe Trimmed Saucer

The last one to show is a gold-trimmed design.  The gold comes off easily with an eraser and it should not be washed in the dishwasher.  Of course you would avoid washing any depression glass in the dishwasher to avoid heat stressing it.

Petalware Monax Gold Trimmed Dinner Plate