New Martinsville Glass Radiance Hughes Cornflower Cut Crystal Sugar Bowl

No, it isn’t Mickey Mouse.  Those wing handles sure look like big ears, don’t they.  This is the Radiance glassware from the depression era made by New Martinsville Glass and with the luscious Cornflower cutting.

New Martinsville made several patterns like this one during the depression era that had lots of style and pizazz.  Some popular New Martinsville designs are Radiance, shown here, and Janice.  Radiance has those neat looking vertical little raindrops on the sides and those retro solid handles.

Depending on who you listen to and what book you read, Radiance is elegant glass or it’s depression glass.  It is good quality with some hand finished details like ground base rims which qualifies it for elegant glass status.  New Martinsville made Radiance in colors plus crystal.

The Cornflower cutting is a design from Hughes in Canada.  It’s distinctive with cross-hatching in the flower centers and feathery flower petal edges.  It’s a great combination with this snazzy Radiance shape.  The photo below shows this cutting up close so you can enjoy.

Hughes Cornflower Cutting Detail on Radiance Crystal

Elegant Glass: Early, Depression, & Beyond by Coe & Coe

Welcome to Book Report Sunday.  Tonight is my favorite reference book for elegant glass, Elegant Glass: Early, Depression, & Beyond by Coe & Coe.

Elegant glass is “good glass”, the sort that people bought at jewelry and high end department stores, by makers like Fostoria, Cambridge, Heisey.  It took skilled artisans to produce this glassware because it took quite a bit of hand work.  Seams were minimized by fire polishing and bottoms were ground.  The etching and cut decorations were done on each piece individually.

If you want detailed coverage of one specific manufacturer you can find books that cover only one company.  I counted at least nine books about Fostoria Glass and there are about that many about Cambridge too.  This book covers patterns from many companies from the 1920s through the 1970s.

Good Points about this Book:

• Excellent clear photos
• Comprehensive lists of pieces.
• Dimensions are given for almost everything.  For example goblets are given in terms of the volume they hold and height which is very helpful
• The value guide is realistic.  Of course it is too high sometimes and too low for others but in general this is reasonably good and very useful.
• I like the way it shows the different colors and gives values for those.
• It makes no pretense to try and put a dollar price on extremely rare pieces especially on very popular patterns
• The book includes glass from the depression era through the 1970s.  Other general elegant books limit themselves to certain eras only

Could Be Improved:

• Of course more patterns would be even better.
• I would like to see more descriptive information.  For example, Cambridge etched Rose Point on at least five different blanks and it would be great to see them photographed together so you can get a feel for the distinctive characteristics of each.  The price list includes the blank numbers but you have to hunt around to find a picture that will show the blank.

Overall this is a superb book that you need if you intend to collect, enjoy or sell elegant glass.  I rely on this book as one of my primary reference tools.  The link above is an affiliate link.

Cambridge Glass Etch 727 Green Elegant Depression Console Bowl

Recently Bill of Affordable Accoutrements, who writes the most enjoyable blog posts about his imaginative tablescapes, mentioned that he prefers elegant glass to depression glass.  That got me thinking.  Which do you prefer?  Which do I prefer?

For me it’s not as easy a choice as it once was.  When I first started with glass my top 1, 2 and 3 would have been elegant glass.  I appreciated the handwork that went into making these, the skilled craftsmanship, high quality and great clarity and the gorgeous designs.  How can you beat an etched pattern like the Cambridge green bowl?

The more I worked with depression glass the more I liked it.  Here’s why.

Depression glass is colored and the transparent greens, blues, ambers, yellows and pinks are beautiful spots of color.  Glass looks wonderful when it catches the light and depression glass adds its charming colors.

Depression glass has some truly beautiful patterns.  The piece below is a simple sherbet from Hazel Atlas, Florentine Poppy 1 green depression glass.  The pattern is mold etched so it can be mass produced, but isn’t this a pretty design?

Florentine Poppy 2 Green Depression Glass Cup

But I keep coming back to the colors.  It’s the colors in depression glass that have the siren call.

What about elegant glass?  Isn’t there elegant glass that is colored?  Yes, of course.  Top end glass makers like Fostoria, Cambridge and Tiffin went headlong into the colored ware during the early 1930s.

In fact, that’s why this post started off with the Cambridge green console bowl, elegant colored glass of the depression era.  Wow, what a great compromise!   We can have beautiful colors, high end workmanship, gorgeous design and great quality.   That’s what you call a happy ending.

Duncan Miller Sylvan Crystal Leaf Shaped Covered Candy Dish

Isn’t this a gorgeous dish?  It looks just like a leaf with the stem curled up to form the handle.  This Sylvan is from Duncan Miller Glass, who had the slogan “Loveliest Glassware in America”.  You can see how true this slogan was by the pure clarity of this glass.

Unfortunately Duncan Miller went out of business in 1955.  Tiffin / U. S. Glass bought several of the molds and continued making some of the patterns, mostly Canterbury and some of the animal figurines.

Heisey Glass Lariat Crystal Caramel Candy Box

Now that we’re nearly done eating the Christmas candy and facing the annual New Year’s time to consider dieting, let’s look at candy dishes.  After all, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and candy dishes always make fine gifts.  (If you store your candy in a pretty dish you’re less likely to eat it too.  Side benefit.)

This neat looking piece is Heisey Lariat crystal low caramel dish.  The glass books usually show a taller, more spherical dish with lid as a candy jar in Lariat, so this is a little less common.

Heisey made Lariat the last few years they were in business, from 1942 to 1957, and it was meant to compete with Imperial Glass’ successful Candlewick.  You can see the small loops around the outer edge of the bowl; this is the design.  The loop motif is repeated in the lid finial.  The molded shape on top the lid is a flower, perhaps a calla lily.  Take a look at the next picture to get a better idea.

Heisey Glass Lariat Crystal Caramel Dish

I’ve had this candy dish for a long time since I got it at one of the first auctions we went to when I had the brilliant notion of buying glass to sell on eBay.  I figured out it was Lariat pretty quickly but it took a long time to decide which piece it is.  Heisey made a myriad of pieces – they even had a special bowl for marshmallow – and this one wasn’t listed or photographed in my books.  Finally I came across mention of a low candy or caramel dish and the mystery was solved.

If you like crystal patterns where the central focus is the glass itself you may enjoy Lariat.  You can find a few pieces with etchings but to me that is gilding the lily.  The glass is superb, beautifully clear, and solid.  The pattern is more handsome in person than in photographs.  It doesn’t seem too prone to damage, either, despite the protruding loops.

Fostoria June Etched Topaz Elegant Depression Glass Candleholder

Isn’t this pretty? It is the footed candleholder in Fostoria Glass June etch. June has flowers tied with ribbons and bows and is an exquisite etched pattern from the depression era.

In a previous post about June candleholders I showed the taller candlestick with rolled scroll edge, pure art deco design. This time we’re showing the shorter candleholders that are little three-footed scalloped bowls with a candle cup in the middle. Back in the heyday of elegant depression glass makers like Fostoria, Cambridge or Heisey made several candleholder shapes with their best etched patterns and they made several bowl shapes with flared edges or rolled rims to display with the candleholders in a console set.

Just to show you the diversity, mouse over the little boxes to see more Fostoria candles!