Hazel Atlas Florentine Poppy #2 Yellow Depression Glass Pitcher

Yellow must have been a popular color during the depression because depression glass manufacturers made several patterns in yellow and makers such as Fostoria did extensive lines in topaz.

So what’s the right name for this color?  Is it yellow?  Topaz?  Canary?  Vaseline?  Yellow is certainly the color name.   Hocking called their Cameo and Block Optic yellow.   Nothing fancy!

Some glass makers had their own terms for glass colors.  Fostoria called their yellow Topaz; check this link for Fostoria June etched topaz glass.  They called an almost identical color Gold Tint.  Ah yes.  Marketing ploys were alive and well in the 1930s!  (On a side note Fostoria was known for astute marketing.)

Older yellow Early America Pressed Glass (made in the late 1880s) is called canary but I’ve not seen this term used for depression-era glass.  I visualize canary as a vivid, bright yellow and my dictionary defines it as light to vivid which isn’t a lot of help!

Vaseline strictly speaking refers to glass that is light yellow or greenish yellow and glows green in ultraviolet light, but you will see people call anything that glows under black light vaseline.

Yellow is a cheerful sunshine color that looks great in glass.  The 1930s era glass isn’t an in-your-face eyesore color, but a pretty, soft pleasing tone that blends well with other colors and looks great by itself.

If you like yellow glass then patterns I recommend:

• Hazel Atlas Florentine #1 or #2, aka Poppy.  The pitcher shown is the Florentine #2.  These two patterns are identical but on different shapes and come in yellow, green, pale pink and clear.  The colors look wonderful together.
• Hocking Cameo also called Dancing Girl or Ballerina.  I like this pattern a lot and it is relatively easy to find, comes in lots of pieces and is moderately priced.
• Hocking Block Optic is art deco styling and is also fun to collect with many pieces to find and rather inexpensive.
• Fostoria Trojan etch or June.  These are more costly but gorgeous.  And fun to collect with plenty of pieces.

There are more yellow patterns, but these are excellent starting points.

Fostoria Trojan Topaz Yellow Bread & Butter Plate

When I first saw Trojan in person I was amazed how pretty it is.  It doesn’t look appealing in the books, in fact it looks rather formal and stiff, but it’s gorgeous in person.  The first piece I ever saw was the large scroll handled console bowl and the etch was just perfect.

The design is a spade-shaped fan or palm leaf shape with scrolls and swags.  The individual palm leaves are rounded and don’t connect to each other.

Fostoria used their very elegant Fairax blank for the pieces and stemware.  Take a look at this plate and you can see that it is 12 sided, not really circular.  Stemware has a little faceted knob about an inch below the bowl that makes it easy to hold.

We try to have Trojan in stock at all times and I’ve found that sales are sporadic.  There are some serious collectors who want one of every piece and then other customers who have a few pieces and want to get enough more that they have a usable set.  For instance, small plates like these are nice to serve dessert or cheese and crackers.  You could use these with the wine goblets and have a very sharp looking set for your next wine and cheese get together with friends.

Fostoria Trojan Topaz Wine Stem

Isn’t this pretty?  I used to have two of these stems and brought one down from my glass room to list in my store.  Like a dummy I was carrying several things loose – since I took them out of the box - and naturally this is the piece I dropped!

Ouch.  This little stem is Fostoria Trojan topaz wine goblet, which is pretty small and only holds about 3 ounces.  I was going to list two at $80 each and now I’ll just list one.

Oh well, that’s the breaks when you handle glass!

Just to make sure you have something to look at, here is all the current Fostoria Trojan glass listed on eBay.

Hazel Atlas Royal Lace Green Depression Glass Cup

Are you confused about all the glass terms out there?  Like what is the difference between depression glass and elegant glass?  If  you are like I was when I first found glass in 1999 you are feeling more than a little bewildered!  No surprise, glass collecting, just like any field, tends to collect jargon and strange terms. 

Let me share with you some basics and each post we’ll learn a little more. 

When I started with glass, I was simply amazed that there were so many people out there who own glass, collect it, want to buy it and who simply enjoy it.  I found glass because I found eBay.   I always wanted to own my own business and as soon as I found eBay I said “I can do this!”  I went to auctions and bought glass and resold it – mostly at a small profit – but quickly learned that in order to do well I needed to learn more. 

Luckily with glass there are many reference books out there, some incrediby good and some rather poor.  If you are just starting, check your local library as many libraries have the basic books by Gene Florence which are good.  The other way to learn is to read online.  Back in 1999 there weren’t many great sites or blogs where you could get educated so I spent a lot of time on eBay looking at pictures, reading descriptions and sorting through the maze of information and misinformation. 

Some basics first:

1. Depression glass refers to glassware made roughly during the depression era, or about 1928 to 1940.  It usually means glass made in the US although other countries made glass then too, of course.  Depression glass came in sets, was mass produced, was inexpensive or even given away as premiums. 
2. Not all depression glass is colored.  It’s true that colored glass is more popular than clear but there are many patterns that are extremely attractive in clear.  Clear depression glass is also called “crystal” but don’t let the term fool  you; it does not mean the glass is lead crystal or good quality.
3. Not all colored glass is depression glass.  Some is more recent than 1940 and would be referred to as Glass from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and some higher quality glass is classified as elegant glass. 
4. Depression glass in well-known patterns is sometimes called “Adam to Windsor” because there are some 70-90 recongized patterns that could fit alphabetically in that range.  Other pieces are more generic.

Elegant glass was made from the 1920s on and included some handwork.  Companies like Fostoria Glass, Cambridge Glass, Heisey Glass, Tiffin, Fry and Central, produced colored and clear glass that was usually higher quality.  One easy way to tell elegant glass is the underside base rims were often ground smooth vs. molded.

The piece below is Fostoria’s Trojan etched console bowl, which dates from the late 1920s and is shown here in topaz yellow.  This is a type of elegant glass.

Fostoria Glass Trojan Etched Topaz Yellow 3-Toed Console Bowl

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