Etched Drops & Bands Etched Vintage Crystal Stemware

I wish I knew who did this.  It’s a simple shape with straight stem and rounded bowl with straight sides.  The etch – or sand blast – is a solid band with joined lines that have little dangles hanging down.

So who did it?  One possibility is Tiffin.  They made a stem that Gene Florence called Tiara and the Replacements book Tiffin is Forever A Stemware Identification Guide calls SB 602, sand blast.  The top design just above the solid band on the Tiffin picture shows linked circles and mine is plain above the solid band.

OK, what other possibilities?

Another idea is Seneca number 283, which is similar but also not quite a perfect match.  Seneca 283 has a thin double line above the band.

Anyone else have an idea?  These are obviously old, my guess is they go back to around World War 2 based on the style of the etch and the shape of the glass.  They are reasonably good quality but not high end.

These were most likely meant to be wine goblets but they are small for our contemporary tables where we tend to use goblets that hold 8 ounces or more for wine.  Today these would be perfect for an apertif or after dinner brandy.

Back in the era when there were many makers of fine quality glass in eastern United States the companies often had similar wares, similar designs, similar colors, similar etches.  This is partly because good ideas travel but also the artisans moved around.  Companies traded molds.  Other companies specialized in decorations and made no glass but decorated other makers’ ware.  These situations make it difficult to identify some pieces.

That’s ok though.  We can enjoy the glass even when we can’t call it by name.

Stippled Rose S Pattern Clear Depression Glass Tall Creamer

Isn’t this pretty with the band of stylized flowers and trailing leaf swags?  This pattern is S Pattern, called Stippled Rose, and MacBeth Evans made it from 1930 to 1933.   From what I’ve read, collectors sought this glassware when depression glass collecting first became popular, but it is not so well-known today.

Like most MacBeth Evans output, S Pattern is thin and much sturdier than it looks.  I’ve had several pieces over the years and very few have had any damage problems.  The shapes are smooth and the pieces don’t have sharp corners or ridges to get nicked.

MacBeth Evans made this in yellow, amber, clear, and clear with trim.  We had several pieces in clear with silver that were beautiful and sold quickly.  The amber is a true amber color while the yellow is a soft light topaz color, not so bright as Hocking’s or Hazel Atlas’ yellow.   I’m showing the amber lunch plate so you can see the color and intricate design.

Stippled Rose S Pattern Amber Depression Glass 8 1/2 Lunch Plate

Oddly enough, this is one of the least expensive mold-etched depression patterns, even in colors.   For example, we’ve got this creamer listed for $17.99 with free shipping in our eBay store.  Even the tumblers are affordable, under $25 each.  Most of the mold etched designs, like American Sweetheart, tend to be a little more expensive than the same color in a simpler pattern, like Petalware.

You can collect a nice sized set of Stippled Rose, including the usual plates, cups, sherbets.  There is only one place setting bowl and it’s called a cereal although it’s only 5 1/2 inches across, the usual size for a berry bowl or sauce dish.  You can find two different pitchers and a cake plate and a serving bowl, plus four sizes of tumblers.  So consider collecting Stippled Rose if you would like a medium sized, very pretty mold etched depression glass pattern that won’t send you to the poor house.

We don’t have many pieces of this in stock, so I’m putting in a search box so you can look at the TIAS mall for more pieces.  TIAS stands for The Internet Antique Store and is where I have my store, Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.  This is an affiliate link.

Monongah Glass Secretaries Primrose Flower Etched Water Goblet

It can be tough figuring out what you have.  If you have mystery glass and you want to sell it, where do you go.  If you have a few pieces and want more, how do you find them.  Let me give you a few tips.

There are lots of good reference books and your library will likely have a couple.  The basic depression glass books by Gene Florence or Barbara Mauzy are excellent to help you figure out what pattern  you have.  If you have etched glass it might be a little harder since there were many etched patterns and you probably don’t want to spend a fortune buying glass books that cover every maker.  There are good general books by Gene Florence and Coe and Coe that are good starting points.

You can search on eBay.  Try to narrow  your search by deciding what category your glass probably fits into.  Is the bottom rim ground smooth?  Then it’s probably Elegant glass.

Another good site is the Glass Etch and Pattern Gallery.  You can search by design motif.  I used to use Replacements website but they changed it now so you get pictures of individual pieces which makes it too time consuming to search.

You can ask someone whom you think might know.  You can ask me.  I can identify many depression and elegant patterns – but I have no expertise in European glass, carnival glass, recent glass – and  you are welcome to ask.  I’ve changed my method for requests and ask that you abide by this.  Here’s what you can do to ask for my help:

1. Go to my Catladykate’s Elegant and Depression Glass page on Facebook.  The URL is www.DepressionGlassFun.com.
2. Click Photos.
3. Click Create a Photo Album
4. Add your photos and a brief description of the glass and why you are interested.
5. Drop me a note to Kathy@catladykate.com and ask for help.

Your photos will be there for all the fans and community to see.  That’s going to give you  a better chance of someone recognizing your glass for you.

Please don’t send photos to my email.  I use a webmail viewer and the inbox cannot handle the large file size photos.

I ask that you honor this request and in return I will do what I can to help you.

And the goblet featured?  This is Secretaries Primrose by Monogah Glass.  I show it because Replacements kindly identified it for me.

Duncan Millder Sandwich Glass 10 inch Deep Fruit Bowl

Nice bowl, right?  Yes, it is Duncan Miller Sandwich pattern, good quality glass, nice ground base, useful salad bowl, rather hard to find size, so on and so forth.  So what’s not to like?  If you collect this pattern – and I hope you do – this is a choice piece you will be glad to own.

This is a cautionary tale about relying on published price guides.

Don’t get me wrong, Gene Florence and his fellow authors do a superb job cataloging glass and making it accessible to everyone.  Without the books buying glass is a leap in the unknown.

The problem comes in when you rely solely on the published values to buy or sell.  About two years after I started my business a collector offered me her entire collection of Duncan Miller Sandwich glass.  This was a huge collection filled with unique pieces like candelabras, nut cups, cigarette boxes.

Like an idiot I relied only on my trusty reference books to set prices.  I put rare pieces out on eBay with buy it nows of exactly book value.  I put common-as-grass pieces out the same way.  Needless to say I have very few rare pieces left and lots of the hard to sell stemware, cups and saucers.   I found this salad bowl hiding in a box, which is why it’s still available.

Do buy the books.  I highly recommend Gene Florence’s Collector’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass and Coe’s Elegant Glass.  Both are excellent with good photos.  These books are responsible for glass being so popular to collect:  It is easy to know what you have, easy to have a clue to the value, and fun to learn more.  Just don’t rely on the book values without doing more research and some sanity checking.

Cambridge Glass Achilles Cut Vintage Stemware

Recently Esmeralda R contacted me for help identifying her glass.  She found my Cambridge Rose Point etched stemware on the 3121 blank, which has the three knobs you see in this photo and is distinctive.  She sent me one photo and I was able to identify the cutting as Achilles by Cambridge.

This is nice stemware!  I wish I had some for her.  Replacements has a few pieces and I referred her to them.

Every week I get several requests like Esmeralda’s and sometimes we both luck out and I can help.  Sometimes not.

If you have glass you would like help with, I am willing to try provided it is something in the general area that we carry, depression glass, etched glass, not art glass or Early American Pattern Glass.   Please be courteous and ask first and send only one photo that is under 1 mb in size.  I cannot accept emails with multiple large files as they crash my inbox.  My other requirement is that I like to show some of these to you, my glass-loving readers.

It’s fun to identify glass!

Really Nice 3-Toed Pink Depression Glass Bowl

Isn’t this a neat piece of pink depression glass?  Unfortunately I’ve no idea what it is or who made it.  It’s similar to a Hocking pattern, which Replacements lists as AHC37, but that design does not have the interesting zig zags on the bottom.

It’s about 7 inches wide and stands on three small feet and has a wavy rim, very nice piece.  It appears to have been mass-produced since the seams are raised slightly, thus I’ve put it under depression glass in my stores.

I got this from a guy at the local flea market who saves me his glass; as he says, “I’ll pay him a fair price”.  I did for this piece and won’t be able to sell it for much above what I paid, but it’s only fair to buy from someone who saves things for me.  My hope is to win some and come out even on the rest.

Fostoria Glass June Etched Topaz 2-Handled Bowl

Here is one of those pieces that is almost impossible to pin down.  Yes, it is Fostoria’s June etched elegant glass. Yes, it is topaz glass of the depression era. But is it the whipped cream bowl or the sweetmeat? I cannot tell! My reference books describe both pieces as having two handles and being the size this one is, 5 1/2 inches across without the handles and 7 inches long with the handles included. None of my books give the heights of these pieces and the photos that I’ve seen on websites look about the same.

I would think that a bowl for whipped cream would be a little deeper than this and a sweetmeat is basically a candy dish. We’ve had sweetmeats in Fostoria’s Lafayette glass which have been a little smaller than this.

Oh well, it is a very pretty bowl regardless what it was called originally. Today we would use it to float flowers or to hold candy or nuts, or yes, even whipped cream!