Dogwood Pink Depression Glass Tumbler

It’s cold outside and spring seems such a long time away.  Let’s cheer ourselves up with a few days of pink.  Pink isn’t just for Valentine’s Day any more.

Today I’m showing off one of our rare pieces of depression glass, the water tumbler in Dogwood depression glass from MacBeth Evans.  Tumblers are always among the more scarce pieces in vintage glassware patterns and Dogwood is no exception.  This one has the design screened on – not flat paint but a raised knobby like decoration.  It’s very pretty and this 12 ounce size is even harder to find than others.

If you like flowers you recognize the four petals as being Dogwood but for some reason this pattern is nicknamed Appleblossom.  Apple blossoms have five petals.  Maybe it’s because the design is just so pretty and feels like spring.

We have a good selection of Dogwood pink depression glass.  I was able to get several pieces from a dealer who was closing down and almost everything is in great shape.  As time passes it’s getting harder to find depression glass in such good shape, so come check us out.

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.

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!

Dogwood Pink Depression Glass Sherbet Macbeth Evans

Last month we shared the Top 10 Reasons to Collect Depression Glass.  OK, so you are convinced, but now what?  How do you start with this fun hobby?  There are so many patterns and pieces to choose among that it’s easy to get lost trying to decide which one is for you.

My advice?  Start with a book or a blog like mine or browse a website such as our eBay store, www.Catladykate.com or larger site www.CatladykatesGlass.com and see what appeals to you. Don’t worry if you can’t make up your mind just yet.

Go ahead and pick a couple pieces, maybe in different patterns or colors. You can find glass that won’t break your budget and I’m always glad to help you with shipping cost by packing glass together. Or if you find a piece you like, go ahead and email and ask about it.

The main factor is whether you like the pattern and color, but also consider how many pieces a pattern was made in, the overall price range, durability and whether it’s plentiful enough that you can realistically find something when you shop.   Depression glass that came in a wide range of pieces will be more fun to collect than one where you have only a few shapes to pick up.  The wide selection sometimes means you have more than one size of a tumbler or a serving bowl available to you.

The pattern we show here, Dogwood in pink, is a great choice.  It is very pretty (as you can see from the sherbet); there are many pieces available including tumblers and serving pieces.  MacBeth Evans made Dogwood and it is pretty durable, just like their American Sweetheart and the shapes are not prone to nicks.  It is priced in the higher medium range.  It’s about even with American Sweetheart, more than Block Optic, but well under some of the higher priced elegant patterns or hard to find depression sets.  Oddly enough the sherbet is rather expensive.  The sherbets are usually pretty inexpensive in most depression glass, in the $5-25 range, but the Dogwood pink one retails for about $40.  Cups are about $15 and serving bowls are $60, so it is affordable.  It is also available, always good.

Even if you are not sure, there are ways to reduce your risk.  If you get a few pieces in Dogwood, like the one shown here, then decide you don’t like it, you can probably sell it and move on to the next pattern.  It’s hard to sell glass well online, like on eBay, but often you can do well at garage sales if you advertise your pattern.  While I would not advise collecting depression glass to fund your retirement, you generally are going to do OK as long as you buy quality pieces in good condition.

Regardless of pattern you choose, the main thing is to start!

American Sweetheart Monax White Depression Glass Platter

Life has its ups and downs, and during the Great Depression many people had more downs than ups.  One of the ways companies enticed careful housewives to buy their products was to include premiums with their purchase.  Many depression patterns were give aways.  You could go to the movies (all day for under 10 cents) and get a free dish, or buy a 50 pound of flour and get a plate.

For us collectors this causes a dearth of some pieces that were not premiums.  Many glass companies gave customers the option to buy completer pieces – for cash which was scarce.  That’s why today we don’t see many serving pieces in some patterns, or why a few patterns have a gazillion lunch plates but almost no dinner plates.  People could afford to get free dishes but not buy the others.

Even today grocery stores sometimes offer china or what have you and the basic place settings are pretty reasonable but the additional pieces are a little more expensive.  We got our dinnerware from Kroger; maybe you did too.  If you did, think about what you bought, it was probably not every piece.  (We made a good try though!)

Even though most people only need one or two platters, but they need 4 t0 12 lunch plates, the plates are usually far easier to find and less expensive.  When you do find the serving pieces it’s a good idea to get them. The white platter is American Sweetheart monax white depression glass, which is a pattern we buy frequently.

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

MacBeth Evans Petalware Monax White Depression Glass Cream Soup

Nice cream soup bowl is monax white depression glass from MacBeth Evans.  This is their Petalware pattern. We covered pink Petalware depression glass a couple of posts ago and today let’s look at the plain white.

MacBeth Evans made a very nice translucent white glass they sold under the monax name.  They used the same white monax for American Sweetheart. They made Petalware in a darker cream shade called cremax too.

Petalware has a molded rim and plain center.   Many people found that plain center irresistible for designs!  You’ll find lots of hand painted fruits or flowers.  There are a couple of designs that are common enough that you could go about collecting; one is a simple colored bands and the other has bright red flowers called Florette.  We have the Florette red flowered plates currently in stock.