Fostoria Glass Coin Ruby Red Candle Holder for Christmas

Last week we covered several of our stemware listings in honor of the upcoming holiday feasts.  Much as I like vintage etched crystal goblets I was glad to finish the week up and move to a new topic.  So what’s up this week?

This week marks the kickoff of the Christmas holiday and buying season – although many of you might have all your gifts nicely wrapped and tagged hiding under the bed – and others of you probably procrastinate till Christmas eve.  Nonetheless, in honor of the week, I want to show off one of our Christmas glass pieces, this ruby red candle holder from Fostoria.

This pattern is called Coin and those satin round sections look like little coins.  Originally in the 1880s coin patterns mimicked US coins but this was frowned on by the folks that worry about counterfeiting.  The later designs look coin-ish but don’t replicate any real US coinage designs.

Fostoria made Coin from 1958 to 1982.  When Fostoria went bankrupt in the mid 1980s Lancaster Colony bought many molds, including Coin.  Lancaster Colony then remade many of the pieces.  These reproductions / remakes were priced high enough initially that they didn’t crash the market for the original vintage pieces.

Lancaster also made a few pieces for Avon that today are very slow sellers.  (As in they don’t sell.)  Some of the remade pieces included the urn, creamer and sugar, salver (which is a fancy name for a big plate), nappy (which is a fancy name for a smallish bowl), cigarette holder, candy jar, covered bowl and oval bowl.

Lancaster Colony did not remake the ruby candle holders.  These are the original vintage pieces.

Jeannette Gass Cherry Blossom Pink Depression Glass Butter Dish with Lid

Quick! What is pink and beautiful with flowers all over? Jeannette’s Cherry Blossom depression glass, that’s what. Cherry Blossom was made through most of the depression, 1930 to 1939, an unusually long time. 

It is a very pretty pattern with some highly unusual and rare pieces.  According to Gene Florence’sCollector’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass there have been only two authentic pink salt and pepper shaker sets ever confirmed – although you can find shakers listed online. It was such a popular pattern that during the 1970s several companies made reproduction pieces. It’s always worrisome to buy something when you fear it might be a reproduction, but there has been enough research published to help all of us find and enjoy the real depression glass.

The Cherry Blossom pink butter dish with lid shown here can be authenticated by the fact the lid has two narrow bands around the skirt.  This is shown in the next photo.   If you choose to collect Cherry Blossom you would be wise to buy one or two good depression glass books and become familiar with the various reproductions.  Most are easily told but there are some pieces that are harder to distinguish.