Fostoria Glass Chintz Etched Crystal 4-Toed Wing Handled Large Salad Bowl

Looking for that perfect large bowl for your specialty salad and want something out of the ordinary with looks and pizazz?  When I look at this beautiful etched crystal bowl I think Caesar salad – you know, full of crisp romaine lettuce, all garlicky and crunchy croutons.  The handles would make it easy to hold (the bowl is well balanced) and pass around the table, always assuming I want to share.

When Fostoria made this piece they showed it as part of a console set.  Console sets were decorations that had a big bowl and two candle holder that people set on a side table.  That’s a nice idea, but today we look for glass that is not only decorative but useful too.  I expect that the lucky person who buys this will leave it displayed on a table or on their shelf and get it out when they want a special bowl for salad or fruit.  We use a glass bowl for melon balls with blackberries and blueberries in the summer that looks fabulous.

A piece like this makes a superb wedding gift to the new couple or an anniversary gift for those who enjoy fine home furnishings with a vintage touch.

We specialize in Chintz etched glassware from Fostoria and have a good selection.  Shopping with us is like antiquing with your best friend.  We love glass and we want to share our enjoyment with others.  See us at Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass for Chintz and other beautiful patterns from Fostoria, Cambridge and depression glass makers.

Fostoria Glass Buttercup Etched Crystal Torte Cake Plate

Buttercups, crystal and cake, what an entrancing combination.  Every time I see this large etched plate with the sweet rolled up rim I visualize it holding a special cake for a birthday party or wedding shower.  This pattern with the all over wide open flowers, leaves and scrolls is called Buttercup and it comes to us from Fostoria Glass.

Buttercup is one of those patterns that brides got for wedding gifts in the early 1950s and now are passing on to their families.  It’s a sleeper pattern with ever more people collecting it and looking for pieces to augment what they got from their mom or grandmother.  I buy Buttercup when I can and this particular piece came from an estate sale where the mother was in ill health and moving to assisted living.

This plate is called a torte plate in the Fostoria catalogs so consider it a large cake plate.  It’s 14 inches wide so you can put almost any size or shape cake on it, or use it for your special breakfast muffins or beautifully decorated cupcakes or even sandwiches.  Using special serving pieces is a good way to make your table even more special.

If you want a special cake plate for that special day, consider a vintage etched piece like this.  It will make your day even more memorable.

Fostoria Glass Lido Etched Crystal Baroque Bowl

This is one of my favorite pieces.  I love the beautiful etch that looks like a milkweed puff or fireworks.  This is Fostoria’s Lido etch, one of their 1940s patterns (1937 to 1954) so they used the Baroque and Sceptre blanks.  The big salad or console bowl is Baroque and you can see the fleur de lis on the sides.

Fostoria made a few pieces of azure blue Lido which are extraordinarily beautiful pieces of American glassware.  The crystal is stunning and the etch is graceful, all over puffs.

The next piece is the water goblet.  You can see why this is called the Sceptre blank – look at the tiers of points just under the bowl.

Fostoria Glass Lido Etched Crystal Water Goblet

For some reason this pattern is not as well known as the contemporaneous Chintz or Navarre etched glass.  If you like this it is still quite reasonably priced for mid-century Fostoria, with the water goblet running about $15-30.   I expect that this design, like others made around this same time, will become more collected as the people who bought this originally as young brides begin to downsize and pass on their cherished glass to their families.

This is a gorgeous pattern and one I hope you enjoy.

Central Glass Crystal Leaf & Border Etched Champagne

Every time I see this I imagine being with my sweetheart on a moonlit beach drinking champagne.  There is something about vintage crystal stemware that is just so romantic.

This particular piece is especially enticing since it rings like a bell when you touch it and the etched design is unusual and such a superb combination of geometry and graceful movement.  You can see the Greek key – like design around the border and make out the fan shaped leaves around the base.

Central Glass, which made this Leaf and Border pattern, made several designs that used the entire base of the bowl.  Below I’m showing Floral Trumpets which has the majority of the etch on the bottom of the bowl barely peeping into the side.

Ah well.  It’s winter here and a bit nippy for champagne on the beach.  Maybe that fireplace will work…

Central Glass Crystal Floral Trumpets Etched Champagne Sherbet

Central Glass Thistle Etched Crystal Cocktail Vintage Stemware

I’m partial to Central Glass etched patterns – they have a flowing grace you can see on this cocktail stem.  Central went out of business in the early depression years and all their beautiful glass is but a memory.

If you like this etch, you are in good company.  President and Mrs. Harding used this crystal for their every day glassware in the 1920s at the White House.  (One of the Harding’s other glass patterns, also by Central, has griffens and flowing swags and scrolls, and is called Harding.)

Pretty little cocktail is small, only about 4 inches tall and holds about 3 ounces.  It’s a nice size for a apertif or after dinner cocktail or brandy.  I have stems this size from my parents that I use for Irish Mist.  The right glass makes a difference.  It makes your evening more special to drink out of a vintage glass that you know will never be made again.

Imperial Glass got many molds and remade some patterns, but not this one.  This is Thistle etch.  Tiffin made a similar etched pattern, also called Thistle.  This particular little stem is Central’s, line number 1241.

I try to carry Central Glass but have only a few lines, this one, plus a few pieces of Floral Trumpets and Etch 404 Leaf and Border and Scott’s Morning Glory stemware. I’m going to add a search box for TIAS and an eBay listing selection at the end of this article. The eBay selection may have some oddball listings included since I ran it open for Central Glass. Both are affiliate links.

Fostoria Glass Chintz Etched Crystal Tall Water Goblet

We always have Fostoria’s Chintz etched glass in stock.  And I have several of the tall water goblets.  So why didn’t I sell any to Christmas shoppers this year?  Because they were in a box and not listed.  Oh my.  I sold out of a listing earlier and forgot to add more inventory.

Now that I’ve shown you how not to get this popular pattern out for others to enjoy, let’s look at this vintage stemware.  Fostoria made this from 1940 to 1973 and only in crystal.  You can immediately recognize this design because the etch looks spiky.  The rose stems trail around the goblet bowl and they have thorns and pointy leaves.  There is no center medallion and it isn’t symmetrical.

Fostoria made two sizes of water goblets, the taller one like this shown here that is 7 5/8 inches tall and holds about 10 ounces filled to the brim, and a shorter one that is 6 inches tall.  Think of the shorter goblet as a stemmed tumbler.  It doesn’t look as goblet-y as this tall on on the long elegant stem.

I’m aware of 10 different stemware sizes in Chintz.  There are the two water goblets, a claret wine which looks like the water but is only about 5 1/2 inches tall, the ice tea, which holds the most and has no stem beyond a chunky ball with wafers, two sizes of sherbets, a cocktail which looks like a sherbet but slightly narrower and 5 inches tall, a juice glass, oyster cocktail, and of course, a cordial.  As usual, the cordial is the most expensive, about $80 each.

Fostoria’s Chintz is relatively available and moderately priced.  We have the water goblets listed at $50 each with free shipping.

If you are looking for a vintage etched stemware pattern, consider Fostoria’s Chintz etch.  It’s got a lot of looks and goes very well with contemporary dinnerware.

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.

Fostoria Glass Garland Etched Crystal Wine Vintage Stemware

Isn’t this a cute stem?  The etch has two circular wreaths  connected with swags to the floral design you can see facing you.  I included a second photo below to show the wreath motif.  Now, one thing to be aware of with vintage stemware is the size.

This one is technically called a “wine” but it is a lot smaller than the goblets you will buy today for wine.  Back in the day when these were made – 1920s – people tended to serve wine with dinner and might serve more than one selection.  Thus the individual serving sizes were smaller.  This one is 5 1/4 inches tall and holds only a little over 2 ounces.  Today this is the size we use for small liqueurs or cocktails.

So back to our question.  Why would you enjoy this?  Simple.  This etch is beautiful, the shape is classic and simple, and no one of your friends will have this.  You won’t have to worry about going to someone else’s home and finding the same glasses on the table.

We have quite a few patterns in vintage stemware, from Fostoria, Cambridge and others.  This is stemware week and I’m going to show off a few designs for you over the next few days.

Fostoria Glass Garland Etched Wine Goblet

Fostoria Glass Buttercup Etched Crystal Torte Plate

The next time you have a party and are searching for a plate you can use for all the cookies or little crackers with cheese, you’ll be glad you have this large etched crystal torte plate.

Yes, this is a bit fancier than the plastic nosh trays from the Walmart deli.  It’s something your friends will notice and remember.

This particular plate is from Fostoria Glass and the etched design is called Buttercup.  The pattern has lavish flowers and scrolls all over, even in the center.  This is a super nice piece!

We have quite a few large platters, chop plates, torte plates, cake plates and serving trays in our stores.  Go ahead and check us out.  Be prepared for the next time you have a crowd over!

Vintage Etched Crystal Stemware - Rose Point Cocktail

Have some Christmas to do?  Here’s the start to our gift buying guide for 2009 Christmas and the fall holidays.

Vintage etched crystal stemware is a great gift for your friends who love wine or like to try out a new cocktail every week.  Wouldn’t this super elegant cocktail stem be great for that person who likes a martini in the evening?

You can find any shape or size stem you want in vintage crystal.

Do you have a friend who likes cordials and after dinner liquors?  They’ll enjoy a quiet moment after dinner relaxing with a small wine glass that holds an ounce or two.

Is your sister a wine afficiando?  Then you have a huge choice!  Wine goblets are wide, short, narrow, tall, clear, plain, colored and crystal.  Find the style she will like!

Vintage stemware is a welcome gift and we make it easy to buy with clear photos and our complete money back guarantee!