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.
