Glass Collectors Guide Pattern Identification Book
I just started listing my older depression and elegant glass pattern guides and it made me realize that some of you may not know about these wonderful resources. Collectors divide glass into lots of categories and authors wrote books about those categories.
Top Collectible Glass Categories
- Depression glass is mass produced glass from the late 1920s up to about 1941.
- Elegant glass was partially handmade and dates to the 1920s through the 1940s or so. The timeline depends on the author.
- Glass from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s. Gene Florence, who wrote the book pictured, included both elegant and mass-produced glass in a single book.
- Pressed glass. This is a wide category, usually limited to older patterns.
- Early American pressed glass, or EAPG, often overlaps with pressed glass.
- Cut glass
- Opalescent glass.
- Art glass. This is another category where authors drew their own boundaries, but they usually include glass made for decoration vs. glass tableware.
- Glass for specific uses such as kitchenware, stemware, tumblers, animals, candle holders.
- Glass by an individual manufacturer. There are many excellent books about Fostoria and Tiffin. Other companies have several books of varying quality. For example I’ve not found a good Heisey book that is both easy to use and comprehensive.
I sell depression glass and elegant glass from selected companies made pretty much anytime in the 20th century, thus my expertise (such as it is) does not cover the other categories. I have books on other topics however since I see interesting glass in all the categories.
Authors categorize patterns differently. Gene Florence puts New Martinsville Janice and Radiance in depression glass books but other authors consider them elegant glass. Pattern coverage varies too with some authors going into exhaustive detail on obscure patterns (which are fun) that other authors ignore. Gene and Cathy Florence are among the best known authors and their books are excellent.
I’ve listed several of my older copies on our website here if you are interested.
Our next blog post will cover: What should you look for and what should you expect from a pattern guide?