Fostoria Glass’s Trojan etched crystal is documented extensively and is available online or at glass shows or antique malls. It has been popular for years, one of our beloved elegant depression patterns and so lovely. Fostoria produced a full line of stemware in this gorgeous design.
This first stem is the tall sherbet. It’s a little over 6 inches tall with a wide bowl. Can you imagine how elegant this would look to serve a small fruit cup or sherbet?
If the tall sherbet is a little too tall for you (if you’re like me it would be easy to bump and tip over) then choose the low sherbet, 4 1/2 inches tall. Both pieces hold the same amount, about 6 ounces filled to the brim. To me the taller glass appears more suited to a drink or an extremely fancy occasion where the shorter one looks more robust.
Notice the stems are crystal and the bowls are colored. To the best of my knowledge all Fostoria Trojan stems are bicolored like this, either yellow or pink bowls and crystal waterfall stems.
You have two choices for wine goblets, a small wine that holds 2 1/2 ounces or a claret stem that holds 4 ounces. Remember people served wine in small goblets and sometimes had more than one type with a meal. The first goblet pictured is the wine. The claret has similar shape but is 6 inches tall compared to 5 1/2 inches for the wine, and the bowl is slightly wider.
From what I read, goblets for white wine tend to have longer stems to prevent one’s hands from warming the liquid. Stems for red wines like claret tended to have larger curved bowls with wider openings allowing more room for the aroma to circulate.
The Trojan water goblet is considerably taller, a little over 8 inches, and holds 9 ounces. You could use this for wine today or water as originally intended.
Besides the sherbets, wine and water goblets, Fostoria produced a small cordial, shaped much like the wine stem, and a cocktail glass. The cocktail is 5 1/8 inch tall, thus in between the tall and short sherbet and has a shallower, narrower bowl than either sherbet. It would hold 3 ounces if you filled it to the brim. (Cocktails were popular in the 1930s and they tended to be smaller than some of today’s concoctions.)
One piece of stemware that you might enjoy is the oyster cocktail. The idea is you put the oyster in with cocktail sauce and your choice of other ingredients, then drink as though it were a shot of whiskey The one shown here has a small nick in the rim. You could use this for fruit too.
There are several tumblers that have shapes similar to the oyster cocktail. This first one is the footed water tumbler. Notice the short waterfall stem. It holds 9 ounces and is 5 3/8 inches tall.
The iced tea is the biggest tumbler, aomost 9 inches tall and holds 12 ounces, plus there is a footed juice, and small 3 inch footed whiskey tumbler. They are all quite similar except for size.
One of the most unusual stems is this parfait. Elegant glass companies made parfait stems in their most popular patterns, they are not pieces we see real often. I’ve made parfait desserts – they are fun and so pretty – but never had such a pretty stem to use. Parfaits are layers of ice cream and something else like chocolate or strawberries or other fruit, layered in a tall, thin glass.
Replacements as of August 2022 has most pieces of Trojan stemware in stock and I found almost all of the topaz pieces on eBay. There are fewer pieces of pink Trojan available and it is more expensive, but you can find it too over time.
Trojan remains a gorgeous pattern with superb detailing and that wonderful Art Deco waterfall stem. I personally prefer the topaz or choose the pink with crystal stem and enjoy using it with meals or for dessert or cocktails.