Nice bowl, right? Yes, it is Duncan Miller Sandwich pattern, good quality glass, nice ground base, useful salad bowl, rather hard to find size, so on and so forth. So what’s not to like? If you collect this pattern – and I hope you do – this is a choice piece you will be glad to own.
This is a cautionary tale about relying on published price guides.
Don’t get me wrong, Gene Florence and his fellow authors do a superb job cataloging glass and making it accessible to everyone. Without the books buying glass is a leap in the unknown.
The problem comes in when you rely solely on the published values to buy or sell. About two years after I started my business a collector offered me her entire collection of Duncan Miller Sandwich glass. This was a huge collection filled with unique pieces like candelabras, nut cups, cigarette boxes.
Like an idiot I relied only on my trusty reference books to set prices. I put rare pieces out on eBay with buy it now of exactly book value. I put common-as-grass pieces out the same way. Needless to say I have very few rare pieces left and lots of the hard to sell stemware, cups and saucers. I found this salad bowl hiding in a box, which is why it’s still available.
Do buy the books. I highly recommend Gene Florence’s Collector’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass and Coe’s Elegant Glass. Both are excellent with good photos. These books are responsible for glass being so popular to collect: It is easy to know what you have, easy to have a clue to the value, and fun to learn more. Just don’t rely on the book values without doing more research and some sanity checking.