Last post we showed Cane Landrum and Petal, two of the Lancaster Glass patterns you may find out antiquing. Besides Petal, Lancaster made several blanks with curvy rims and scalloped points and use them with many decorations including the well loved Jubilee cutting, decoration #1200.
Jubilee can be a bit confusing because Lancaster and its sister company Standard Glass made similar cut patterns. Some people are purists, accepting only glass with a certain number of petals on each flower while others are happy to mix similar patterns.
This is a poor photo, but take a good look at the flowers. Jubilee flowers have open centers and 12 petals. The leaf sprays go off to the left as you look at the piece, and they have leaf pairs. (Open centers have no cross hatching or other texture.) There are exceptions, including pieces that should have more or fewer petals, but this is approximately correct.
If you want to learn more about Jubilee, Gene Florence’s Collector’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass has an excellent write up. One pattern that is virtually identical is Standard Glass’s cut 1200 (yes, even the pattern numbers are identical!), also called Tat. Standard used different piece shapes but the design is otherwise the same. Many people include Tat along with Jubilee since they go together.
Another pattern that could be confusing is Open Work, line 906, which is similar to Old Colony or Laced Edge by Hocking. Lancaster made their Open Work pattern in topaz, green, black and blue while Hocking’s is only pink or clear. The shapes are quite different too. Hocking made a full dinnerware line while Lancaster’s Open Work pieces are only accessory and decorative items. This lovely footed compote is a good example.
Here is a pink Lancaster Open Work plate, sold as a cake plate although it is not flat.
You can tell Open Work from Hocking’s Old Colony by the shapes, colors and quality. Lancaster ground the base rims on their Open Work pieces and they look and feel like better glass than does Old Colony. If you are attracted to Open Work, I highly recommend John Zastowney’s book Lancaster Glass Company, 1908 – 1937: Identification & Value Guide. He shows photos of most of the Lancaster pieces and gives dimensions.
Lancaster made a very similar pattern that has a cane center, also called Open Work, line 1907. They apparently made only a few bowls and a plate.
We’ll show more Lancaster glass in future posts.