Many of my dishie friends love glass as well. Then the challenge comes up: identifying glass. Most glass is not marked.
Learning the makers and patterns takes time and experience. There are many wonderful books, but they will only get you part of the way.
We are fortunate here to have our local Great Lakes Depression Glass Club. They organize an excellent show and sale each spring.
As usual, this year’s show was great for continuing education and acquisition of glass and information. More than 20 dealers brought their wares as well, so there is lots to see and select.
And, it was encouraging to me to see 30-somethings leaving with their purchases. Depression glass is too pretty to go into decline. It works well with many table setting themes, including cottage, floral and shabby chic as well settings based on particular colors.
There is some very fine American manufacturing represented among this glass from makers long gone, such as Fostoria, Tiffin, Morgantown, Heisey, Cambridge and many others.
“Depression glass” refers to the inexpensive glass produced in the 1930s that was sold, or given away with another purchase such as movie tickets. The term “Depression era glass” is correctly used for glass made in the USA from the 1920s to the middle-1940s. Some of the same (or very similar) patterns were made later, and these terms are sometimes used incorrectly to describe glass made in later decades.
The glass club educational displays included a comparison of different look-alike patterns. The glassware was chosen to illustrate the difference between, for example, Fostoria’s American pattern and Whitehall by Indiana Glass. This is an uncommon opportunity to have pieces of both, correctly identified, that you could see, touch and learn from.
Experienced club members are also available to help you identify your pieces. No extra charge, just bring your glass along.
There was also a display of contest winners of the club’s table setting competition, featuring Depression glass. (More about this later.)
I may have to go back tomorrow. I saw some Heisey plates that might have my name on them…
The Great Lakes Depression Glass Club show continues tomorrow, April 25, 2010, from 11am to 4pm. See the website link above for more information about the show and club. The next show will be in May 2011.
Check out the “Tables” page on the club site to get some great mix and match table setting ideas that include Depression glass and vintage china.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Twitter Trackbacks for Depression Glass Show - A Great Learning Opportunity [diaryofadishie.com] on Topsy.com // Apr 24, 2010 at 11:37 pm
[...] Depression Glass Show – A Great Learning Opportunity diaryofadishie.com/depression-glass-show-a-great-learning-opportunity – view page – cached Stories about vintage china and dinnerware, as well as table setting ideas to mix and match different dinnerware patterns and styles to create eclectic, creative tabletop settings. Also recipes, cooking and food, and tales about hunting and finding special dishes by Sally Kimbel of Kimbesa’s Closet. Tweets about this link Topsy.Data.Twitter.User['kimbesa'] = {“location”:”Michigan”,”photo”:”http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/717002641/Picture_13_normal.jpg”,”name”:”Kimbesa”,”url”:”http://twitter.com/kimbesa”,”nick”:”kimbesa”,”description”:”Owner of Kimbesa’s Closet and blog at Diary of a Dishie”,”influence”:”"}; kimbesa: “Post No. 15 in the #blog30 challenge… Is it work when you have fun at the Depression Glass show? http://bit.ly/biUrmh More to come… ” 28 minutes ago view tweet retweet Filter tweets [...]
2 Depression Glass - Pyramid Pattern Offers Sleek Style // Apr 29, 2010 at 11:04 am
[...] didn’t see any Pyramid at the recent Great Lakes Depression Glass Club Show, though there were plenty of tempting [...]
3 Kimbesa // May 8, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Too bad this show is only once a year, but there is a local group that meets almost every month (except in the summer).
They are nice people and very knowledgeable.
4 Fostoria American - Depression Glass Winner // May 9, 2010 at 4:07 pm
[...] part of the recent Great Lakes Depression Glass Club show, the members organized a table setting contest. The work of the four winners was on display as part [...]
5 Heisey Orchid - A Flower Lover’s Favorite Glass // May 9, 2010 at 4:13 pm
[...] four-part series on the table setting contest winners from the recent Great Lakes Depression Glass Club show [...]
6 Fostoria Chintz and Spode Rosebud Chintz - Mix Glass and China // May 9, 2010 at 4:20 pm
[...] the third part of our series about the winning table settings created members of the Great Lakes Depression Glass Club, we move on to a setting that combines elegant glass and [...]
7 Cambridge Candlelight and Cobalt Blank 3400 - Classic Shape and Style // May 9, 2010 at 4:28 pm
[...] We complete our four-part series on Depression glass used in table settings, and the table setting contest winners from the recent Great Lakes Depression Glass Club show. [...]
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