When I’m scouting, choosing between the glassware and the dinnerware can be a tough choice! Both have so many charms to tempt me, though I often find the china dishes to be easier to work with. Glass has its challenges, in both identification and condition. I presume that glassware in the secondary marketplace has some [...]

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Cranberry glass has a lively berry-red color that has fascinated collectors since Victorian times. This color remains popular today, due to its distinctive beauty and clarity. The cranberry I’m looking for is a cheerful claret or burgundy red, as compared to rich ruby red glassware, though they both have gold in common. It takes a [...]

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Dinnerware and glassware makers choose the peacock blue color for its rich intensity and striking boldness. You can see the inspiration, from the peacock’s feathers. The male peacock has lots of showy color. It’s a distinctive color choice for dinnerware, glassware and home decor. This blue is one of the standard colors in the revived [...]

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We were out and about last week, and found this classy glass decanter and matching tray in the Bicentennial Blue color, Sandwich pattern, by Tiara. Tiara was sold at home parties, and made by Indiana Glass in Dunkirk, Indiana. One of its most extensively made patterns was No. 170, called Sandwich or Early American. This [...]

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We’ve got a definite weak spot for 1970s dinnerware we find in our travels, especially the stoneware. Patterns from Midwinter, Mikasa and even Noritake go great with table settings based on the days when vintage was new: back to the land, Earth Day, Earth Shoe and The Mother Earth News. Midwinter’s series of patterns – [...]

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This vintage beauty is a 1.5 quart Pyrex glass Flameware double boiler. We found it on separate shelves in our travels, and remarried them! Too bad they’re not making these anymore. Most of the new double boilers in today’s marketplace are stainless. You can set up a double boiler with two pots (one somewhat smaller [...]

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Orphan glassware that attracts my attention isn’t limited to drinking glasses. This vintage refrigerator drip catching dish just called out, “Repurpose me!” I used to have an old refrigerator, one with no shelving on the inside of the door. The kind you have to defrost by hand (portable hair dryers help). And I remember the [...]

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Indigo Moon has been on our radar screen ever since the first time we saw it. One, because it’s blue. Two, because it’s so cool. It’s an occupational hazard of life on the dish trail: Sometimes you want to keep your finds. As soon as I see blue, the cart turns in that direction. If [...]

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On a gray Michigan day, it’s easy to wish for spring. Even when it’s cold, the sun makes it feel warmer… That was the inspiration to play with the handpicked lists on Bonanzle. It’s a fun tool to pull together 20 items that harmonize around a theme… Chickens, rabbits and daffodil motifs help, too. It’s [...]

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If I was going to collect mugs, these charming glass coffee mugs could easily be it. These examples were made by Glasbake, a trade name of McKee/Jeanette glass company made in the 1970s and early 1980s. The Evening Prayer is pretty, and so retro… The Language of Flowers would be a fun series. We’ve heard [...]

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