My obsession with glass began at the age of 16 with a pink Cherry Blossom Cup & Saucer that I purchased for $ .25!  Over the years as I began a family & it grew, so did my collection!   My husband, who I met when I was 17 jumped right in too!   His philosophy has always been if you like it, buy it!  Ladies you can’t find one better than that.

One of my early goals was to have at least one piece from every pattern which I quickly began.  As my family grew I decided I wanted to bring them into the appreciation of this glass I loved.  I began putting a complete set together for each of them and picked my favorite patterns so that I could share my love with them.  Each special occasion, family dinner or birthday the collections came out and we used them!

In the beginning the children didn’t understand, all they knew was the pink dishes with the cherries on them belonged to the oldest, the green ones that looked the same were for my daughter and the baby got the pink dishes with the holes in the edges!  For years that is what my prized pieces were referred to!  For those that can’t guess the patterns from their expert naming; in order we have Pink & Green Cherry Blossom and Pink Open Lace, also called Lace Edge or Old Colony!  As they got older, the name changed just to “the dishes we can’t put in the dishwasher!”  But whenever we walked through an antique store, or went to a flea market they would run around and look for a piece then run back to find out if we needed that.  The game they would start to play was run back and announces “I found a piece for my sister’s pattern but I’m not going to tell where it is!”  Then she would beg and plead; when the tears were about to begin he’d tell her.  Of course she did her share of getting even with him.  The younger one just ran after them both.  Every Christmas when they found a piece with their father they could hardly sit still until I opened the box.  Most years my daughter couldn’t hold it in and would say Papa didn’t know if you needed this or not but he said we can always use an extra!  (Husband is from Italy so kids always call him Papa just to be clear it isn’t Grandpa!)

When we set the table we would alternate colors, green dinner plate, pink salad plate, green sherbet plate and finally pink sherbet dish on top.  Then the next place setting would be the reverse.  This not only looked beautiful, we used everyone’s dishes and it also kept the kids busy for hours trying to get the setting correct while I did the cooking with no one under foot!  (See I had ulterior motives!)  Also I understand I’m ahead of my time as Oprah now says it’s better to set a table with different place settings.

Every special dinner every guest would know just who’s dish they were using and were politely told how delicate these dishes could be so be careful!  (At this point I would slide under the table in embarrassment)   As they grew they began to realize the value in those colored dishes and a new joke era began.  One of the kids would yell at the other not to scratch their plate, don’t cut your meat like that because that plate belongs to me; oh if it’s your plate then I can drop it; put ice in that pitcher because it’s his and so on.  I got them good one year as we were having a large gathering, making sure everything was absolutely perfect with the glass, large elegant candlesticks, silver polished and cleaning for weeks.  The kids were going on how strangers would scratch their dishes and ruin them.  When dinner was announced everyone came to the table going on about how beautiful it was, “Oh that’s Depression Glass I didn’t know there was so much still around”, then sat down and politely looked at each other.  My children however started rolling off their chairs as I had set the table with all my beautiful glass and plastic utensils!  After the Shrimp I let them use real utensils but the memory is laughed about every gathering we have!

My personal favorite was one year for my anniversary my husband bought all 16 of the tall Cherry Blossom tumblers, which are quite expensive.  The new rule was when we do cheers no banging the glasses as hard as they usually did, which was actually trying to see if they could shatter them.  Well they secretly made a pact and when we did cheers they all put their hands between the glasses so this has become our new way to toast!

I hear so many people tell me their children want no part of their collections.  When asked do they use them the common answer is, NO!  It’s too expensive, I can’t put them in the dishwasher, they may get scratched and so on.   Maybe if there was more of the above we’d have less of our children not being interested in them?  If the reason you began your collection was a special memory of someone you cherished don’t you want your children to have that same special memory?   I would wash a 1000 more hours of dishes, if I had to, just to keep those memories.

Depression Glass vs. Elegant Glass: What’s The Difference?

By Linda Carannante

One big misnomer that I often hear is the assumption that all Pink and Green Glassware is Depression Glass. This isn’t always the case, and the pieces in question may very well be Elegant Glass. So what is the difference and where did these names come from?

Depression and Elegant is actually a modern name bestowed by price guide writers who had to find an easier way to describe the glass they were writing about. In the end, both names were appropriate. Both types of glass began production around the same period of time; the late 1900s. The overall “recipe” to make the glass was basically the same. Some companies even made both types of glass, and, to confuse you even more, they used the same molds to produce them!

The name “Depression Glass” was given to a period of glass whose production began around 1920 and continued until the late ’40s. However, some patterns which are still considered Depression were still being made into the 1980s. Throughout glass collecting circles, Depression glass is typically American-made glassware, but we must not forget that this glass was also being produced throughout Canada, Europe & Australia.

If not made only during the Depression years, why then is it called Depression Glass? I’ve heard several assumptions over the years as to why it acquired the name. The most accepted reason seems to be this is a form of “pressed” glass, originating during a “depressed” era, thus the name was born!

The simplest way to explain it is that for the most part, Depression Glass is machine-made glass that was mass produced and did not have to be touched by human hands. Imperfections were a natural part of the process and often left alone. It was usually a premium item or sold in a dime store.

Depression Glass was produced in a variety of colors in addition to pink and green; blue, amber, yellow, crystal and even white to name a few. Jeannette Glass, MacBeth Evans, Anchor Hocking, Imperial, Hazel Atlas, U.S. Glass were just some of the companies that produced Depression Glass.

Elegant Glass

Elegant Glass—although it has many of the same characteristics such as color, production and era—had to be touch by “human hands” in its production. Elegant Glass, unlike Depression, was polished to get rid of the imperfections in the glass. These same imperfections are one of the things we expect to find in Depression Glass. The base of bowls, platters, etc. in Elegant Glass were ground so it would sit evenly on your table; acid etching or hand etching was used to create the pattern, one more beautiful then the next.

Another, and probably the biggest difference, is the way in which two were distributed. As we said before Depression was usually a premium item or sold in the 5 & 10 stores. Conversely, Elegant Glass was sold in the finer stores and never given away.

These patterns were marketed as wedding patterns, as early on china was not really used. One reason may be it was much more expensive and American Companies were far behind Japan and other foreign countries in producing colorful, attractive china in a large variety. Elegant glass provided a variety of beautifully etched designs in an equally attractive array of colors as well as pieces. There was a piece of glass created for every possible use, and available in many patterns! This was something else Depression Glass did not offer. The more successful an Elegant pattern was, the more pieces you would find. Take Candlewick for example. You have your standard table setting, but you also have a Card Tray, which the lady of the house would have her cards on and setting in the middle of her bridge table when her guests would arrive; lights were made for every room of your house; not only the glasses were made for your cocktails, but the decanter, the bitters bottle, and even the muddler was made; All you needed to serve a proper drink!

Elegant Glass was made by several glass companies; Heisey, Fostoria, Cambridge, Imperial, just to name a few. Because of the the onset of World War II, many glass companies went out of business or were bought out by other companies. Molds continued to be utilized and patterns went on just under other names.

One more thing: Where Depression Glass, for the most part, was fading away in the 1940s, it was the opposite for Elegant Glass. The momentum for this type of glass was increasing. Think about it: Families were benefitting post war and wanting to add the finer things. People disposed of their Depression Glass as it represented a time they couldn’t afford anything else! Elegant Glass represented status, change and an individual affluence. I remember when I was 16, I purchased my first piece of Depression Glass and my mother’s first words were: “What did you buy poor man’s glass for?” My response was if she would have kept hers, she would have been a rich darn woman! However, that shows you the mindset of a particular item. A single piece of glass represented a status to many.

There is beauty in both types of glassware as well as an economic building of a nation. Their common threads are stronger than their differences, although great. These two sets of glass were developed early in our history, their production kept this country going during a hard time, and they lived on for future generations to cherish!

Well, now that you know the definitions of each. Aren’t they a perfect fit?

Reference: The Collector’s Guide to Depression Glass by Marian Klamkin 1973

WorthPoint: Get the Most from Your Antiques and Collectibles.