Lacy, delicate appearing swirls of scrolls and flowers were pattern motifs from the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company from the 1820s until 1888. While little glass from this era survives today, the spirit lives on in glass made from the 1930s through 1980s by companies such as Duncan Miller, Anchor Hocking and Indiana Glass. These companies acknowledged the Boston Sandwich company by calling patterns with similar motifs Sandwich glass.

With the number of patterns, all called Sandwich, how can the collector tell them apart? Here are a few easy tips.

The flowers on Anchor Hocking’s Sandwich pattern are the only ones with double lines around the flower petals. In fact, a customer told me this was called “Double Sandwich”. It’s an easy way to remember! The scrolls are more scrunched together than other patterns, but unless you have others to compare, just remember the double lines. Hocking made Sandwich in crystal, Ruby Red and Forest Green, and you can find some pieces in amber, white and pink.

Indiana’s Sandwich comes in many colors because Indiana sold it in a rainbow of colors through their Tiara party plan in the 1970s and 1980s. Tiara’s Sandwich was mostly the same pattern that Indiana sold originally in the late 1920s and 1930s. Indiana’s Sandwich is pretty, with graceful long scrolls between simple flowers. The scrolls do not touch in the middle. It’s probably easiest to tell Indiana by deciding it is not Anchor Hocking or Duncan Miller.

Duncan Miller’s Early American Sandwich glass is the best-made and highest quality glass of these three. It was a long-running staple of Duncan Miller until 1955 and was made in a full table service plus fascinating incidental pieces such as baskets and epergnes. To identify Duncan’s glass, look where the scrolls come together. If there is a horizontal diamond connecting the scrolls, it is Duncan’s Sandwich. A similar pattern is Princess Feather from Westmoreland, which has an oval connector instead of a diamond.

Many but not all Duncan Miller Sandwich plates and bowls have ground base rims. If you find a piece with a ground base then it is Duncan Miller, but if the base is smooth then check the pattern for the horizontal diamond. Indiana remade a very few pieces of Duncan’s Sandwich for Tiara but most of the glass was colored.

The Duncan Miller made a huge range of stemware in Sandwich. Today the goblets and other stems are among the most affordable and accessible patterns you can find in vintage elegant glass and are competitive with contemporary glassware. In fact Duncan’s Sandwich is one of the most reasonably priced elegant glass patterns. You will find quite a bit of it available online.

When you purchase Sandwich glass made by any of the three makers you should check for chips or cracks as usual but none of these is particularly troublesome. Anchor Hocking and Duncan used rounded shapes with no sharp edges or rims and their glass is not particularly prone to nicks or chips. A few of the Indiana pieces have sharper corners that you will want to check and you may find some protruding seams on older pieces that could get rough.

One good thing about all the Sandwich patterns is that the busy designs hide surface wear. You are much less likely to notice light use marks on a designed surface than with patterns that have plain centers. Do be careful with stemware to check for water spotting on the rims. The top 1/4 to 1/2 inch on tumblers or goblets is smooth and water spots will show up.

We have a large array of Duncan Miller Sandwich glass, including unusual pieces such as the basket and serving bowls, and stemware at our store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass. Shopping with us is like antiquing with your best friend.

The Owens Bottle-Machine Company merged with the Illinois Glass Company in 1929.  The result was called the Owens-Illinois Glass Company.  The legal corporate name was changed to Owens-Illinois  Inc., when the company began doing more than just glass, such as manufacturing plastics.

Owens-Illinois changed its trade name in 2005 to O-I.  This was done to make the company more of a global company since O-I can easily be understood by anyone in any country.

The year 2005 was also important to O-I because that is when it opened the world’s most modern facility to manufacture glass in Windsor, Colorado.  Before then, there had been no new glass container manufacturers in North America for 25 years.

The trademark of O-I is the letter “I” inside the letter “O” superimposed on a drawn out diamond.  This is sometimes referred to as the diamond IO mark.  To the left of the mark you can find a one- or two-digit number which identifies the plant that manufactured the bottle.  You can find the date the glass item was produced by looking to the left of the mark, where you can find a one- or two-digit date code.  When you see a bottle marked like that, it most likely dates to the 1930s.

In the 1940s, the marking changes so the date was to the right of the diamond with a period after it.  The period is apparently meant to represent the 40s.

Today O-I produces glass containers in a variety of shapes in sizes for food, beer, wine, spirits, and other non-alcoholic beverages.  Their North American publication LookingGlass includes news about glass manufacturing, industry trends, and other information.  Like its founder Michael J. Owens, O-I is a visionary company constantly seeking new and better ways of improving its products.

A Unique Experience

“Choosing a beer glass is as important as choosing a wine glass,” said Brian Johnson, owner of BJ Willy’s Restaurant and Pub in West Linn, Oregon. “The right beer glass actually brings out specific flavors and aromas of a particular brew.”

The kind of glass you use helps control elements like portion size, serving temperature, and the visual presentation, which includes color and aroma. With the right glass, drinking your favorite beer becomes a unique experience.

It’s All In Your Head

One of the most important elements regarding the beer glass involves what kind of head develops inside of it. The right beer glass allows for suitable head retention and the release of volatiles. Volatiles are compounds that, when they evaporate, give beer its distinct aroma and flavor. The bigger the head, the better the beer since the head is what traps the volatiles inside the glass.

A Few Choices

Putting beer in the proper glass will help it to breathe, like wine, and the glass you choose depends on the style of beer. “A basic guideline is the stronger the beer, the smaller the glass,” Brian told me on my recent trip. The different styles of beer glass include:

Goblet
A goblet is basically a big bowl, similar to a tulip glass or snifter. The portion of heavy or malty beer should fit nicely inside of it.

Mug or Stein
This kind of beer glass has a lot of room for beer, with a wide opening and stout handle. Made of thick glass, it’s perfect for clinking together and singing loudly with beer buddies.

Pilsner flute
This attractive beer glass is tall and slender, with an inverted cone shape for maximum aroma.

Weizen
Similar to a Pilsner, this glass is wide in the middle and narrow at the top and made for drinking wheat beer. The Weizen helps the drinker focus on the beer’s aroma, carbonation and stout head.

Pint glass
A pint glass is like a pair of sneakers in the fashion world – they work, but they don’t look particularly fantastic. The basic pint glass is widest at the top and tapers down, holding 16 and 20 ounces. It’s a favorite because it’s durable, sturdy and good for many kinds of beer. For a slight change, try a British-style pint glass, which bulges near the top and adds to your beer-drinking experience. The beers to be enjoyed in a pint glass include pale ales, bitters, porters and stouts.

This list isn’t exhaustive, especially if you drink beer in Europe. Countries like Belgium match particular kinds of beer with specially-made glasses. The logos on both the bottle and glass also match, providing consumers with optimal beer enjoyment.

Beer Glass Myths

While talking with Brian at BJ Willy’s, I was surprised by the number of myths about beer glasses that I had believed to be true.

• Don’t freeze a beer glass. If you freeze the mug before pouring, the condensation will melt and water down your beer.
• Don’t tilt the glass. The more head, the better. If you want to release some carbonation before drinking, pour a bit and let the head foam and settle, then pour some more.
• Not all beers are best cold. Like wine, different beers are better at different temperatures. Stronger beers should be served warmer than weaker ones, and the darker the beer, the warmer it can be to maximize flavor. Set it out on the countertop for about ten minutes before serving.
• Beer glasses do not go in the dishwasher. For best results, hand-wash and air dry.

The next time you head out for pizza and a refreshing brewed beverage, try requesting a particular glass – see if you notice a difference!

Kelly Wilson is a freelance writer and author of Live Cheap and Free! Strategies to Thrive in Tough Economic Times. You can read more about saving money at www.wilsonwrites.com.

If you have any children, but sure to include them as partners in your collection expanding activities. Collecting glass marbles is a fun hobby, providing you a chance to bond with your children. After you’ve collected a few dozen marbles, it’s fun to try and identify the maker and style of each one. To identify the marbles, you should get yourself some books and also use the internet.

You can usually find some cool glass marbles by visiting yard sales or going to antique stores. It is an inexpensive way to add beautiful marbles to your collection. If you decide to shop online, it can be fun to just look at the photos and trying to figure how much each marble is worth. Some marbles are very exquisite to look at and are probably outside your price range, but you and your kids can still admire them.

Although you can find great glass marbles over the internet, be careful before you buy because a picture might not show you every detail. The side of the marble in the photograph may look wonderful, but when you get it, you may discover an unattractive nick on the other side. The only way to know whether you’re getting a high quality glass marble is to hold it in your hand and take a good look at it. Think about taking a magnifying glass with you when you inspect a potential purchase.

Be sure to ask your older relatives if they have any old marbles they can give you. Some of the marbles are not only great to look at, but they also have interesting stories behind them. Another good way to add to your collection is join a group of glass marble collectors. Two websites you can join are Land of Marbles and Marble Connection, which gives you information about values of marbles. As a general rule, a larger a marble is more valuable.

Tip of the Week: If you own expensive glass collecting resource books and want to annotate your Depression Glass patterns and descriptions without ruining these valuable books, try using Highlighter Tape. This inexpensive product is handy for teachers, librarians and collectors who want to write notes in books without destroying them!

You can see Brockway Glass’ famous American Concord pattern on old relish trays and in amber tumblers and goblet that were included free inside boxes of Duz detergent.  This pattern was popular in the 1960s and 1970s.  If you look for them, you can purchase them online.
In 1964, Brockway Glass Company won an anti-trust lawsuit against Continental Can.  One of the outcomes of the settlement required Continental Can to sell 6 of their Hazel-Atlas factories to Brockway.   The factories primarily made glass containers.  Once Brockway took over the 6 factories they became more powerful in the glass-making industry.

In the 1970s, Brockway Glass produced colorful character glasses for Pepsi.  You can still find glasses that contain popular Warner Brothers characters including Tweety, Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck.  These collectib  le glasses have the names “Pepsi” and “Warner Bros.” written in white on the side of the glass along with the year of 1973.  In 1976, Brockway glass produced a “super” series of glasses featuring popular DC Comics heroes such as Superman and Green Lantern.
Many glass collectors state they began their fascinating hobby thanks to the character glasses.  If you’re lucky enough to find some of these glasses at a yard sale, try to collect all of them.  Having a complete collection can be a challenge but it does give you important bragging rights.

Owens-Illinois bought out Brockway Glass in 1988. You can still find the glass today by looking for the Owens-Illinois indirect wholly-owned subsidiary Owens-Brockway Glass Container Inc.

Brockway Glass succeeded in capturing the imagination of glass collectors everywhere.  You can find attractive glasses which are fun to collect while not draining your pocketbook.  Discover Brockway Glass today!

Pepsi started producing the glasses in 1974. They produced a series of six glasses at a time. Restaurants signed on to promote the first series. When that series was finished, the restaurant had a chance to sign on again. There were three series of glasses, resulting in a total of 18. By the time the third series was released, fewer restaurants were signing on. This left a lot of glasses without anyone to promote them, so the final series of six glasses are the ones that will be the most common.

The original contractor for the collectible glasses was Brockway Glass. However, Brockway discovered the demand was so high they could not keep up. Since the demand was so high, Federal Glass company was brought on board to help.

The least expensive of these glasses are ones that include Porky Pig, Sylvester, and Yosesemite Sam, that sell for about $3.00 to $5.00 each. The lesser known Slow Poke Rodriguez is on a glass worth about $45.00 to $65.00.

The promotion of 18 glasses was well received, so Pepsi and Warner Brothers decided to produce another set of glasses. Rather than characters remaining in place like statues, the new set showed the characters in action. A total of 24 glasses was produced by Brockway glass. These glasses are considered more valuable than ones with just the characters.

The least expensive of the interactive glasses are worth $5.00 to $10.00. If you can find one that contains the famous Pepe Le Pew and his girlfriend, you can get between $90.00 to $110.00 for it. Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester, and Slo Poke are all on one glass for the same price.

When you visit yard sales, be sure to keep your eyes open for these colorful Pepsi / Warner Brothers glasses. Try to collect all of them. You can find a complete list of glasses by using the internet. Be sure to put the glasses on display in your home. They will add a sense of fun and adventure as well as nostalgia to your décor.

Original antique items made from milk glass are worth a lot of money.  This has caused a lot of reproductions to be created.  Many people spend money on a reproduction only to later discover they have been ripped off.  It pays to learn to tell the difference between an original item made from milk glass and a reproduction.

One way to tell is too look at the bottom of the item to discover a patent date or a company name.  Finding this information tells you how long the object has been around.  If the item has a lot of wear, odds are it is older.  It may be a good idea to buy a pricing guide for milk glass so you have a good idea of the colors and patterns.

To make sure you are getting an original object made from milk glass, ask for the history of the item.  By learning the history, you can figure out whether the object is authentic or a reproduction.  Antique shops and older relatives should have some original pieces of milk glass that you can add to your collection.

One of the highest price types of milk glass to collect are the hard to find McKee animal covered dishes.  Therefore, you will find a lot of copies available.  To make sure you are getting an original, it is best to use a reference guide such as Opaque News.

Consider joining a group of milk glass collectors, such as the National Milk Glass Collectors Society.  This group has annual conventions that you can attend.  You may be able discover rare pieces available because of production errors at glass companies.

If you’re just getting started collecting milk glass, find a dealer who has a good reputation.  Talk to the dealer.  Talk to someone who has been collecting milk glass for awhile.  An enthusiast will not hesitate to share his wealth of knowledge.

The northern reaches of Scotland are where the Caithness Glass factory decided to establish its glassworks in 1961, in the Wick Highlands. Here surrounded by the Norse influence and with a history of Gaelic tradition, they began to produce high quality glass paperweights and glass art that quickly became collectible among glass collecting enthusiasts across the globe.

Handcrafted individually, using the millefiori techniques developed first by the Romans and dates back to the first century B.C.  The artesian first heats up a selection of thin glass rods of varying colors which is then melded together by the heat, then pulled thin, cooled and sliced.

This produces designs similar to lace or flowers. These are then fused with hot blown glassware and reheated and blown again so that the colored rods are fully enclosed inside the clear glass. The name ‘millefiori’ comes from the Italian and mean a thousand flowers which is what these unique handcrafted paperweights and art glass look like massed together. One example of millefiori work is the marbles that have colored glass inside. The official Caithness collectible society started in 1976 and now spans the globe.

The Caithness paperweights show the inspiration that the highlands of Scotland have evoked on the glass makers with the efforts of Colin Terris, who has led the Caithness Glass artists for over thirty years. The most expensive paperweights reflect the skill of the glassmakers; it takes years of experience and strength to create these marvels of art. One example is the Moonwave paperweights which take more skill and strength to create due to their size.

The use of glass paperweights was recognized in France from the early 1840’s and were used to show  the glassmaker’s skill, but the market fell due to the limitations of the market at that time. In the 1950’s it was revived by the modern design concepts and techniques of manufacturing glassware.

Caithness glassmakers added to their unique paperweights by including the engraving of lines, figures and special effects to their creations starting in 1968. Today they offer a great diversity of line, color and form in the paperweights that are inspired by natural wonders and the depths of outer space.

Unfortunately, the Caithness paperweights are becoming harder to find inside the United States. The best way to see what is available by ordering directly is at the following website on Caithness Glass. Take time to look at these beautiful pieces of art, they are well worth your time to look at and perhaps invest in, as one of a kind, they will increase in value.

You can find old glass insulators near power poles. The older the power pole is, the better chance you’ll find insulators on the ground. You might just need to go off the beaten path to find them. Take a picnic lunch with you, bring the family along and make a day of it. You can enjoy the beautiful outdoors and each other’s company while you go on a treasure hunt for glass insulators. There are a lot of rare designs and colors to discover.

If you can get to an old mine, then look around the power poles that are nearby. Odds are that you can find some discarded insulators around. Check to see if you can discover a power substation. Often, you can find insulators at a power substation that are in good condition. Be sure to protect your treasures with cloths or other material to prevent them from bumping into each other and chipping.

Once you get your insulators back home, you’re going to need a place to put them. Placing them in boxes in your garage is okay, but you’ll want to share your collection of glass insulators with other people. Many of them are very attractive to look at, being made in different colors like purple, blue, and green. You should organize your insulators on shelves by color, by type, by manufacturer. Probably the most beautiful way to organize your glass insulators is according to the colors of the rainbow.

After you have your insulators ready, you are going to want others to see the results. A collection of glass insulators makes an excellent conversation piece. Invite some of your older friends over to view your collection. Once your collection is large enough, you can invite the media over to take pictures. Once a person gets started gathering glass insulators, it is easy to become passionate about the hobby. Your sense of passion will make for a good newspaper story.

Keep your eyes open on your local paper and on web sites for insulator shows. This gives you the chance to take your collection of glass insulators to a public arena.

Generally speaking, the older glass bottles are worth more money. They did not start being made by machine until 1914. Bottles made before then are more rare. To tell the difference, you need to take a look at the mold seam of the bottle. The mold seam is a vertical line which is formed when the halves of the mold used to make the bottle meet.

Non-machine made bottles have mold seams that stop before running over the top of the lip. Machine made bottles have mold seams going all the way over the lip.

Even if a glass bottle is rare that does not mean it is valuable. For a glass bottle to be valuable, there must be people who are looking for that particular type of bottle. If you are just starting your hobby of collecting glass bottles, you probably don’t know what types of bottles people want. You can find out by looking at the internet, reading books, and talking with dealers and other collectors.

The closer a bottle is to its original condition, the better price you can usually get for it. When you are finding glass bottles, it is important to wrap them in newspapers or other protective material. If your glass bottles have any chips or cracks in them, their value will go down. Do everything you can to make sure the bottles you discover look good. If you have the original label, wrapper, or box for the bottle, that will increase the value.

Another thing that plays a role in determining the value of the glass bottle is color. If the bottle is aqua, amber, or clear, it probably is not going to be worth that much since those colors are pretty common. Olive green, black, teal blue, and green are slightly more rare and can fetch a better value. Yellow, cobalt, and purple are the rarest colors and as such are usually worth more money. People who will pay top dollar for a bottle want something that is beautiful and unique.

If you find a glass bottle that is embossed, chances are you can get more money from it. The embossing should identify the product, the manufacturer, a date, or geographic area. A bottle that just has the name of the product on it will not fetch as much price as one that has more details.

What is more beautiful than the constant sparkle of a crystal chandelier or more interesting than the bubbling lava lamps of the sixties. Vintage lamps can offer you the same feeling of peace that you get by staring into a flickering fire, or the sense of exhilaration that you get when you stare upward toward a magnificent lightning storm and the hairs raise on your neck.

For the most part, lighting your home is the function of lamps and lighting fixtures in general, but some lamps and lights are designed to do a great deal more. They warm your senses and bring about emotions that are pleasing. Lighting also brings out, if chosen correctly, certain areas of the home, accenting other colors, your particular style or offers up its own sense of style.

While lighting in the beginning was pure function, it changes and evolved to be more than simple function, and around the turn of the century, was style and appeal as well.  LIghting fixtures from this time period can be remarkable inexpensive, depending on who’s collecting, or they can be astronmically expensive, costing more than a down payment on a new home, depending on what you want to put into them.

Old Tiffany is, needless to say, costly and in high demand, but older chandeliers or even the lava lamps of the sixties can be had for a minimal price and bring about warm memories of your childhood or a favorite relatives home who used to have one.

Motion lamps, featuring some of the beautiful waterfall scenes, nature or wildlife will fit well into a room that is more outdoor in nature, while the lava lamps would accent a retro fifties or sixties room quite nicely and neither will cost you vast sums if you shop sites such as Ebay or other used lighting sites.

Collecting vintage or antique lamps can be as expensive or as inexpensive as you wnat it to be and offer up glimpses of a more colorful and more stylish past, when water flowing over Niagara falls could be viewed on your side table, or bubbling blue lava was the norm for every household. Consider vintage lamps as eye candy, and get out there and see what you can find.

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As there have been so many questions and comments on the elegant glassware thats known as  Cambridge Glass, Just glass offers you a small gallery to help you see some fine examples of these glassware patterns.

Some of the more popular patterns of Cambridge glass ware included, but were not limited to:

• Rosepoint
• Elaine
• Portia
• Diana
• Wildflower
• Chantilly
• Valencia
• Candlelight

Cambridge is well known for its glass mark, which is a triangle with a C inside of it. Oddly enough, not all Cambridge pieces get marked with that mark, which makes it difficult to decipher which pieces are actually Cambridge.

Some of the best and most exciting pieces and the better received patterns that were collected were made in the early 30′s and sold amazingly well into the later part of the 1940′s.

It hasn’t been all that many years since any well laid table or perfectly appointed buffet would include very elegant glassware, perfectly etched pieces of stemware or Cambridge glassware accessories. Although the day to day elegance that many people wanted from their lives seems to have passed by the wayside, Cambridge glass is still widely collected and lovingly used by those who desire a return to the elegance of the past.

Do take care to watch what you buy. Cambridge has in fact been produced and reproduced over the years. Largely it was the lady flower frogs which have been brought into reproduction, but wide reproduction of the Caprice glassware pattern also took place. The quality of course is quite inferior so you’re going to be able to recognize one that isn’t genuine by studying those which are.

Tim studied ceramics and glass at New Yorks Alfred university and went on to major in glass at Temple University.

He found himself in Wimberly Texas and having fallen in love, as it were with the Texas area, opened his glasswords in Texas. Wimberly to be exact, in the Texas Hilll Country.

Tim owns Wimberly alone, and has just three other full time glass blowers working with him. A few years ago, he moved himself to a newer and larger location and what had begun as a small company with just a few chairs, has grown into a shop that houses seating for about ninety visitors.

Wimberly glass has grown.  It is now one of the premier art glass studios in the Southwest and has collections and lighting on display all over the world.
Wimberly glass offers free glass blowing demonstrations, and show the entire process of turning melted glass into amazing works of art. The artists at Wimberly use such enhancements as pure silve and gold to get the amazing colors and designs that you will see at Wimberly.
If you get the chance to pay a visit to Wimberly Glass works, make sure you take it. Wimberly is up and coming in the art glass arena and you’re going to hear a lot more about them, rest assured.

Akro Agate Art Association.  – J. Bourque, Box 758 – Salem NH 03079

The Akro Agate Collectors Club -  10 Bailey Street   Clarksburg WV 26301

American Carnival Glass Association – PO Box 235   Littlestown PA 17340

American Cut Glass Assoc. – PO Box 482   Ramona CA 92065

Antique & Art Glass Salt Shaker Collectors Society. Contact: AAGSSCS, 2832 Rapidan Trail, Maitland, FL 32751

Antique Bottle Coll. of N FL, Inc. meets 1st Mon except July & Dec., Faith Lutheran Church, Jacksonville. Contact: E. Biggs 904-786-8487

Antique/Art Glass Salt Shaker Collectors -  1775 Lakeview Drive   Zeeland MI 49464

Blenko Collectors Society -  PO Box 1096 – Kermit WV 25674  Contact Tammy   blenkocollectors@aol.com

Online Blenko Museum

Canadian Depression Glass Association. Contact: Walter Lemiski, 119 Wexford Rd., Brampton, Ontario Can. L6Z 2T5. 905-846-2835; E-mail: cdga@home.com

Collectible Carnival Glass Association - 2360 N. Old S R 9   Columbus IN 47203

Collector of Findlay Glass – PO Box 256  Findlay OH 45839

The Corning Museum of Glass - One Museum Way  Corning NY 14830

Custard Glass Collectors Society – 591 SW Duxbury Avenue  Port St. Lucie, FL 34983

Czechoslovakian Collectors Association (CCA). Contact person Cheryl Goyda, Box 137, Hopeland, PA. 17533 Phone: 717-738-2678, Web site: www.czechcollectors.org<

Early American Glass Club – 2204 East 27th Street, Tulsa OK   estrelle1@cox.net

Early American Pattern Glass Society – PO Box 266  Colesburg IA 52035

European Glass Collectors 

Fairy Lamp Collectors Club – Jim & Pat Sapp, P.O. Box 438, Pine, CO  80470

Fenton Art Glass Collectors – PO Box 384   Williamstown WV 26187

 Located in Ohio, their trademark B inside a diamond, can be seen on clowns, animals, pie vents, covered dishes, glass slippers and several other specialty glassware handed down from generation to generation.

A video on You-Tube shows the manufacture of these adorable figurines. The company was originally Degenhart Glass until Bernard Boyd bought it in 1978. Two manufacturing practices that make the Boyd collectible glassware so sought after is that the mold mark changes every five years and that no color is ever repeated in a mold.

This makes the pieces easier to identify and grade for their collectability, resulting in a higher value for earlier pieces.

The first item Boyd made, the forget me not toothpick holder still can be found in various sites including EBay; it comes in six different colors. The pie vents are perhaps one of the neatest figurines available, they are made to let the steam vent from your pie as it is baking. Covered salt containers can be found in bunny, chick, duck, Scottie dog and turkey shapes.

The doll figurines are also very popular ranging from colonial style, to Amish and several different types named after Boyd family members.

Chuckles, Freddie and Virgil are all clown figurines, some with unique features or hand painted. There are only three artists who handle the hand painted glassware, so that makes each one unique and more desirable in building your collection. Easter eggs as well as the covered chicken, chick and duck patterns are all very popular in the spring and the Angel series, first made in 1995, is currently in the second series and was soon followed by the Li’l Angel in 2002.

In addition to being great collectibles, the Boyd pressed glass figurines are made with high standards, not like some of the large companies which have fully automated presses and moulds, the Boyd collectibles have been made the same way for generations and hopefully they will continue to be made that way for the delight of future collectibles.

The Czech Republic is the glass capital of the world, and the only original remaining plant in the country is in Jablonec. The glass canes are made and the buttons manufactured from them some of the canes used were made over fifty years ago and are still used today. There are fourteen different steps used in making buttons, from cutting and shaping the glass to several different colors of paint and firing in a kiln. One of the most famous glass jewelry producers and exporters was Josef Dressler, mentioned in 1773, the house he owned is now a centerpiece museum for buttons and glass collection in the Czech Republic.

One type of glass button that is very collectible is called moonglow, due to the thin layer of glass that protects the thicker layer from damage. Some of the glass buttons are made of milk glass others include painted glass or fused glass. Art deco glass is often used in older buttons and the glass is sometimes paired with metal or gold leaf to enhance the design engraved on it.

There is a wide range of styles, types and techniques used. The National Button Society has great information of shows and collectors as well as featured articles that help the collector to find out if the button he or she has is a hidden treasure. Go through your grandmothers or your mothers button collection again, let the memories come and check out those tiny bits of glass that are so intriguing the buttons that help keep our lives in place and add the glitter of something precious to what we wear.

Online sites such as the National Milk Glass Collectors Society are a great help to the beginning collector, they have a newsletter that gives a great deal of information, as does the Fersons’ book, “Yesterday’s Milk Glass Today”. Talk with someone you know that collects milk glass and is an honest dealer, they will be able to help you.

One great idea is to keep a record of each piece, noting when you bought it, any history you might find out about it. Your local library and used bookstore might have reference books that you can check out or buy to give you more information. Some collectors focus on specific pieces but many pieces of milk glass were used and will not be perfect condition.

Here personal preference and budget will be needed as well as some thought, but collecting milk glass does offer wonderful opportunities for the collector and can be a great investment for the future. Good luck in making your special collection of milk glass truly unique to what you love and value.

A single brief paragraph or so in the newspapers of West Virginia in 1998 told of the closing of an entire era of manufacturing, but opened the door for a multitude of collectors to become dazzled with, and seek out the items that had, until now, been too easily found it seems and not so very collectible.

Dalzell-Viking’s end in 1998 saw the close of an entire century of glass making. It had begun in the   New Martinsville Glass Co.  which then went bankrupt in the depression years, but was purchased by a new owner, GR Cummings, who hoped the the popular Scandinaviaon moder designs he was producing would literally sweep the collectors off their feet and find its way into the hearts of the American public. To that end, he completely abandoned the conservative crystals that had sent New Martinsville to their grave and began making the long sweeping curves, the perfect jewel tones and the wonderful crackleware type things that made him a success.

 Viking and it’s brainchild, the Rainbow Glass subsidiary (1954-1972)  were on their way upward to some very great success in the post-war time period, and the work of both companies was featured at Corning Glass Museum’s oh so prestigious exhibition of glass in 1959.

Elmer Miller, who was in fact still an original..a holdover who jointed the firm in 1923, began taking the new styles and became the most popular new modern designer. The lines of Viking put their emphasis on shaping the soft molten glassware, tapering elegant looks and lines, long twisted handles and lengthy spouts, which gave the illusion that the finished glass was still in its molten form and people absolutely loved it.

According to all reports, by the mid sixties, the Viking Epic line was the most distinctive and was made in a wide array of designs, from long tailed birds to vases that were rivaled only by Fostoria Heirloom according to the experts.
This same Epic line continued til 1975, with colors such as purple, teal and ruby, smoke and amber, featuring such favorites as glass mushrooms, animal paperweights, fruits from glass and ashtrays.

Eventually what ended the reign of this unrivaled king for their place in history was little more than foreign competition, in combination with high wages that were necessary for workers and a recession in the 1980′s. Fostoria president Kenneth Dalzell attempted to restart the firm as Dalzell Viking,with more traditional patterns in popular colors but the new lines he produced couldn’t in any way compare or compete with cheap imports and the effort was a failure.

According to the experts in glass collection:(notably George A Higby)

"Viking and Rainbow are relative bargains for today’s art glass collectors. Pieces bore sticker labels which are often gone, so knowledgeable buyers can often find undiscovered Viking pieces fairly easily. Pina’s Popular 50s and 60s Glass offers photos and catalogue reprints can help. Dalzell pieces also bore paper labels; wise collectors are amassing pieces now, while their origins can still be identified.

Best of all, the sheer variety of colors and designs makes Viking  fun for glass collectors- whether pressed patterns, animal figures, or fab ’50s style piques your interest."

Below are some examples of what makes Viking Glass so popular

I don’t know about you but my favorite season is fall. Possibly because of the crisp air and the falling leaves. Even with a bit of the warmth of spring in the air, I still reminisce about the last fall with its crisp cool nights and the brilliant colors.

I find myself, while on the hunt for dinnerware or other glass treasures, hunting for ones that are mindful of my favorite season, and using them for things like Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, particularly if there will be company at my house for the holidays.. Lets face it, with some of the patterns we collect, its never too early to get hunting for the things we want, since we’re likely not going to be able to gather up the entire set in one fell swoop unless we are really, really lucky.

When I went out to the department store to find enough dishes for the last gathering in a pattern that I liked, the price tag had me gasping for air. While I love Royal Doulton, gathering up service for 15 on my budget just wasn’t what you might call practical … The price tag at the store was a bit on the exhorbitant side, the reasonably priced white bone with the gold rims won’t go in the microwave and I did have to draw the line at eating Thanksgiving from pretty patterned paper plates,  so I went internet shopping. Don’t you just LOVE shopping on the internet? What on earth did we do before we could buy up our favorite old glass pattern from someone in Virginia or California and have it sent to us in a week or less.

There are always bargains aplenty on the internet, the trick is knowing where to start, and more to the point, what to start with. How do you get the best buy for what you have to spend?

The answer is invariably depression glass. Depression glass, which is in essence, dime store glass thats yesterdays answer to the people who had no money to speak of, and wanted something pretty to put on their table. It was passed out as a premium in many cases, at gas stations, in laundry soap and many other areas, and there were literally thousands of different kinds and hundreds of different patterns.

I”ve found that the gorgeous fall colors are among the least collected oddly enough and the most reasonably purchased, so that you can find a beautiful amber, topaz or deep green , and the patterns may range from Columbia, Diana, Florentine, Iris and Herringbone, Lincoln Inn, Diamond, Waffler, Camero, Jubilee, Lorain, Princess, Rosemary and many others.

If you start shopping now, chances are you’re going to have found enough of your chosen pattern and color and purchased it, to have it all in stock by the time that autumn rolls around again, and no matter what you use it to serve, it will never look quite so pretty.
Happy Shopping.

I love Fenton, but not just any kind of Fenton. Don’t we all, by virtue of things that give us good memories, or make us smile, or make us curious, tend to collect things for more than one reason?

Absolutely we base it quite often on aesthetics,  or what may rise in value, but just as often we base it on something that gives us great memories or may not rise in value, but just makes us curious about how it was made and the time period in which it was developed

Being from Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and spending a great dea of time outdoors there til just about ten years ago, Fentons Winterbrry items, for me, evoke the snows of West Virginia, the beautiful hills and the bright crimson of the winterberries which cling to the branches long after the first snows have settled on the ground.

A Native American father spent a great deal of time walking with me, explaining what was and wasn’t good to eat, what could be used for tea and make you feel better in some way. Winterberries, which he called Fever bush, brings back memories of those times as well and I grab up those pieces wherever I find them.

Winterberry design is available on a wide array of Fenton glssware, from a white fawn, to a bird, to a fairy light, and I cant’ seem to pass one up.

Check out these offerings and see if you don’t agree tht the stunning splash of red and green makes for a striking display that brings up a few happy memories of your own.

The Fostoria Glass Company, makers of those beautiful commemorative bells, much to everyones amazement, didn’t even begin to offer them until the mid seventies.

Although they made gorgeous wedding bells, bells that would coordinate with some of their main designs and major colors, if you take a walk through the catalogs tht Fostoria puts out, you’re going to find that there are no bells appearing in them until about 1976-1977, when the first bells showed up, that matched four of their current patterns, the Richmond, Navarre, Sheffield and serenity.

Fostoria made bells for Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, weddings, and other special occasions. They also made bells to coordinate with some of their major designs. Serenity came in yellow, blue and crystal. Navarre bells were in pink, blue and crystal.

January 1979′s catalog also offers a Mother’s Day bell which was made of an especially beautiful and thin blown crystal, with a picture of a child being held by his mother etched in an oval area that was beautifully framed by flowers with the date and holiday etched above it.

Likewise, in 1979, the Wedding bells began to be available, which were quite unusual in their making, wtih the top part of the bell being the brides upper portion and the bell area the flaring of the skirt of the bridal gown.

The very soft mistlike finish covered the top and about half of the skirt of the bell, fading out reminiscent of a bridal veil.

1981 saw a ruby bell offered with a "Twas the Night Before Christmas," theme with a frosted handle that was of crystal, and was one of four tht was limited edition, however it was the only one, to our knowledge tht was made with the crystal prior to Fostorias factory ceasing production.

According to one expert, there is also another 1977 bell which I"ve not seen or found that was a winter scene, wtih a horse drawn sleigh and pine trees that is dated in 1977, but I can not seem to find pictures or listing of it.

Fostoria bells have become prized collectors items for many who love Fostoria in all its glory, and since the bells were made for so relatively few years, they are in great demand. If you have one, hang on to it and if you’re looking be prepared to pay a price that could range from 15-50 dollars if not more..

 
Vaseline:
 
When straight ammonia doesn’t cut it, quite often vaseline will take away that cloudy look..  Let it sit for 4 -5 days, and wipe it clean .Cloudy or white mineral building can very often be removed using the afore mentioned petroleum jelly, spread a thick layer of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) on the
deposit and let it sitat least overnight.  Wipe the
petroleum jelly off, wash and the deposit will be gone forever. 

Polident:
 
Using quite warm water ( BUT not hot or it will crack )  drop a couple of polidents in the water.
 
 One other type of toothpaste materials that have worked for me is Pearl Drops Toothpolish!! Using a sponge or the tip of your finger rub  it into  the deposit, and see if it doesn’t take it away.. This is also a bit abrasive though to take care using it!!
 
 
Kraxy Kloth’. It’s  an oil based cleaner.  According to one expert from Antiques Roadshow, "On the package it says, among other things, ‘removes hard water stains from glass’. One wipe and they were gone.  Brought out the iridescence, too."
 

Citric Acid... Lemon Juice or vinegar, organic materials very often work for you. Reduce lemon juice on the stove to 1/2 the volume in a STAINLESS pan only and use this on the spots.
I do NOT use CLR. It is a highly acidic compound and aside from being quite dangerous, it also eats the glass..
Avoid Hydrofluoric Acid… 
 
Oddly enough, a petroleum based hand cleaner called GUNK will quite often work, the closeness to vaseline perhaps being the key here??

 
 Dow  Bathroom Cleaner will work if its used in sparing amounts. There doesn’t seem to be any real film or residue left and we cant’ find any damage to the glass either.

 FLINT GLASS:

Flint glass is one of those rarities to collectors, so that in some cases, people don’t even know what to look for, or that they can look for it..
The Welkers, in their book describe it as a term for a specific type of glass.  The name was said to have been derived from the fact that in England in the late 17th Century that flint, a form of hard, very pure, natural quartz, was calcined and pulverized to make silica as a main ingredient in glassmaking.  Use of this pure silica makes glass highly refractive and brilliant.

This formula from the English also used oxide of lead as an ingredient, and as such there is according to the experts, an " anynonymous relationship between the terms Flint Glass and Lead Glass, although flint and lead each have a different role in glassmaking."
Technically the term lead glss is the most proper when describing flint glass in the US.
The type of glass th contains lead osxide as a principle component usualy didn’t contain the raw flint materials, so that the term, Flint glass is actually a misnomer in the US.

First made at Hobbs, Brockunier and Co. in Wheeling WV in 1864, lime was used in the production and caused that the glass that was yellow had a more pale tint to it  and included a sort of green cast when it was seen in the sunlight.
  
Between 1864 and 1900, the term VASELINE came into use as a way to describe this canary-lime glass color, but it too wasn’t actually the same as the older canary flint glass. The true Canary Flint had a much more bright bold yellow color than the new lime based  that wasnt really the same as canary flint  glass.
That lack was a topic of serious discussion during those times and the term vaseline &copy was a dealer term that mor than just  a few people had objections to.

 OLD GLASS,a book written in those times, which was Copyright 1924, by N. Hudson Moore states,regarding the glass:
"All the pieces shown in figure 207 are in this royal purple and canary yellow, which, by the way, no real collector would ever call vaseline, a dealer’s term."   This is just about the oldest book that uses the term vaseline to describe that kind of glass.
 
Reyne Haines says that true "Canary flint glass WILL glow bright green under a UV blacklight and for all intents and purposes, is collected by vaseline glass collectors as a "yellow-green glass that will glow green under a UV blacklight, due to the presence of uranium oxide in the glass formula (definition most widely used by vaseline glass collectors). Due to the content of lead in the glass, the glass has a softer feel to it.  The flint glass made before 1864 had as much as 40% lead oxide in it (as compared to todays lead crystal, which generally contains a maximum of 24% lead). Canary flint glass was
also much thicker than the vaseline glass made after 1864, but this was primarily due to the lack of refinement in the glass presses of the day, rather than a necessity of working with molten glass with a high lead content. The glass produced during this time frame also seemed to have had more simplistic patterns, which I also think was  due to the lack of refinement in the glass pressing procedures of the day."
  
Three companies made most of the Canary Flint glss that is found today, those being, New England Glass Co. , Bakewell,  Pears and Co.of Pittsburgh Pa and the Boston and Sandwich Glass Co. of Sandwich,  Mass. although notations do state tht a couple other companies did make some smal amounts of it.

 
This most illusive type of glass will of course be a bit difficult to find..  and you’re going to hve to do your research to make sure of what you’ve got, particularly if the photo isn’t a great one and its not labeled or categorized as canary flint glass. You will hve time to have a good look at the photos and take them to someone who may know a bit more if you watch the auction and then begin bidding.

The best place to find it, of course, will be those online auction sites, such as ebay, but if you search it out and use those key words, of course the price will be higher. Often its misrepresented as art glass, depression glas or something else, in which case you’re going to get a good deal.