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.

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.

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.

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.

 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.

A family owned and operated business, from 1894 to 2002, Beswick Studio was founded by James Wright Beswick, along with his sons John,Gilbert and John’s son, John Ewart, each of them played a role in the amazing success of this factory.
Until about 1918, the business was run from a works on Gold Street, that was entitled J.W. Beswick, when the company expanded its activities, maing pottery and fancy works for both their local as well as the international market place.

In 1921, JW Beswick died and in 1936, his son, at which time the company was made John Beswick Ltd, with John’s son, John Ewart Beswick the managing director and the remaining origina son, Gilbert Beswick the director of sales, and many new pieces were introduced to their existing range.

1940 saw the necessity for extensive changes for the growth of the company and some major modernisations to the factory itseld, so that by 1945, they had added an adjoining factory and converted their Gold Street facility to offices potting and firing , while the new factory gave them decorating, finishing and dispatch.

At this point Arthur Gredington was installed as the modeller for animals of all kinds and today remains quite well known for the amazing accuracy of his work and the realism of the animals that he created.

Albert Halam too contributed amazing things to the decorations, adding about three thousand pieces.
Beswick was well known and very popular with collectors in both England as well as abroad, and gained some serious recognition for their figurines of dogs, birds and wild and domestic animals as well as the beautiful Toby Jugs.

In 1989, Beswick wares were produced under the Royal Doulton backstamp, which company had purchased them some years in the past.
In 2002, Royal Doulton stopped the manufacture of al Beswick wares, and the end of an amazing era in figurines came to pass.
Beswick wares are still highly sought after collectibles, and have taken their place firmly esconces in the history of pottery.

Here are a few examples of why Beswick studios are so well thought of among collectors today:

While many of you don’t particularly care to do business with Ebayers, I’ve found it to be a treasure trove of interesting pieces and in reality, nice folks too, though many of them aren’t entirely certain what they’ve got and how much its worth.

This works in your favor many times, though as a rule I don’t truly promote taking advantage of people. Still, if they do a bit of research and sell at a reasonable price, then we’ve both won haven’ t we,  and if they don’t, we can’t be blamed for purchasing a gorgeous Fenton vase for 4.99 ( and yes.. I did)

Many E-bayers don’t want to take the time or spend the money to have what they are selling evaluated and aren’t sure what it is. That can certainly work in your favor, even if you try to be honest about it. I’ve found that by sending a note to the ebay seller, informing them that what they are selling is worth a bit more than they’ve got it listed, they will be a bit more careful in the future, they learned something and you’ve made a new friend.

This weeks Ebay foray left me with a mystery of my own to solve. I bid on, and won a lovely piece of autumn gold glass, that looks to me to be some older Fenton. The winning price was just 4.00 USD, and the vase is a heavier piece, weighing in at about 2 pounds. It’s completely unmarked but was left to the seller in an estate of her mom, who is a West Virginia native.

The age of the mom, combined with her state of residence, the fact that the vase was displayed with older Fenton ware, and several other factors led me to believe that the vase is Fenton, even if its not marked as such.

So why did I buy it.. Once in a while, don’t you just take a risk and buy that "pig in a poke" little thing, just because its pretty. The price was definitely right, and in reality, I love a mystery. I can’t wait to get it to my house and start digging to find out what it is, who made it and see if I was right in surmising that its a bit older unmarked piece of Fenton…. and in all honesty.. even if its not..  what glass collector doesn’t love a pretty piece and a new mystery to solve.

Here’s what I"ve purchased.. any ideas from the readers will be very welcome..What do you think it is?

When Tiffany Glass comes to mind, what you’re probably envisioning are those awesome bright colors and the incredible blues and golds of the Favrile.. 
Many people, even some collectors, aren’t aware th at Tiffany made a line of pastel glass.
 

During what was called the Art Deco era, particularly between 1918 to 1928 we saw pastel glass come into production in a big way for Tiffany.

During those insane twenties, styles in everything were changing and fo
Tiffany  changed with them. 

The biggest change was in the colors that were being produced..  Pastels of pink, blue, purple, yellow and green showed up to replace the former vibrant and rich colors that Tiffany had been famed for.

Suffice it to say that some of them sold, but that frankly, they just didn’t go over well for quite a few years.
Reyne Haines says that after "Tiffany Furnaces closed in 1928, Nash continued making pastel glass, however it was then signed ADNA or NASH.  Because gaffer Jimmy Stewart worked for both Tiffany Furnaces and Nash, there are virtually no differences in both firms pastel glass beyond the signature.  In 1931 A. Douglas Nash’s operation closed for good."

The past several years have seen a huge interest in the pastels, as opposed to the regular Tiffany pieces, with the pastels, particularly the wisteria, commanding an incredible price, norally about double the regular Tiffany pieces, when in reality, in years past, you’d have been surprised to see them even get the token bid when they came to auction.
A wine goblet now, in wisteria, will fetch sometimes 1200 dollars, where prior to now it would not have commanded any such price, and the regular Tiffany colors will fetch only 5-600 each.

Bear in mind, caution the experts, that not all Pastel glass is Tiffany glas, and new collectors or dealers are often fooled or confused by the pastels.

 Glass signed NASH or ADNA is not qualified as Tiffany glass, nor does it command the same price however it is still quite definitely desirable, one of the kinds of glass to collect (while prices are  reasonable) but it is NOT Tiffany.

With pastel Tiffany prices going up up up, is it possible to find a bargain.. absolutely yes..  
 LCT or L.C. Tiffany Favrile signatures on pastel pieces on the underside rim of the piece, as opposed to where it is normally found, closer to the pontil can confuse the new founded glass dealers or antique enthusiasts do not  recognize pastel pieces. You will quite often find these bits in the antique shops under studio glass, or Venetian glass, and have prices to match.. Snap it up as you can when you make these finds.

Some of the reasons why Jeannette is so popular are the remarkable pattern pieces they’ve made over their years of production. Among the most ardently collected of Jeannettes patterns are:

• Adam
• Anniversary
• Cherry Blossom
• Cubist
• Doric
• Floral
• Flora-gold
• Holiday
• Iris and Herringbone
• Poinsettia
• Sierra
• Swirl
• Windsor

Below are some examples of each pattern, so that you know what you’re looking for when you decide its time to branch out into Jeannette glassware

Candlewick
Dalzell viking had made some candlewick pieces in colors that were never originally made. (recently, a pastel frosted line in pink, blue, green, lilac and yellow were sold.) Boyd also made some items – marked with their b. Items in odd colors are new. Some czech glass also resembles candlewick.

Caprice
Mosser made a miniature line in caprice as well. As children’s pieces were never originally made, these pose no problem. Summit art glass presently owns some caprice molds – check gene florence elegant book for detailed listing. Boyd has also produced the covered dolphin footed box in many colors – all marked with the b.
Kitchenware/other glass

Akro agate
Bennett glass company is reproducing 6 inch oval planter (#654)and 5 1/4 inch lilly planter(#657) these items are marked with a ‘b’ in a triangle and come in colors never originally made by akro. The bell is also being reproduced. (check for paneling on the handle as the repro has paneling that stops short of the body: akro bells are paneled all the way down to where the handle attaches.) The 2 handled basket is also being found in non-akro colors.
Bottoms up tumbler set
Original says “pat 77725? right under the feet. Skokie green, crystal, seville yellow, black, cream ivory, and french ivory are the original colors. All other colors are new. Coaster should match tumbler. Old colors show opalescence when held to light.

Criss cross
Cobalt items, including the 1/4 pound butter dish, are being sold through various catalogs. These new pieces are poorly molded, the glass is too thick and has a greasy feel as well as an overall poor quality look.

Kitchen glassware
Much kitchen glass is being reproduced now including: measuring cups and pitchers (with and without reamer tops), hoosier canisters and shakers, reamers, baby reamers, kellogg’s 3 spout measuring cups, rolling pins, sugar shakers. Generally found in cobalt, pink and green – many other colors are out there – they are of poor quality, too thick, and badly molded. Know from whom you buy!!

Shirley temple
Mugs, bowls and cream pitchers have been reproduced and other items never originally made – like salt shakers – can be found. The cobalt color is too dark, the silkscreen design is too white and grainy, and the glass is too thick on these new items

Pressed glass
Higbee “paneled thistle” pressed glass pieces are being made by the l.e. smith glass co. The reproductions are good – with just slight blurring of the pattern. Some have the higbee “bee” symbol in the bottom. They are being made in a variety of colors.

It’s likely that stretch glass was produced and offered as an alternative and more affordable choice for those that didn’t want to spend massive amounts of money for a Tiffany or Steuben. It was described before as having a “Tiffany finish” according to a 1916 trade journal.

The top U.S. companies in stretch glass production were the Diamond Glass-Ware Company, the United States Glass Company, H. Northwood and Company, Fenton Art Glass Company, and the Imperial Glass Company. Smaller, but no less interesting lines were produced from such companies as Vineland Flint Glass Works, Jeannette Glass Company, Central Glass Works, and Lancaster Glass Company.

Blown into a mold or pressed, stretch glass pieces were not free-blown so no piece has a pontil mark. While still hot, the glass was sprayed with metallic salts before being reheated. The end result was an iridescent effect. Each item was then hand worked using such tools as paddles and crimpers. The glass was then stretched by hand until the proper look was achieved. By applying these methods, the surface of the glass would then appear to have “cobwebs”, “crackled surfaces”, or “onion skin”.

Some pieces had to be reshaped when removed from the molds, but not all. The ones that were not reshaped were fully functional. The pieces that were not reshaped did not have the noticeable “stretch marks”, but did have an iridescent satin finish. Stretch glass pieces have very little pattern to them and cannot be confused with carnival glass. More often than not, the glass is very plain. If one of the pieces has any patterned effect at all, it is usually limited to simple panels, rings, and ribs. Colors are varied in stretch glass.

The most common colors used were blue, yellow, green, and white. These colors were not solid, but transparent and most companies all produced the same colored products. Though not as common, other transparent colors included marigold, pink, teal, cobalt blue, ruby, yellow-orange, green-brown, and purple. Opaque colors were also used at times. Some of the glass was also decorated with painted on images of flowers and human figures.

The value of the glass was determined by supply and demand as well as size, shape, and color. Vases, compotes, plates, and bowls were very common. Some of the harder to find glass pieces being puff boxes, cigarette boxes, pitchers, cigarette holders, and colognes.

The pieces that were done in uncommon shapes or color are also more expensive additions to the collection. As in all collectable pieces, some colors were in larger demand than others. Cobalt blues are always in demand and the red pieces of Imperial or Fenton are always sought after by collectors.

Where common pieces would cost $20 to $30 dollars, the more uncommon pieces done in an uncommon color could be worth hundreds.

Unlike Depression glass, stretch glass was not made in complete dinnerware sets. Tableware was made, but on a very small scale. Luncheon plates, sherbets and liners, and even a few cups and saucers were created. A few companies even went so far as to produce beverage sets consisting of a pitcher and tumblers. Other stretch glass that was made consist of a wide variety of serving pieces. To name a few, there were serving plates, mayonnaise bowls, nut and candy dishes, fruit and sugar bowls, and creamer holders.

Candle holders and floral bowls were also offered in many a different style. Two of the glass companies, Imperial and Diamond, also made a unique collectable that was a combination of a floral bowl and a candle holder. Some of the best stretch glass sellers were both common and unique. The common being a vase and the more uncommon being an entire collection featuring a theme, such as dolphins.

Because glass molds were expensive to have manufactured, companies did their best to create as many different pieces, out of a single mold, as they could. A bowl coming out of a mold could end up with straight sides, or it could be rolled over, flared, pulled into the shape of a vase, or flattened into a plate. To make the piece just a little bit different they could even crimp or flute the edges. They did this to many of the items, including the vases, just so they could make a new and different style without having to spend the money on new molds.

For more information, the Stretch Glass Society offers an informative quarterly newsletter that offers you information on up coming sales, shows, conventions, and meetings. The Society also offers an online detailed website that shows you how certain pieces are made and information on colors and shapes of various glass pieces. As well, the site has a list of books that are helpful to both beginners and long time collectors of stretch glass pieces.

For Society membership information and further details about conventions, please call (904) 471-7703 or visit the web site at http://members.aol.com/stretchgl/

We hope we’ve made you interested enough to take a closer look at stretch glass on your visits to the antiques malls and shows. Stretch glass makes a wonderful addition to any glass collection

Glass insulating pieces were first produced in the mid 1850’s to be used on the telegraph lines that were popping up all over the US. Then in the early twenties, when electricity and telephone began to move over the open copper wires, each pole had a glass insulator fitted to it, and people began to see them as pretty pieces to collect when they came down.

 The insulators that were fitted were in all different shapes, sizes and multiple colors, and were actually made of far more than just glass, with some being made of pottery, glass, metal (don’t ask me??) rubber and ever some quite fine grade porcelain.

The glass and porcelain ones are collected these days very extensively, particularly by the manufacturer or the color of the piece.

Very often the glass insulators will be marked, much like any other type of glass collectible, by company names, such as Hemingray Glass Company of Indiana, while others will have the name of the actual telephone company on them, such as Am Tel & Tel, for the American Telephone and Telegraph company.

YOu will for the most part find that insulators are marked on the skirt, or the lower and wider portion of the glass.
Some of the most common company names you’re going to find will be Kerr, Maydwell, NEGM, Diamond or Whitall Tatum.

THe age of your insulators can usually be determined by the markings on it as well, as there are often patent dates on them

The last insulators manufactured in the US were made in 1979, which makes them about thirty years old.. still old enough to be a viable collectors item
 

Likewise, we’ve seen literally dozens of fruit jars for sale at yard sales which bear that embossing, that are absolutely more modern than this be highly overpriced because someone thinks they have something special.. In reality they may, but its just as likely that they don’t.

Manufacturers in America produced glass jars using the 1858 embossment  as lately as 1920, which is still, in reality, quite old, but its not 150 years old.

Historians who have studied these think that Crowleytown’s Atlantic Glass Works,which was locted in New Jersey made the first of this incredibly lengthy series of mason jars.

According to the experts, there are multiple ways to date your antique bottle or jar.
Quite possibly the best way to do so is finding… or not finding.. a pontil scar.
A pontil scar is a noticable ring of glass or a black and red sort of an indentation that will tell you that a glassblower held your jar on a rod while it was hot, while the neck of the jar was placed on it and hand finished. Usually jars or bottles with pontil scars were made before 1855, although that isn’t a hard and fast rule.

Another method to determine the age of a jar is checking out the mold seams on it. Some of the earlier bottles and jars were blown without a mold, and won’t have one, while those with a mold seam that goes just to the lip will tell you that  your bottle was blown into a mold and then was completed by hand, meaning that a top or neck was added.

Jars that were made by machine, which is usually most of them made after 1915, will have a mold seam that goes all the way up to the top.
Some of the very avidly produced reproductions of fruit jars were those made in 1858.
The mid seventies saw multiple and avid attempts to forge those jars with some of the production taking place in Kentucky or Tennessee reportedly.

Much of the time, the collector would note immediately that there was something wrong, with either color, ground off tops or some other anomaly.
 Some of these you can know by the mold number which is often  851 on the base of your item.
The forgeries were made in multiple colors including cobalt blue, green, black and even olive green.
NOt all of them of course will have the 851 number.
The forgeries have some very bright colors and the glass has a unique shine to it. that will tell you its not an original, but in spite of that, some of these forgeries are selling quite well and you may see a few of them getting prices like 50-75 dollars, amazingly enough..primarily, perhaps because of the colors.

A great book on the subject of canning jars is available on Amazon and you can even find them used for keeping the price lower.

Alice M. Creswick. The Fruit Jar Works. Volumes I and II. D.M. Leybourne, publisher.  Not a price guide.  P.O. Box 5417, North Muskegon, MI 49445.

One of the absolutely most fun and amazing thing about collecting china, porcelain or nearly any kind of glassware is the mystery and the hunt to find the things you don’t know about it.

 
The bottom of your new piece of glass will, in nearly every case, offer you some kind of mark or another. These marks, whether they are shapes, numbers or letters will offer you fascinating clues, pieces of the puzzle as to how old your piece is, who made it, what company produced, it, sometimes even what furnace it was fired in, but sometimes even the exact year and the exact employee who made the piece you are holding in your hand.
Marks on your glass hold clues, or entire answers to some wonderful information for those who like knowing what they have, but more, who just like digging for obscure truths.

Some examples of this are:
You purchase a vase at the local garage sale, a large letter H on the bottom tells you that its a Hadley vase. Hadley was considered to be one of the best ceramics workers of the entire 19th century, so having found out that he worked in that time span, and that he also worked for Royal Worcestor, you know something already.
Later in time, his painted rose designs became known as Hadley Roses, for their beautiful soft colors.

His death in 1905 did not stop production of his products, with the molds being purchased by Royal Worcestor, so you aren’t certain when this one was made.

YOu can sort that out by viewing the number of dots that are going around the words Royal Worcestor.

Every dot represents a year.. beginning in 1891, therefore, if you have a piece of glassware from this company, the words Royal Worcestor, with 12 dots around it, will mean that it was produced in 1903
(1891+12=1903)

Nearly every type of glassware that you purchase will give you these kinds of clues. To begin with , start by researching what that single letter may mean, and then move outward from there.

The Jack in the Pulpit vases are favorites among many glass collectors.

The vases and other glassware items were inspired by the plant, Jack in the pulpit, a beatiful American wild flower, but to those who collect glassware, it no longer conjured images of the northern woods where the plant grows but a vase that has long been a collectors favorite and is sometimes difficult to find.

Flower-inspired Jack in the Pulpit vase.

According to David M Issitt a leading authority on British glassware, the pattern books of Stevens and Williams show a vase done in the style of the Jack in the Pulpit that was made about 1854.

What this means is that while Tiffany may have named that particular stype of vase, being mindful of the American flower perhaps, he was absolutely not the first to devise the pattern or stype and produce it.

Jack in the Pulpit glass vase.

Whatever their history, they are a much sought after collectors item today, avidly collected in all of their amazing colorations, and prices can swing widely from one extreme to another, dependent of course upon where you find your particular piece.

If you’re looking for something unique in collectibles, look around for Jack in the PUlpit vases. I’ve found several at very reasonable prices on ebay, as well as at the always interesting yard and garage sales.

Animal images are common in many native amercian pottery styles.

Simple truth, what we see as a glass or pottery art form, the beginning potter back through the ages saw as a place to store corn.

The pottery of the Southwest is quite likely the most famous with all of the amazing designs, the very distinctive types of form and shape and the beautiful wedding vases with their double spouts to signify the duality and the joining.

Likewise those same Southwestern tribes are the ones who have preserved both their actual ceramics, as well as their ceramic making heritage the most fully, presumably because they still live somewhat close to their native areas in the United States.

Native american style pottery.

Across the United States, Natives were relocated forcefully to other areas, where their kind of agriculture wasn’t feasible, and their traditional materials were not available.

Native American Pottery and ceramics were made over most of the North American continent by multiple tribes who each made different types and patterns of pottery, each of them collectors items in their own right.

The Cherokee and the Seneca, the Plains, Woodland and Great Basin Natives making very distinctive pottery that was specific to their tribes.

Most Native American pottery despite differences in their patterns, their firing and their painting styles, have one thing in common which is the essential technology that they used.

Most  Native American pottery is not achieved using a potters wheel, but by coil and pinch method, which was used as far back as anyone remembers and for the most part is still used today.

Earthy and natural Zuni designed pottery.

If actual authentic Native American pottery is important to you, perhaps because of your own heritage,  then  you will want to find the authentic sites of Native potters online, or to browse the tribal sites, many of which will feature native American arts.

One of my personal favorites is Zuni pottery and a particular favorite artist is Zuni Potter Agnes Peynetsa, whose natural colors and fine detail is literally amazing.

If you’re in the market for some superb Native American pottery, check out the potters that are available to you at www.indiansummer.com.

Additionally, its quite often necessary to have some type of research manual with you, when you can’t take the internet along. That’s of course where a book is going to come in handy. While many of you will smile and say that you don’t take books with you to purchase your glassware, I’d be willing to bet that you may not do it now, but at one time you did.

We have all been new at something and having a few books to help us along, particularly when we’re purchasing a product that we admittedly don’t know everything about, isn’t at all a bad idea. I get a great many of my own collecting and genealogy type  books at Amazon, the prices aren’t bad and in most cases you can also find them used as well as new.

If you’re into Milk Glass, or think you want to be I certainly recommend the Collector’s Encyclopedia of Milk Glass.

Its a fairly comprehensive guide to the ins and outs of the milk glass that you’re going to find out there, how to tell whats what and make sure that what you’re getting is actually milk glass. It features a lot of detail on milk glass beginning in the 30’s, including Fenton and others, as well as a wide array of photos that will help you to get to know your new passion.

If you have any leanings toward collecting actual milk glass, I’d highly recommend getting it in order to assure that you get what you pay for. Get your copy today:

Murano Glass is one of the most highly collected glass wares out there, and with the history of it, its no real wonder. Murano has a great deal to give to the collector, including a history of fine glassware that spans more than 600 years.

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The history of Murano goes back in fact to the 12th century and runs unimpeded right up to present day workers, still making quality glassware in Murano. With a Murano collection you’re going to find a wide array of ways to express yourself or decorate, since they make and sell a range of glassware that moves from antique serving glass replicas to chandeliers that remind you of the ancient castles, down to figurines and art glass that shows the broad and bold geometric shapes of the more modern art.

Among the best ways to begin your study of Murano is to view a full collection or if thats not possible, start by taking a walk through the <a href=http://www.muranoglassgifts.com/?gclid=CJ2YtYr7iZgCFQkiagodD3YlCg>Murano Glass Gifts </A> site on the internet.

From there you can decide which kinds of glassware that falls in Muranos range that you particularly like, what kind of price you can expect to pay and which of the Murano artists styles appeal to you most.

Not only style and artist will differ in glass collecting, but also the techniques used to make the glass will make it a distinctive item, and you may find that you prefer one technique far more than the other and choose to collect only those, regardless of the artist involved.

A great deal of Murano glass that you’re going to find on the internet and even offline, isn’t the genuine article, which means that it was probably made somewhere else, by a lesser artist and company.

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Genuine Murano is of avery high quality, that is visibly better than the reproductions, and with time, and perhaps a few mistakes along the way, you’re going to develop an eye that will let you be able to pick out the genuine items from the reproductions.
Bear in mind that things aren’t always what they seem to be and you have no way, when selecting from online purchases, to look closely and find the nature of the item to know whether or not it is the real thing.
That being said, of course purchasing from Murano means that you’re getting the real deal, so to speak, but if you select to purchase from Ebay or other online sites, ask for a guarantee of authenticity, and consider the reputation and the ratings of the dealer or person you’re going to be purchasing from.

Some vendors from Venice, in an effort to halt the flow of glass ware that is not geniune are using holographic stick on plates on the glass  that will let you identify what furnace was used to make the item, and offer a numeral. These stickers are starting slowly to replace those which say Made In Murano Italy, those gold stickers we are all familiar with.

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Making glass had its origins in the Palestinian area, and was further developed in Egyptian areas around 1500 BC.
The Phoenicians worked with the glass and became the greatest of all the glass makers in the world of ancient times, probably because of the abundant natural resources(silica sand) that glass making required which were found in their area.

Glass was not plentiful as it is today. It was used in much the same way and was thought of in the same way that semi precious stones were and in fact, held the same status as they did, being nearly as rare.
Decorative glass was quite  rare, and was difficult to produce, since it was in its infancy so far as an art form, so it was used in place of precious stones in many cases, to decorate jewelry, in decorative pots and jars and to make figurines or add color to them .

Glass vessels made in ancient times were created using molds, and the earliest example of this molded type glass was found in a tomb, that of Thutmose’s three foreign wives, which offered up a glass vessel that had been molded as well as many beads and two more unusual type vessels also made of glass. This leads to the speculation that glasmaking probably came to Egypt during Thutmose III reign.

The glass made in ancient times was, or so its said, made from sand quartz. Other chemicals were added to lower the melting point, so in effect, the ancients were using some very complex chemistry to both creat the glass, as well as to color it.

The impurities that were contained in ancient glass are what gave it its color, with maganese adding the pinks and violets, while sulfurs gave them the greens and yellows and various types of things such as azurite, added on purpose after a time, created lovely deep blues.
Imagine that experimentation and the trial and error that were necessary in such times.

Glassblowing itself didn’t really take place until about 50 Bc, reportedly near Palestine, which is believed since the first blown glass we found was found near Jerusalem.
Prior to that time, only the very wealthiest could afford glass of any kind, but with the advent of glass blowing, it was possible to make a lot of containers and to do it far more cheaply so that more people could actually afford and avail themselves of glassware products.

 Libbey Glass Company began their business life named the New England Glass Company.
They produced a wide variety of glassware, and in the end expanded their business to sheet glass and windshields, but are more widely known for their cut glass and shaped drinking glasses.

The company was, in the beginning producing multiple items including mercury glass, colored art glass, pressed glass, and a wide array of things like doorknobs and railroad lamps.
The glassware of the Libbey company was quite often decorated with gilding but was  also  decorated with cutting and engraving as well, making it well sought after.

Though the products were quality,  the company found itself in over their heads financially and was sold in 1877 to William Libbey, and was renamed accordingly, and when the purchaser passes away just five years later, it was passed along to his son.

 Edward Libbey moved production to Toledo, Ohio in 1888, where raw materials were readily available and was instrumental in making Toledo Ohio synonymous with glass production.

It was also at this point that the company became more lucrative, with the invention of a machine that could do a great deal of the world.. Workers were fired and the company, while popular, became less so in the immediate area.

(excerpted from History of Ohio )" The Libbey Glass Company became even more profitable after Michael Owens, an inventor from Newark, Ohio, joined the firm. Owens developed a machine that could automatically produce bottles, tumblers, and glass chimneys. This invention dramatically increased production. It also lowered manufacturing costs, as the company was able to fire workers now that machines could do the work instead."

The sword under the  old signature in Libbeys glass mark is their silent nod to the renowned city of steel,  Toledo, Spain, from which the name of the city in Ohio originates.

Libbey hired Joseph Locke in 1882, who was a designer from England to take over the design works and while he worked at Libbey he patented several items that are quite collected .  Some of those items include Peach Blow, Maize and Pomona,as well as Amberina, the Victorian era glass that offers the very distinctive amber to red shading as its trademark

 Libbey produced it  right up to the new century.
 It was a difficult type of glass to make since the red shading came from the use of actual gold and it was costly to make, making it quite expensive to produce, but it did give the company recognition world wide.
 In the 1920s, Amberina was in production again for a short time, and is signed quite often so the collector can identify it.

Libbey was  also the number one producer of what was called  Brilliant Cut glass from about 1878 to 1915 or 1916.The Brilliant cut was extremely highly leaded, and rumors had it using as much as sixty percent lead in the formula for its creatioin.
Lead softened the glass, making it easier to cut and added sparkle, weight and giving it that wonderful clarity of ring when lightly struck.
At the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 the company won prizes for exhibitions of their fine glass.

The war years were slim for everyone and LIbbey stuck to making hard to break glassware for hotels and restaurants, however in about 1933 they began producing fabulous stemware, which today is sought after for collection world wide.

 The designer Douglas Nash, a former Tiffany’s man, was employed to breathe life into the  market for hand crafted high-end stemware.
 Some of the new offerings of the Libbey company that were made under Nash’s tutelage included  the Art Deco  stems, among them American Prestige, Knickerbocker, Syncopation (an ice cube shaped stem, is one of the rarest to find  today), and Embassy. Embassy was an eagle-and-star etch  that was designed especially for the US Pavilion at the ’39 World’s Fair.

The Silhouette line c.1933 by Douglas Nash had a different animal decorating the stem of each type of glass including cats, greyhounds and monkeys, with each different type of glass featuring a different animal.
 The Silhouette glassware stems came with a selection of colors: black, opalescent, or frosted crystal.

The Skyscraper stemsare very collectible and one type of Nash’s designs, the Victoria cameo etch, took more than 80 hours of engraving per glass and sold for about 2000 dollars per dozen glasses. This of course wasn’t a big seller during the depression and production of it ended in 1935.
All of these glasses, including the Brilliant cut are sought after by collectors today and fortunately with the companies mark, can be readily identified.
Libbey glassware has left its mark on collectors and given us a great deal to look for.

The new technology was a glass blowing machine that was costly at best.

But it did permit them to be able to become one of the larger suppliers of glass for lighting, and for lampshades and chimneys.

A translucent white colored glass known as Monax won them the admiration of the entire industry and was the perfect color and exactly the right strength to make street lamps.

It was stated that the very best street lamps in every city were made with Monax globes in the year 1900.

In about 1924 Macbeth Evans expanded their operations to make tableware and water sets as well as other serving dishes.

In 1930 they began producing complete lines of dinner ware. Those included Dogwood, Petalware, and stippled Roses.

Pink Thistle glassware by Macbeth Evans.

Perhaps, as one author has conjectured, it was a test case to see if dinnerware was something they should produce.

Only seven types of pieces of Thistle pattern were made; cup and saucer, luncheon plate, grill plate, bowl, and fruit bowl and cake plate.

The pieces would be combined to make an admirable luncheon set, a dessert setting or a very basic dinner setting.

Thistle was made in pink and green. Both colors are hard to find, and though less green was produced, more folks are looking for pink so neither is really an easy find anywhere these days.

The texture is very thin and looks very much like a frosted glass pattern. It is strong and durable, but the pattern seems to be as light and faint as to nearly disappear on the piece.

Being so hard to find and so few made, the price will of course reflect this, but the pattern is so delicate and elegant that if you find them, what you pay will be well worth the cost.

Custard Glass bowl.

Some of the custard glass pieces made were water sets with pitchers and glasses, or lemonade sets, which had essentially the same items.

Some Custard glass sets have a very real historical significance as well. Many of those commemorate special events in the history of our country or special places.

Many of the items with souvenir decoration were small mugs, glasses, goblets, toothpick holders, match containers or napkin rings.

Additionally, some table sets and berry sets also had place names on them which were decorated as souvenirs.

Some smaller items such as the toothpick holders would be used to commemorate specific events.

When Enid, Oklahoma was in its infancy, an Indian Territory or part of the Oklahoma territory and not yet a state, Enid was commemorated and the items that resulted from it are highly valued as collectibles. They are very rare and command a high price when found.

Items from Coney Island are also highly prized as are many other collector pieces from resorts or theme places.

Political items too are very hard to find and highly sought after so that they very rarely come onto an open market and when they do they will be greeted by many willing purchasers for a relatively high price.

Gettysburg table sets are a favorite of collectors, as are Alamo sets, which have some real historical significance and are very much worth collecting even without their being souvenir items.

Custard glass is one of the more sought after and hard to find items, particularly when you are seeking one with a specific place name on it.

I personally would love to find one with Titusville, Pennsylvania on it; the birthplace of the world’s first oil well, and also my home town. If you ever spot one you must be sure to let me know.

One is a whole piece, such as a lamp base, lampshade, or doorknob shaped in a distinctive beehive style. If you look at these pieces, some are blown and others fashioned using molds, but both bear the external appearance of an oval beehive with the wave-like layers going from small at both ends to widest in the middle.

The second family of beehive glass is not actually a product, as much as it’s a style of making stained glass so it appears like a beehive slice. For the purpose of collecting, both offer investment potential. However, for vintage pieces stained glass is more difficult to store and display.

Beehive glass knobs will make a nice addition to your glass collection and can also be used to adorn doors or cabinetry in your home.

Beehives knobs and lamp parts come in crystal, pink, green and white and are categorized as late period Depression glass.

Knobs in green and clear seem the most abundant, and were formed from silica glass recipes. Note that you may not find these just laying around in junk drawers, but rather adorning all manner of cabinetry, doors, and other parts of vintage furniture. This feature often helps furniture collectors date their finds!

Looking specifically to lamps, the beehive family touted six produced by the Aladdin line. For whatever reason, they didn’t produce many of these, which of course endears them more to collectors.

If you find one in moonstone or ruby (this is so dark it may even seem black) you’ve got a huge rarity. When shopping for these, note that many have gold leaf, brass and or/ceramic bases and stands, stand around 20 inches tall, and always watch for glass bubble flaws that mark it as a period piece.