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!

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.

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.

Due to the lack of interest for a longer time, in collecting this high quality, well made china, the prices you’re going to find are not nearly as exhorbitant as other chinas of the same quality.

It is in fact possible, and probable to find some superb pieces on places such as Ebay, where those who aren’t collectors will let it go literally for a song, being not quite sure what they have or what its worth.

Here are a few of my own pieces of Lefton, as well as some I covet.. 

Of particular interest and quite lovely is the VIolet Chintz pattern that several readers of the site have asked about.

They’ve got another first with their Burmese glass. The process, simplified, is that they add real gold to the glass which gives it a delicate blush and it rapidly became a favorite and remains so more than thirty years later.

Burmese Glass By Fenton

The only company to successfully replicated that formula in more modern days has been Fenton Glass. In 1970 they introduced their Burmese glass and continue to produce it today.

Not highly priced, it is rapidly becoming highly Prized and is among the most popular of Fentons glassware, as well as being among the most beautiful.
The images of Burmese glass seen here, from the Fenton site, will give you ample reason for why the glass is so well received by collectors the world over.
If you’re in the market for something new to collect.. check out Fentons Burmese glass.

Waterford-Wedgwood, a company which  conjoined two powerhouses in crystal and china, collectibles of all varieties, tonight seeks protection from creditors, a company which was formed in mid seventeen hundreds.

While it may seem that with the downturn in the economy, company that are new and untried, will likely fail, it does seem disheartening that companies such as these, which have survived mega conflicts, wars, depressions and recessions, taken virtually every kind of hit on their corporate chin and not faltered, should fail for nothing less than a bad economy.

The company, who also purchased Royal Doulton in 2005, has high hopes that they can be purchased and restructured. So do we.

Other companies to fall by the wayside in recent months include Spode, the manufacturers of fine glassware, and in the not too distant past, we’ve seen Diamond glassware, along with Flat River Glass, Anchor Glass and multiple other companies  restructure, or hopefully restructure to give themselves a second chance.

What does that mean to you as the collector? Probably  that as with any other downturn in the economic picture, people are sticking more to necessities than to the collectible and the extra little luxuries.

It could also change what we pay and how frequently we can purchase those products so perhaps now is the time to buy that china cup and saucer you’ve been wanting.

It does seem less than kind to take advantage of the bad fortune of any company but a smart collector will grab  one or two of their products when the company’s future is uncertain.

 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.

Founded in 1921 by William J. Blenko (1854-1933), an English-born immigrant who began learning his trade as a young boy working in London glass houses and later worked for a time at the Tiffany Studios, the company was apparently William’s fourth attempt to begin his own glassmaking operation in America; the first three all failed.

His son, William H. Blenko Sr. joined the company in 1924, followed in 1969 by William H. Blenko Jr. as the company’s president. Richard Blenko then joined the company in 1976 and later became the forth generation family member to run the company.

Truly, there is no other glassmaker in the United States still in operation with such a long and rich family heritage of high quality and innovation in the craft!

Glass fish with crackled glass finish produced by Blenko Glass Company.

Blenko originally made antique sheet glass for stained glass windows and the company nearly failed yet again with the Depression, which entirely devastated the market for stained glass. Yet Blenko was able to shift production to tableware and stemware, which quickly became the company’s staple.

Initially sold by Carbone and Sons of Boston, Blenko glassware was know as “Kenova glass”, owing its name to the town of Kenova, which is located 28 miles west of Blenko’s Milton, West Virginia plant.

Influenced and styled to look like Italian glass, Blenko was not able to compete with the quality of Carbone’s other suppliers, but promoted as a hallmark the tooling marks and other flaws which could not be eliminated. The strategy was successful and became part of the Blenko identity.

A Scandinavian style also emerged within Blenko when two very skilled Swedish glassworkers, brothers Axel Mueller and Louie Miller were hired to help make hand blown glass items beginning in about 1930.

Blenko was honored by being selected to provide stained glass for St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York and continued to grow in the years following World War II. Until the late 1940s, Blenko’s products had been primarily functional table and stemware, but in 1947, they hired Winslow Anderson as the design director and began moving into the modern American studio glass movement, producing more decorative hand blown glass pieces.

A succession of well known, innovative designers followed Anderson, including Wayne Husted, Joel Myers, John Nickerson, Don Shepard, Hank Adams and Matt Carter.

Blenko is one of the oldest remaining family-run American glassmakers.

Characteristics of Blenko Glass Pieces:

• Mouth blown, glass quality is high, owing to the origins of Blenko’s stained glass formulas
• Pontil mark on base is a hallmark
• Heavy, thick-walled vessels are typical of Blenko
• Rims typically fire polished, round, slightly uneven
• Vintage Blenko pieces are porous and will stain evenly if used to contain liquids
• Pieces are rarely signed, except during the brief period of 1958 to 1960

Art glass techniques include Lampwork (using torch flame to work glass), glass bead making, casting and fusing glass, stained glass and, perhaps best known in the studio glass genre; hand glass blowing.

Forms in glass art range from stained glass panels and mosaics to vases, bowls and even intricate sculptures.

The surreal creations of famed glass artist Dale Chihuly and his collaborative teams have been displayed around the world. Chiluly is perhaps best known for his floating glass globes.

History of Art Glass

As both a functional and decorative craft, glassmaking was practiced in ancient Egypt and Assyria, and further developed by the Romans, who invented the glassmaking method of glass blowing.

Glassmaking further evolved in Europe, with the invention of stained glass techniques, which brought color and dazzling effects of light to cathedrals throughout Europe. Glass making was truly a craft that required many years for an apprentice glassmaker to acquire.

From the town of Arcetri, Italy, this art glass piece is made of handmade polymer clay tiles, tempered glass and seed beads.

Even as factories and continuous window glass manufacturing and mechanical bottle blowing evolved, at the turn of the 19th century the old glass art movement reached a peak, with artisans and craftsmen once employed in making functional glass products transitioned their skills and talent to making glass art instead.

The old traditions of the glassmaking industry gave way to new and innovative mechanical production methods used to create functional glassware, bottles and window glass, with large furnaces in factories that could produce tremendous amounts of glass products far more rapidly than earlier glassmaking shops.

A new form of glass art evolved, led by artisans and designers like Tiffany, Lalique, Daum, Gallé, who could employ teams of glassmaking experts to create glass art that was blow by hand or using molds. Working with metals, they began to achieve new colors, textures and forms not possible without the huge forges and technical prowess that the modern factories enabled.

In his Augusta, Missouri glass art studio, Sam Stang creates glass in the italian tradition of hand glass blowing.

The Studio Glass Movement

Originating in America in the early to mid 20th century, the studio glass movement quickly spread to Europe, the UK and Asia. These designers and artists freely shared ideas and new techniques, emphasizing the artist’s vision and talent in creating new and unique glass art.

From traditional forms like these bright glass bottles to abstract sculpture and art glass that looks like paintings, the glass art movement is diverse.

The artistic glass windows designed by Frank Lloyd Wright further advanced the studio glass movement, with compositions found in painting infused into the glass media.

In the 1950s, modern studios working in ceramic, glass, metal and other mediums gained popularity in America.

This has diversified the artist community and bringing new techniques from the glass manufacturing industry into the studio movement.

Today, glass artists working in many different techniques have brought the art to even higher levels, from mold and hand blowing to glass etching, Lampwork glass beads, glass sculpture and stained glass.

New forms continue to evolve and a fusion of the many glass art techniques has taken place in the last half century.

June, it seems is the most popular month to be married, and there are myriad weddings taking place every single day of that month.

The tradition of June brides began long ago in Britain, when the royalty celebrations of the races at Ascot also meant that the new debutantes, the most desirable of ladies from the wealthiest of families were “coming out”.

They were presented at court in June to the most wealthy and handsome men, and after a year long engagement would be married twelve months later, again in June.

The biggest question for the family, friends and neighbours when faced with a wedding is always, what they should get the bride and groom as a wedding gift.

For nearly a hundred years, stores have found away to solve this dilemma, with registries to help the groom and his lady assist people with their decision about bridal gifts.

The registry was developed to aid in cutting down on returns and duplicate gift. Glass has always been among the most popular gift for any couple in any time period.

In the depression era, and running into the fifties, Depression glass was considered the gift of choice for a bride to be. As time moved on and money became more plentiful, the companies who produced elegant glassware became the gift to give.

Serving pieces often included individual salts and icier bowls, several size pitchers, covered cheese dishes and footed individual cheese plates, a multitude of serving type bowls and platters.

Decorative items might include a wide range of flower vases, ashtrays and boxes. Some few odd unusual items such as a clock, hurricane lamps and a mirror were also among those offerings recommended for the bride of this period.

Todays bride will register for tableware, china and crystal stemware, again, glassware is still considered the perfect gift for a new couple just starting out.

So lift your glass in salute to the bride and groom. And remember to purchase a set to give as the perfect wedding gift for any newlywed couple.

Giuseppe Armani created unique and highly sought after glass figurines.

They were infused with the most amazing breathtaking realism, and an innate spark of life.

Armani was born in Italy in 1935, and from the moment he could hold a pencil he drew everything in sight, all day long.

His parents were intrigued and amazed at his talent with the pencil, which consistently produced lifelike characters from a very early age, when most children drew stick figures.

He had a true gift and an amazing talent that led him to pursue art as a career.

Giuseppe’s teachers decided that Armani should attend the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. While the arrangements were being made, his father died unexpectedly.

The family needed Giuseppe now and Art school was forgotten for the moment but he never for a single moment forgot his art or his dream.

Giuseppe Armani is recognized for his glass art talent and the anatomical precision of his glass figurines.

When the torso was taken to the Art Gallery in Pisa, located across the street from the famous Leaning Tower, Giuseppe Armani’s talent was rewarded with the offer of a permanent job there.

In Pisa, Armani’s dream of studying art was finally realized.

He immersed himself in a Renaissance that he had only read about in books. He traveled to Siena and Florence and began to create his own personal style which drew very heavily on the style of 16th Century Florentine Renaissance.

Sculpture, Armani realized, allowed him to work in three dimensions. He infused life, character and even soul into his works.

Giuseppe experimented in wood, clay, alabaster and marble and his reputation grew with each breathtaking creation. Art admirers soon started flocking to the gallery to see Armani’s latest efforts.

In 1975, the Florence Sculture d’Arte, recognizing Armani’s genius, offered him the opportunity to work exclusively for them. He would be encouraged to give free rein to his artistic muse. Giuseppe Armani accepted.

If glass figurines are an interest for you, then Giuseppe Armani is one designer you would want to add to your figurine collection.

An artist conducts a search that may lead him far out in exploring new areas of interest. I continually search to discover new and better means of expression.”

Giuseppe Armani passed away suddenly in October 2006, of a massive stroke.

Designer Dave Fetty's Fairy Light is among his popular glass creations and designs.

Dave began with Fenton in 1964, after spending time learning the trade of glass making in Milton West Virginia, working with he Blenko Glass Company, were he began his trade as a carrying boy.

While with Blenko Dave found a mentor, Shortly Finley, who taught him many of the skills he would require to make glass without molds.

He then went on to work with artisan Robert Barber at Fenton, and helped to design some of the first limited edition pieces that Fenton offered.

In 1998, Dave taught a “pulled feather” technique to other glassworkers, and he supervised them as they produced vases for a conniseur collection.

Officially retired, Dave continued to work with and contribute to Fentons collections.

He contributes pieces for the Collectors Room at the Fenton Collectors Convention held each year in August.

The Fenton Grooming Cat

Under his leadership, in 2007, Fenton artists have begun to revive some hot glass methods that were steeped in antiquity and to produce and develop all new techniques that have resulted in some incredible glass vases and figurines.

“An inner layer of light green glass is covered with Milk Glass and rolled through different colors of finely crushed glass. When the vase is reheated, gold ruby glass develops into random pink “flowers” that are sure to delight.”

A Fentonware art glass collectible is a gift that is sure to please any glass collector.

From here, the methods touched other areas of the Roman world, the information and samples being carried along trade routes. Thus it was that Venice would become the center of glass making, especially by the medieval era.

Blown glass collectibles come in all sizes, shapes, colors and styles to match your budget and tastes!

Interestingly enough, the current glassblowing trend is relatively new compared to the ancientness of this art. In the 1960s the Toledo Museum of Art experimented with glass, and from there small furnace work became more available to eager creators. Don’t be fooled, however, it takes more than a heat source and desire to make Blown glass. Even a hobbyist needs a fair amount of training and practice.

Some museums and studios will walk curious onlookers through the process of making a glass piece. It all begins with heating glass to above 2000 degrees. At this point the bubbles start rising, and the glass returns to the fires now at a slightly cooler 2000 degree temperature. This keeps the glass molten.

At this stage the glassblower may utilize various materials including the most recognizable blowpipe. The pipe gathers glass on one end, which the blower shapes using a steel sheet.

Hand blown art glass is an artform and a craft that can only be fully appreciated when you see the process firsthand in an art glass studio.

This cools the glass a bit, and begins the shaping process over which a larger glass bubble goes along with bits of colored glass. The neophyte watching or participating might be given heavy gloves and massive prongs with which to pull the glass into shape (a common theme being flowers). Of course, this is only one example of a very diverse art.

As with any collectible, finding a personally-preferred theme, era, design etc. is a good first step to shaping your collection. And as with any breakable, it’s good to prepare your home with suitable display cases in which to both show off and protect your investment for many years to come.