Saturday, September 10, 2011

miss america and a unibrow


So, what, besides a fuzzy unibrow for my Frida Kahlo Halloween costume, did I find at Gee-Dub this week?  A sweet little crystal clear depression glass bowl in the Miss America pattern for $1.99.  Life is good.

Depression glass is translucent glassware that was distributed free or at low cost in the United States around the time of the Great Depression, 1929 to the early 1940s. The Quaker Oats Company and other food distributors would include a piece of the glassware inside the box, as an incentive to purchase their product.  Movie theaters and business would sometimes hand out the glassware at the door.

Most depression glass was made in the Central and Midwest United States, where access to raw materials and power made it inexpensive to manufacture.  Various companies made over 100 patterns.  Since it has become highly collectible since the 1960s, it is becoming more and more scarce on the open market.

21 comments:

  1. I enjoy the depression glass I have received from my grandmothers. I know for them, back in the day, it was more like a luxury item.

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  2. I have quite a few pieces that were my grandmother's as well. My favorite are the green...

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  3. it is very pretty, but mostly it the emotional connection to my grandparents that makes me like it
    but I think I am done collecting new pieces....unless I did ebay ..which I don't
    I love the pink

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  4. You'd be in heaven over here, I have a bunch of it just waiting to go in my shop :)
    You are going to make a great Frida. My friend, a Spanish teacher, has been her many times - even with a little monkey on her shoulder!

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  5. I just recently discovered the jadite(fireking) I collect wasd also given away in various products, cool history

    :)

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  6. My favorite depression glass is green too .... G-dub loves me right now. Yesterday I hauled two huge leaf/lawn bags full of clothes, two suitcases that I will never use to our local store. Whew, my closets feel better.

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  7. Fascinating, I'd never heard of it.

    I am hoping for photographs of Hallowe'en now!

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  8. Love the Miss America pattern. I too, am reminded of my grandmother. All that's missing from your bowl are the gumdrop spearmint leaves.

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  9. oh tess....my mother has collected miss america for 45 years. all our holiday meals are served on miss america plates....with bread and butter plates, dessert plates, goblets and bowls and little compotes. she has hundreds of pieces and still gets unusual ones for birthday presents.

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  10. You really have the collector spirit in your veins, when are you going to open a gallery to show it all off???

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  11. We always see tons of pieces at the local flea market. I like some of the Depression glass ware used against other dishes--nice white dishes, so they stand out. They're so nostalgic. Last time we were at the flea market, we saw some really unusual serving pieces I almost picked up, but then thought of how many dishes we have and decided not to...

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  12. I have to stop myself from collecting too much depression glass...it is addictive! I love the green the best too but I mostly have iris and herringbone...Love your photo!

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  13. Lucky duck! ;-)

    I inherited a bowl and a cake platter in turquoise, made in Europein the 1920s. I wonder if it qualifies as "depression glass". A few years ago I bought a small vase in a similar color at IKEAS, made to look like depression glass.

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  14. My aunt worked for a company that made glass drinking glasses in the 1930s. She used to joke that the most complex designs were sold to oil companies who gave them away to folks who purchased their gasoline.

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  15. Even back in the early 70's you could get depression glass for pennies. I had a bit of it from my time living in the mid-West but who knows what I did with it through the years as I have no more.

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  16. Sometimes I love that humble glass best!

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  17. My mother has a big collection of pink Depression glass. I remember when she started collecting it from the Goodwill when I was a young girl.

    I have a few pieces of my grandmother's Autumn Leaf patterned dishes which were giveaways by Jewel Tea Company.

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  18. I think that depression glass was
    given away in soap boxes too, and'
    of course at local service stations,
    movie theaters, and department stores.
    My practice wife managed to hoard
    quite a collection during our five
    years together. She collected the
    pink ones. Remember one had to be
    careful to get the originals, because
    in the 60's a bunch of copies were
    manufactured.

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  19. Fascinating. An American friend of mine living in the UK laments that America doesn't have 'authentic' antiquities. Clearly not the case.

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  20. Oh, and my copy of 'Patina' has arrived and it's excellent!

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  21. Dick, thank you so much for your kind encouragement and support. xx

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)