In this photo, left to right: a cranberry glass pitcher that has a matching sugar bowl that my mother gave me several years before she passed away. She bought it at an antique shop when I was seven or eight, and she told me it's very old. Maybe so--it is blown glass and I just like it. Next, in the back, a hobnail fairy lamp I bought at Fenton Glass and gave to my Mom as a gift in the 70's; front--a small egg cup that was Mom's, then an amberina vase bought at a local shop and in the back an amberina vase I've had for a long time. Front, a large salt cellar, not red but I like its heavy glass. Then a red crackle glass pitcher which was a gift from my sister Julie, a Ruby Flash candy dish I bought for my mother in the early 70's and an amberina pitcher I've had for many years. Far right is a copper plate handcarved in Turkey and given to me by a library board member in 1993. A friend of hers had brought it back from Turkey.
This photo shows the sugar bowl that goes with the cranberry glass pitcher, and an amberina coin glass candy dish that was a gift from a friend about 20 years ago. The white and black-trimmed teapot was made in Czechoslovakia; I like its shape.
In the kitchen, the Ransburg canisters and cookie jar share counter space with the red pitcher. I use all of these items every day. On the shelf above you can see the shell-pink square daffodil plates (circa 1920) I found at an auction last year for $8. These are our everyday breakfast and dinner plates. The cookie jar used to belong to my ex-husband's great-aunt. I think about Aunt Eva and her bathtub gin every time I put cookies in her jar. She was some lady.
In the living room, red art glass has a place on top of the oak wardrobe we use as a coat closet.
The first piece on the left is, I was told by the antique dealer who sold it to me, an expensive piece that lost value because it has a chip (doesn't bother me, I just like its color and shape). In the back is an Italian glass piece found on eBay. Front center is red crackle glass vase, and last a Ruby Red Depression era tall vase that is so dark red it looks black in most lights.
I have a few other pieces of red glass and pottery, and I love the vibrancy red brings to my house and table.
How about you? Do you collect/use red glass, or do you prefer a different color?
Bathtub gin?! That's what *I'd* collect LOL
ReplyDeleteFinding a lot of old glass in our basement (and the required reading that followed) gave me a new appreciation for collectible glass and pottery, but it's not something that I could ever consider collecting: I come from a long line of klutzy people and my kids are no different! If we collected anything it should be made of rubber or feathers or something.
The red glass is lovely. I think I like all the colours.
that green pottery from the Great Depression era grabs me. It was made into vases and animal shapes and wall pockets. Remember that green color that all the "cloak rooms" were painted in the schools prior to 1950? That's what gets my attention.
ReplyDeleteDo you remember/have experience with Cloak Rooms?
i collect anything, but it has to have some age to it! a few years ago i bought a mystery blue and white jar with a brass scew top on the lid on ebay for a few pounds only to discover it was late 1800utility wear tobacco jar~i was so pleased! clearing my nans place a few weeks ago i found a single old cup, minus its saucer with a dark green floral appern which is now in my kitchen...i like to think that it maybe belonged to her gran once upon a time :)
ReplyDeleteSusan, Aunt Eva was quite a character. She lived in Oxon hill, Maryland. During Prohibition she and her husband Pete made bathtub gin. Evidently they stepped into some gang's territory because Pete was hauled off at gunpoint one night and left in the wilds near the Occoquan River in Virginia completely naked. About 50 years later, I lived in the place he was dropped off but it was a lot more civilized by then.
ReplyDeleteEva was 97 when she died, and still lived in her own house and kept a boarder.
Nance, I'm trying to picture the pottery you're talking about. I guess I'll be googling it to see what it looks like. I know that green color, though! And nowadays I kinda like it, but when I was a kid our kitchen was painted that color. Mom hated it and eventually painted over it with bright yellow.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the age thing, laoi. Most of what I buy is used, antique, vintage, etc. I didn't actually plan to collect red stuff, it just happened over the years. A lot of it was given to me by different people. It wasn't until I was cleaning and rearranging things one day when I grouped the reds together and realized there were quite a few of them.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing quite like the pleasure of finding something at a sale and discovering later that it's actually fairly valuable, is there? I'd love to see a photo of the little tobbaco jar. What they called utility then was probably high quality by our standards.
I have always been attracted to red and other bright colors. Loved seeing the cranberry glass, my great-grandmother passed hers to my grandmother. My mom has several nice vases and lamps from my great-grandmother on her mantle.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Your red is very cool. My late Grandma collected pink and yellow so we are slowly starting to collect some also...
ReplyDeleteI like red, too. Someone once told me that if you have 3 or more of something that it is a collection. I have a little yellow pitcher just like your little red one in front of the canisters. I have a number of red pieces, but I also love white milk glass.
ReplyDeleteI love the red, but only have one piece. It's just a little oval candy dish (10 inches long) but it has scallops going up from the base that give it a bumpy texture. I try to use it at Christmastime and on Valentine's Day. Food looks kind of strange in it unless it is light colored!
ReplyDeleteIf 3 is the rule, Janet, then I sure collect a lot of stuff. I like your milk glass collection and have a few pieces myself--maybe 10? I've seen the little yellow pitchers. Are these Hazel Atlas? That sticks in my mind but I'm not sure.
ReplyDeleteLaura, this glass is odd in that the red color seems to have been added on top of the clear. I've not seen anything like it anywhere else, but believe it might be early early blown glass. Maybe easly 1800's. I need to do more research on it.
Warren was your grandmother's glass depression glass? I love the yellow depression dishes.
Jill, thank you for stopping by. I visited your blog this evening. Brave woman to jump into Access!
I have found that "3" rule to be true. If I (all at once) have 3 of one thing, pretty soon I have more -- I have a collection!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mostlymccoy.com/
go here (to the link above) There's the first green vase . . . then scroll down and find the softer green "Brush-McCoy 9" green 1925 Art Vellum". I like them both. either will do!
Now I know what you are referring to, Nance. Very pretty. I like that pottery too, but I don't think I have any of it. When I mvoed here in the 70's you could get it at yard sales for a quarter! Isn't it funny how values change? Many things that no one wanted a few years ago are now recognized as really beautiful and valuable.
ReplyDeleteLovely red collection. That would be my color of choice I'm thinking. I don't collect breakables as they seem to find a way to do themselves in at my house. Guess that isn't entirely true, I do have a small collection (all different colors) of fiesta ware. It brings back such good memories of summers spent with my granny at the cabin.
ReplyDeleteBrighid, I learned when my sons were small to let things go. Things are replaceable, kids aren't. Stuff still gets broken, even when the kids are grown and gone. I buy wineglasses at junk shops because I know what will happen to them! I still find really pretty ones though.
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