Vintage Thursday: Imperfect but Beautiful

Regular readers know of my love affair with glass. I have far more of it than any one woman needs, and yet I cannot resist buying it when I see a bargain, or a glass bird, or almost anything in red glass. Fortunately, my booths give me an outlet to sell some pieces when I get overly enthusiastic, but still, a lot of glass ends up living in my house.

I blame this passion entirely on my mother. My mother had windows lined with little glass pitchers, mostly crackle glass, in every color of the rainbow and almost every shape that a pitcher might come in. Many of these pieces were West Virginia glass, although I did not know that when I was a child staring at the kaleidoscope of colors cascading onto the floor when the sun shone through the pretty glass. I just loved the colors and sparkle; that was enough for me.

I have not changed much over the years. There were times when I was into pottery, it is true, and I still like handmade pottery pieces. But my real love is glass, with 30's and 40's kitchenware a close second.

Here are a few pics of a recent glass arrangement in my house:

 These were taken in our log room, the old one, not the one we're currently working on:

 The table belonged to my parents, and it was where all 13 of us children gathered for meals. It's been beat and battered, but it has 4 leaves and can extend to about 12 feet long. The square pedestal dishes can be stacked and they make a lovely display for fruit, cookies, or flowers. They're by L.E. Smith and came from the Marietta Antique Mall--a real bargain. Sometimes bargains can be found in antique stores.

The ruby pitcher was an eBay find. Sometimes things sell cheap on there for no real reason, and this time I was the lucky bidder.

This ruby bowl came from the Riverbend Antique Mall where I have my other booth. It is quite large, but it has a couple chips in the rim. That doesn't bother me; I just love its shape and color. This was made by Anchor Hocking in the 40's, and is the pattern called Oyster and Pearl, I believe. For $5.00 I was happy to give it a home.

This jar is older than it looks. It's Early American Pattern Glass, and I forget the maker and pattern name, but it is heavy and sparkles just beautifully. It was in an auction box and I was so sad to find it had a large crack in it. But I've kept it anyway, just because I enjoy its shape and sparkle.

Another L.E. Smith piece, I found this at another antique mall in Richard Westfall's booth. Yellow glass is another of my favorites, and this tall beauty fits so well in my house. The tall piece behind it came from a flea market and I think it is quite old, but there is no marking or anything that will help me discover its maker. The rose bowl in front is a real sparkler in the sun, and was in another auction box lot. Sometimes $2 can buy the neatest treasures. The double-handled biscuit jar belonged to my mother, and I have always loved it. It too has a large crack in it and is very fragile, but the sun shining through its pattern is so pretty-and when it falls apart, I'll probably glue it back together and keep it anyway.

Not glass! But I do like this little silver teapot with its crooked finial.

This is a look under the table at its massive legs. (The Victorians would be shocked!) It was a banquet table and is 5 feet square without any leaves in it. I believe it is mahogany. It's scratched, dented and dinged but it holds many memories for me, and is quite at home in our log room.

So there you have my scratch-and-dent collection for today. Perfection is nice and certainly carries more dollar value when sold, but the chipped, cracked, dented and scratched have their own value perhaps not in dollars but in beauty and memories. After all, which of us can say we're perfect? I know my hand is not raised!

Linking today to Colorado Lady's Vintage Thingies Thursday, Open House Party, The Thrifty Groove, Home-Sweet-Home, and Treasure Hunt Thursday.

Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.