Day for a Drive
It was a beautiful weekend to take a spin in the old car. Not searching for anything special, just packing the computer away for a few hours and taking to the road in search of yard sales, open air markets, and the occasional freebie on the side of the road.
Technology significantly changed the way folks buy and sell their antiques, collectible, and just plain stuff. It seems you no longer need to know what you are selling, just a desire to sell and ask a price that is reasonable to the buyer. All in all, the folks you meet on the Internet and the folks I have met over the years in live selling environments are pretty much the same. They share a passion for all things old. Styles change and now there is a big movement called Steampunk. To me this area holds little interest yet it is similar to the recycling of items once used that no longer have a use, and turning them into something of use or at least something that someone is interested in owning.
I consider myself a restorationist, I would rather restore an item than rework it to look and be something it was not designed to be in the first place.
With water and sandwiches on board we set off to see what the world would show us today that we would long to bring home.
Yard Sale Ahead
We did not get too far from our initial destination when along the road we saw several signs for yard sales. With no where special to be and all day to be there we slowed down to scout the goods. Lots of plastic toys, plastic dolls, too new to be thrown away yet no longer useful to the child they were purchased for. We passed on that and moved onto a section of odds and ends of glassware and porcelain. When looking at glassware one needs to be careful and knowledgeable about how to tell the difference between new and old.
In some intances it is easy. You may recognize a pattern or a particular set from some thing you have seen recently in the store or a catalogue. Maybe you have the same set at home. Old glass was often not marked, other times the company etched their logo or name. This ususally appears on the bottom of a piece. I always carry of loupe, a magnifier with built in light, and a small black light My eye spotted a piece of colored glass in pink. Ahhhhhh!
There are fewer and fewer folks around who lived through the Great Depression in the 1930s. There are many of us who had grandparents and parents who lived through the Great Depression. Recycling was not born in the 1960s, it was alive and well during the 1930s, born out of necessity. What has this to do with the pink glassware I was walking toward?
Depression glass is highly collectible, the stuff that was made during the depression, not the reproduction and fake depression glass that is being imported from countries we do not even know the names of.
Pink Depression Glass
The piece above was made by the Jeanette Glass Company between 1932 -1934. The pieces were also produced in green, which are actually much rarer than the pieces in pink although pink is more collectible. The name of the pattern is Adam and it is a 9 inch square salad dish. After feeling along the sides of the plate to detect any minor or major cracks or chips I then held the plate up to the light to determine if there were any fine line cracks. Having satisfied with my "naked" eye, I whipped out my black light and ducking under a table to get some darkness on this sunny day, a scanned the dish with the light. Nothing! That was good.
Convinced there was no damage I proceeded to check more carefully the pattern. You see, repros have differences from the originals. After examining the size by measuring, looking at the "arrowhead" like lines and seeing what direction they pointed, and investigating the vine pattern, I was certain I was holding an original depression plate.
After chatting about the weather, as New Englanders do, our conversation turned to the many items for sale. The seller knew little about what I held in my hand and she gave me a price that I could not refuse. After paying for my find I looked around a bit more, smiled and waved good-bye while saying it was a great day for a yard sale.
Will my new found old piece of glassware find its way into some new style Steampunk. Not likely, It will be cleaned and placed in a spot deserving of a pink dish that has survived without scars for nearly 75 years.
Till next time, stay well, stay happy.
Vintage and collectible items may describe the same item although there are distinctions. Usually a vintage item is one that is at least 50 years old, often referring to items from the 1950s and 1960s. Collectible items can span the decades, depression glass from the early 1900s is highly collectible as are American Girl Dolls to our young children.
