Crystal Center Handled Server Sandwich Tray

Yesterday we showed a neat cupped center handled server from New Martinsville. Today let's look at one that is more traditional shape.

This is a pretty piece of elegant depression glass from Westmoreland. It is a center handled server with the round serving portion slightly sloped up but not cupped. It is a tray with a handle in the center instead of a shallow bowl with a handle as the amber piece earlier.

Center handled servers, also called CHS, were popular serving pieces for sandwiches or small cakes or cookies. People entertained in their homes and would have used a special piece like this to make an occasion a little fancier. This one is quite nice with a tailored cutting of close lines separated by the simple flower sprays. It would be fun to use this today for anything from appetizers to cookies to sandwiches.

We have this listed in our store on TIAS, Cat Lady Kate's Elegant and Depression Glass, along with several other CHS.
Catladykate's Glass at TIAS http://www.tias.com/stores/catladykate/

Mayfair Open Rose Depression Glass

This pitcher is Mayfair pink depression glass by Hocking. This pattern has vertical ribs and wide panels with open roses grouped in a bouquet. Many pieces are square as is this pitcher.

Hocking made Mayfair for several years, 1931 to 1937, and in a soft blue plus some green, yellow and clear in addition to the pink. The blue is very scarce and I've seen only a couple pieces. It is a soft blue, not cobalt.

A few pieces of Mayfair have been reproduced, notably the pitcher, shot glass, shakers and cookie jar. The handle on the pitcher shown here is a smooth curve that comes horizontally off the body. The repro handles are odd shaped. Also, the base on the originals have round mold marks with the repros lack.

Good depression glass books will give details on how to tell repros from originals. Often the repros will be poorly molded or be strange colors that were never made.

We have this pitcher listed in our TIAS store and eBay store.

Find the Hidden Chips - Buying Depression Glass

Pretty cup, no? It is Adam by Jeannette, one of the mold etched depression glass patterns. Adam is a pattern that is hard to find in mint condition. Many of the pieces, plates, bowls and so on, have squared off rims that just beg to get inner rim roughness. I posted about my cereal bowl eBay purchases a while back that all had tiny nicks on the inner rim.

Here's a tip when buying glass. Don't just run your finger around the top of the rim. Go around the sides of the rim, both inside and outside. If there is a squared off portion or a ridge, check that out for nicks. Another place to check is the seam around the outside of the base and on the handle. Some patterns are just so prone to nicks, such as Adam, Queen Mary, Tea Room. All these patterns have sharp corners. Queen Mary has sharp vertical ribs that get nicked and Tea Room has stair stepped blocks.

So where's this mysterious nick? This particular cup has a tiny nick on the inside of the top rim and a gouge on the back of the handle. When I list this, I'll describe both nicks and give dimensions, plus show the pictures. Some nicks don't photograph and these were pretty challenging. It took several attempts to get the top rim nick to show up at all.

Help! I Bought More Depression Glass!

This is Adam pink depression glass by Jeannette and the particular piece shown is the dinner plate. I have four of these, have had them for several years, yet I just bought three more.

I'm sitting here questioning whether this was the smart purchase it seemed just a little while ago, so I'm going to write down my thinking and maybe that will help me.

Depression glass has gotten hard to find. Our local flea market and antique stores, garage sales and estate sales all have super high prices on colored glass whether it's depression or dollar store imports. The only pieces we've gotten lately have been elegant glass and clear depression and that's only because few recognize it as depression when it is not colored.

My stores are called --- Elegant and Depression Glass for a reason: That is what I sell, depression glass and elegant glass. It's hard to stay in business when you can't buy what you want to sell. The last year I've bought glass on eBay for this reason, but only a few pieces of depression since I'm looking for bargains. Elegant glass seems to go for 25-35% of book value, while depression glass is 50-60% of book. Throw in shipping and it's gotten really hard to find quality depression glass at prices reasonable enough to allow a profit. The plates I bought were not cheap, but they were 40% of book value including shipping. There. Now I feel better!

Inner Rim Roughness - Bane of Rimmed Depression Glass

You'll probably find listings online for depression glass with IRR, inner rim roughness. While only you can decide how important this is to you, many of the patterns with squared off rims are plagued with this.

The bowl shown here is the cereal in pink Adam depression glass by Jeannette. Adam is one pattern that is very difficult to find mint, with no damage whatsoever. You can see that the rim is square with the vertical sides of the bowl, making a fairly sharp corner. When pieces with these sharp corners are stacked, they get tiny nicks. Often the nicks are not visible and you will find them only by zealous checking. But it's more common in my experience to have nicks that don't show up easily to the eye but are easily felt.

This bowl is a case in point as the seller assured me it and the other three with it were free of any nicks. Unfortunately all four bowls have IRR, ranging from minuscule to quite evident. Needless to say the value is far less, anywhere from 25 to 75% of what a mint bowl would be.

I recommend that you always ask sellers to recheck pieces. While this is no panacea, it is one more chance for them to find problems. Personally I check when buying, when washing, when listing and when wrapping and it is simply amazing how easy it is to discover a problem only when wrapping! It is disappointing and embarassing to find a problem only after the sale!