Elegant Stemware with a Twist! Fostoria Contour Champagne Sherbet

This is the champagne sherbet in Fostoria's Contour elegant glass. This dates to the late 1950s to 1960s as Fostoria made this pattern from 1955 to 1970. It has a mid-century modern styling with the curved stem and generous round bowl.

Swedish modern was all the rage in the 1950s and this must have been Fostoria's answer to the pricey Scandinavian art glass of the time. Contour pieces all have curves - lots and lots of curves - and the plates are cupped at the rim. They really are distinctive and you'll not mistake the stemware either with its curvy stems.

I showed the creamer and sugar in a previous blog at the end of 2007 and want to get this champagne sherbet out now for those who are looking for wedding gifts or stemware for special occasions. Vintage stemware gives us an intimate connection with the past; it's beautiful and it is useful. What more could you want?

We're listing this in our eBay store, TIAS store and offering one at auction this week.

Catladykate's Elegant and Depression Glass at TIAS http://www.tias.com/stores/catladykate/
Catladykate at eBay http://stores.ebay.com/Vintage-Elegant-Depression-Glass

Fostoria Contour and Raleigh - Less Known Elegant Glass

Almost everyone who enjoys glass has heard of Fostoria - makers of fine elegant glass they had many gorgeous etchings on colored and crystal glass. Here are two of their less known plain designs, Contour and Raleigh.

Fostoria's Contour has the space-age lines of the early 1950s, perfectly fitting the mid century mode and style preferences. Contour is line number 2666 and you are able to buy a full line of stylish serving pieces. There is no plain dinner or lunch plate although there are canape and snack plates that have an interesting upwards twist, and a plain lunch sized plate that is cupped. Fostoria used Contour for several of their most popular decorations, notably Holly and Nosegay cuttings.

You can find this same shape in a heavier glass that was introduced a couple years earlier; the heavier pieces are not as readily found nor are they available in a full line of dinnerware. This heavier line is number 2638.

The second pattern we'll show is Raleigh, which is very different from Contour, with its squared shapes and log handles. Fostoria made Raleigh from 1939 to 1965 and used it for many of their Colonial styled etchings, such as Sampler and Colonial Mirror. You can tell Raleigh easily by the rounded facets and the little log shaped handles.

We have pieces of both these patterns in our store, which is linked below. Recently we bought some of the sherbets in Contour which have really neat stems, but we'll show them another day.