Antiques and Collectibles Price Charts and Value Guides
In this post we’ll explore How to Identify and Value Vintage Milk Glass, it’s history and a look at some of the many collectible shapes available.
Milk glass is an opaque or translucent, milk white or colored glass that can be blown or pressed into a wide variety of shapes. Made into decorative dinnerware, lamps, vases, and costume jewelry, milk glass was very popular back in the Victorian era.
Joseph-Gabriel Rousseau, born in a small village outside of Chartres to a farming family. In 1913 he married Marianne Argyriadès, a highly cultured woman of Greek descent who fueled Rousseau’s interest in Greek and Classical art. After his marriage Rousseau added the first four letters of his wife’s maiden name “a-r-g-y” in homage to her cultural, emotional, and domestic support, signing his name “Argy-Rousseau” for the remainder of his artistic career.
The Tiffany lamp is one of the most coveted antiques. From its hand crafted origins, the Tiffany lamp has become rare and unique. The technique of artists who made these beautiful pieces is highly admired. But don’t think all Tiffany lamps are table lamps. They can be floor lamps, hanging lamps, wall sconces, desk lamps, or even some variation of chandeliers! They can also have smooth or irregular shade borders. Since so many Tiffany lamps are different in color, height, and overall design, and with so many reproductions, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish the real thing from an imitation.
Glass-blowing is a glass-forming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble, or parison, with the aid of a blowpipe, or blow-tube. A person who blows glass is called a glassblower, glassmith, or gaffer.
Glass art is usually understood to refer to large modern works of art, typically one-off creations, which are substantially or wholly made in glass. It is distinguished from “art glass” and “studio glass” which are typically smaller and often made in editions of many identical pieces, but the boundaries are not clear-cut. Glass art is more likely to be exhibited in public spaces rather than in homes.
Antique Emile Galle Vases are original glass vases produced by the notable artist and designer Emile Galle.Emile Galle (born 8th May 1846) was a French Art Nouveau artist who worked primarily with glass.He first learned his techniques after studying philosophy and taking on work at his father’s furniture factory.
The Fostoria Glass Company manufactured pressed, blown and hand-molded glassware and tableware for almost 90 years. It began operations in Fostoria, Ohio, USA, on December 15, 1887, at South Vine Street, near Railroad,on free land donated by the townspeople. When natural resources declined in Fostoria, the company moved to Moundsville, West Virginia, in 1891.
The Fostoria Glass Company manufactured pressed, blown and hand-molded glassware and tableware for almost 90 years. It began operations in Fostoria, Ohio, USA, on December 15, 1887, at South Vine Street, near Railroad, on free land donated by the townspeople. When natural resources declined in Fostoria, the company moved to Moundsville, West Virginia, in 1891.
Fiesta is a line of ceramic dinnerware glazed in differing solid colors manufactured and marketed by the Homer Laughlin China Company of Newell, West Virginia.The original shapes, glazes and concept of combining various colors were designed by the company’s art director Frederick Hurten Rhead in the 1930s. The dinnerware was introduced for retail sales to great success in 1936. Homer Laughlin withdrew Fiesta from production in 1973 in response to declining sales before reintroducing the line in 1985. Some of the original shapes were redesigned and other new shapes were designed as part of the 1985 reintroduction by the late Jonathan O. Parry, who became the company art director in 1984.The name of this line of dinnerware has always been simply Fiesta, despite being informally referred to by customers as Fiesta Ware.
Depression glass is clear or colored translucent glassware that was distributed free, or at low cost, in the United States around the time of the Great Depression. The Quaker Oats Company, and other food manufacturers and distributors, put a piece of glassware in boxes of food, as an incentive to purchase. Movie theaters and businesses would hand out a piece simply for coming in the door. Most of this glassware was made in the central and mid-west United States, where access to raw materials and power made manufacturing inexpensive in the first half of the twentieth century. More than twenty manufacturers made more than 100 patterns, and entire dinner sets were made in some patterns. Common colors are clear (crystal), pink, pale blue, green, and amber. Less common colors include yellow (canary), ultra marine, jadeite (opaque pale green), delphite (opaque pale blue), cobalt blue, red (ruby & royal ruby), black, amethyst, monax, and white (milk glass).