The Romance of Vintage Stemware at Cat Lady Kate's Elegant and Depession Glass Here is a way you can add beauty to your home, set yourself apart and enjoy a link to American history. American-made stemware is still available for us to use and enjoy. Owning vintage stemware giv
News-Antique.com - Jan 13,2008 - Here is a way you can add beauty to your home, set yourself apart and enjoy using a link to American history. During the 1930s-80s many American glass companies produced gorgeous stemware in a myriad of patterns, shapes, themes and even colors. While most of these firms are no longer extant, their glass stemware – goblets, wines, sherbets and more – remain here and available for us to use and enjoy. Owning vintage stemware gives you something tangible from a bygone day.
Vintage stemware is a fantastic gift, especially for weddings or couples celebrating milestone anniversaries. What better way to wish long life and happiness together than to give something elegant and useful that survived for many years?
Best of all, you have a variety to choose among. We’ll look at several patterns from two makers with this article, and still barely cover a tiny fraction of the patterns and styles.
First, let’s look at four Fostoria patterns, each very different.
Colony is sturdy, with a pressed spiral design that sends the message of durability and simplicity. Colony would be a good choice for a couple that enjoys the simple hominess of Shaker styling. The piece shown on the top left is the oyster cocktail. Unless one serves oysters frequently, this may not be as useful as the water goblet, which is shown on the right. An updated use for the oyster cocktail would be to hold dipping sauce.
The next Fostoria design is Florentine etch, shown left middle row. This is simply gorgeous with its etched design of an urn spilling over with flowers and swags of leaves. The stemware itself is also very pretty with a twisted stem. We show the footed water tumbler and you can imagine using this in a slightly formal setting, with china and candles.
Third is a Fostoria champagne sherbet from the early 1970s. The 1960s brought in extremely simple designs with minimal ornamentation. Think of the pictures you have seen of Jackie Kennedy; that emphasis on simple shapes meant the glass companies had to adapt to the changing tastes. The champagne stem is Evening Star, which has a slightly dressed up stem shape and an engagingly simple star cutting. This would be nice in many homes with contemporary furnishings. Thisis left side bottom row.
Our last piece of Fostoria stemware dates to about the same era as Colony, and shows a different style. This water goblet is etched with the Lido etching, which resembles a milkweed puff or fireworks. This is another design that works well in many settings; it is neither quite as dressy as Florentine nor as sturdy as Colony, and it appeals too many. Lido goblet is top right.
You probably noticed the wide variety of stem types. We showed an oyster cocktail, two water goblets, very different from each other, a footed water tumbler, and champagne sherbet. During the early elegant glass era one could purchase as many as 15 different stems in a single pattern! Rather than
