Tuesday Treasures - Milk Glass - January 30, 2024
The Goodwill Bins has been a treasure trove of milk glass lately.
E.O. Brody milk glass from the 1960s. What is it? I've seen it described as a compote and as a candy dish. I believe it is a vase. Compotes do look like bowls on pedestals, however they aren't open inside into the base like this. You'd have a hard time getting anything out of the bottom.
I found these next three on the same day.
First, a pedestal compote with grape clusters.
Another piece with the grape cluster motif is this candle holder from the 1950s. It's by Indiana Glass in the pattern of Colony, or Colony Harvest.
I love this piece, an Anchor Hocking Thumbprint and Bars ashtray, also from the 1950s. Milk glass and ashtray, a double collectible!
You can see how milk glass differs in quality. The compote/vase, ash tray, and candle holder are higher quality than the pedestal compote with grapes. They are dense, fully opaque, creamy, what is sometimes called "dead white." Lower quality milk glass is see through. Milk glass was first made to mimic ceramic at a lower cost. Mine is white, but milk glass comes in other colors. My castor set may be considered pink.
These next two are Anchor Hocking Stars and Bars, discontinued in 1965. The one on the left is from the Goodwill Bins, the other a Goodwill retail store. I don't usually want more than one of any particular vase, however, these are different colors. While you want to avoid milk glass with a blue tinge, I'm not sure the one on the left is lower quality or just blue. Maybe it's white and the other is pink.
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| not a crack, it's Baby Cat fluff... |
Both have a ring of fire.
I also picked up this 1960s - 1970s starburst Hoosier Glass from a Goodwill for 89¢.
That was a very cheap price for a thrift store. If they didn't charge so much for milk glass maybe it wouldn't end up in the Bins.
I have learned a lot about milk glass from Dr. Lori.
Here she talks about avoiding the blue.
What she doesn't talk about is the ring of fire. It's signifies age, not quality. I've had cashiers tell me a piece isn't "real" milk glass because it is newer. Sure it is. It's just less popular with collectors. I still like it, especially if it's cheap!
I swear we had some of that around when I was a child. I didn't know what it was then, and I have no idea what happened to it. Either my mother still has it, or it got lost in a move.
ReplyDeleteThe only milk glass my mother (and grandmother) had were the hens on nest boxes. My mother later got my grandmother's, but I don't know where they went. Some of those things you don't know are missing until you think about them. They weren't around when my mother died.
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