Posted 14 years ago
madcya
(2 items)
something else i inherited from my aunt, i have no idea what kind of glass it is, i'm guessing its from 1930-1960 that seems to be when she bought most of her stuff and she always spent pretty good money to have nice things, any direction is appreciated!
Hello, This appears to be silver overlay or silver deposit glass. On most pieces of quality there is a mark that would say "sterling" sometimes the mark is hidden in the pattern but on a larger piece it is usually repeated atleast twice and will be found in the exact same place in the pattern on the repeat. It is hard to actually say whom the glass maker is as many many comp-anies dod produce silver deposit / overlay.
This type of glass was fairly popular starting around the turn of the century and continued in popularity until the mid 1930's when it started to fall from popularity. There is some that is still produced mainly in the area of anniversary type items IE: Happy Anniversary, 25th Anniversary, as well as 4o th anniversary which was produced on ruby glass hence the ruby wedding anniversary.
There were many types of items that were produced some were utilitarian type items as cream and sugar sets, salt and pepper,cruets, table sets, covered butter dishes perfume bottles, flasks, mugs and goblets, trophy glass, mayonaise sets, vases large plates and an assortment of other items some more useful than others as well as some that were purely for decoration only. Cambridge is one glass manufacturer that did use this type of treatment on their glass or stoneware items. The silver was in sheets and would be rolled out flat and the design cut out and then applied in the electrostatic process. To locate much information is usually quite difficult as I do not know of any book specifically on this subject but rather bits and pieces here and there. I have no sold my collection that I had gathered over 20 years and numbered in piece count at 1286 pieces! Also I have been told that there are two types, one is sterling and the other is platinum, either way is the process is fascinating as it was done by an electrostatic plating process and the patterns numerous from floral to geometric to animals to scripted writing. The older items usually had a much heavier application of the metal to the glass, but with the passing of time the thickness of the silver has gotten thinner. Beautiful plate and I hope this is of some help to you and others with this type of glass.
Wow, you seem extremely knowledgeable on this topic thanks very much for taking the time to give me such a detailed answer, do you have any idea of the rarity or the value, should i be storing this like a treasure or is it ok for regular use.
You are most welcome. You can use your piece, just be sure to soft clean it as most is coated so as it does not tarnish. I must say I have not seen this specific piece before but I have seen similar. DO NOT USE silver cleaners or SOS type pads as it will scratch quite easily and other cleaners like tarnex actually pit and eat away at the silver. The best polish to use is one called SEMI-CHROME it is available on line and is EXCELLENT. Not too spendy and dosent take much to clean a piece as you keep the "dirty piece of soft cloth to use and re-use. It appears to be about an 8" bowl? and in this coloring and design you are looking at about 75.00 - 100.00 depending on the area for one in as nice of condition and color as yours. By all means do use and enjoy it !
The glass was made by Indiana Glass Company. It is their Oleander, or Willow pattern. Production began in the late 1930s and it was often advertised by Montgomery Ward in the 1940s. The pattern continued into the 1950s and mainly comes in clear glass, clear with frosted leaves, and clear with color-stained leaves. The green is more difficult to find. Indiana introduced this color in the 1950s and called it "Terrace Green." I once passed by a large plate just like this one with the very same beautiful silver deposit design of oak leaves and acorns. When I went back it was gone.
Yes Paul, if we snooze, we lose, lol. I am an avid collector of Indiana Glass WOM as we call it (some call it Willow, some Oleander and some Magnolia), thus WOM is often used to describe it. I find the green most difficult to find although the elusive and gorgeous Ruby flashed leaves are also getting harder to find. I have the large punch bowl set in the Ruby flash, also in the pale ice blue flash. Some of my pieces are the multicolor flash (console bowl, underplate and a vase) and I ADORE the multicolor! Some of my pieces are yellow flash, frosted, frosted and flashed and of course the difficult to find green. VIVA the WOM, LOL