I'll get you my pretties!

I fell in love with depression glass in the mid 90's while working at a church in Oklahoma City. A secretary there and I became friends and she had been an avid collector for years and years. Her collections were vast, cookie jars, Jadeite, you name it and she had a collection of it. It wasn't long before I fell in love the stuff. True to form, I obsessed about making it my job to know as much about depression glass as possible. I read books and looked at Antique stores, didn't really know anything about the Internet then so I couldn't look things up like I do now. I was encourage to collect a thing and go from there. I decided that I would begin collecting cake plates, clear glass cake plates to be exact. They were abundant and cheap, two things that really please me. I probably collected 10-20 of those buggers before I fell in love with more stuff and moved on.

My next obsession was with sugar and creamers. I collected them voraciously and really had a lot of fun. I found that you have to be careful when talking about what you love, like sugar and creamers because people will start giving you things you don't want. New, knock-off sugar and creamers or sugar and creamers with not sugar lid weird duke like that. I loved the collecting of those sugar and creamers and they still catch my eye to this day.

From the sugar creamer obsession I moved on to candy dishes. Oh how I loved that. By the time I fell in love with candy dishes I had decided I loved green depression glass and would just collect the many patterns of green depression glass candy dishes I could get my hands on. It was great fun collecting them and hunting for them in antique malls, antique shows, garage sales, estate sales. All kinds of places to get those little pretties. I was on the prowl for them and would get them!

Here are just a few of the green candy dishes I have collected. These are on our mantle in the formal living room. I just love the color and the design. The dish in the back left is the X-design pattern and very rare. I have never seen any other glass piece with this pattern nor have I seen another candy dish with this pattern. It was a steal and a find to get. One of the foremost scholars of depression glass is Gene Florence. I wrote to him to ask if he could help identify it and never heard back from him. The piece in the back right is called Block Optic. This one is not perfect, the lid to this candy dish has been ground smooth on top, it had a point like it's sisters, but most likely was damaged and ground smooth to make it prettier. No matter to me I love it just the same. The dish in the front is the Ribbon patter made by the Hazel Atlas company. Aren't they just lovely? I have probably 20 or so of these candy dishes in various patterns.

As I got deeper and deeper into the hunt of these lovelies I fell in love with a particular pattern and have refined my search to two things now. Candy Dishes in green depression, and Green Depression Doric. Doric was made by the Jeanette Glass company between 1928 and 1946, it was the Grand Daddy of all glass companies cranking out dozens of patterns. These patterns were sold in catalogs (Sears, Montgomery Ward, etc.) and department stores much like you wold see at the department stores today. They had all sorts of things made in those patterns which means there are hundreds of things to collect (salt shakers, sugar shakers, syrup pitchers, vases, bud vases, milk or water pitchers, tumblers, you name it and they made it.)

Here are two examples of the Doric pattern. The picture is sideways, not sure how to turn it because the last time I tried I lost this whole blog post, so just turn your head with me and gaze. the rectangular dish is part of a four piece bridge set. there are three square inserts to this tray that you could use in entertaining. The piece on the right is a clover pattern nut dish or candy dish, but most likely a nut dish. Their candy dish is way cool. I love how simple this pattern is and yet how complex the design is as well. It's my favorite by far. My two favorite, well three, favorite pieces of the Doric pattern are the Candy Dish, the pitcher, and the sandwich tray. I jut love them. I hope to add to my collection, but don't go after them with as much intention as I used to. Teensy and Boys have kind of redirected my energy to other "family friendly" pursuits.



Here are four other pieces that hang in our formal living room. They are just across from the antique buffet that my Granny had in her house. The green piece on the top is the Doric sandwich tray. It is pristine with no hickeys or ginks at all. I love this thing. The piece on the bottom is a Swirl pattern cake plate. It is unique in that it has a scalloping pattern added to the swirl pattern. The two pieces on the right and left are the result of a brief foray into the pink world, short lived. The rectangular piece on the right is the princess pattern and the piece on the left is the Mayfair pattern. I like how the pink and green play together and allow them to live with me. Had I my drothers I'd rather collect just green and have just green.

I did go through a Swanky Swig stage, but that didn't last long either. Some of the pieced in my favorite collecting categories are very, very expensive. In my life right now I would rather put an extra $30 (the going price for most pieces I collect) in my Starbucks gift card or add it to my lunch kitty. I am happy with my collection as it is and don't even have it all out on display. So to me, White Mocha heaven is much more, "get me to my happy place and fast!" than say a green Doric salt and pepper shaker. Mildred has adopted my clear glass cake plates. Anything I give to Mildred I know goes to a good home because she will love them and love them well.