AROUND HOME : Depression Glass
DEPRESSION GLASS, manufactured in the years spanning the 1920s to the early part of World War II, was a product of complete automation. For the first time, inexpensive glassware was available in great quantity--and the times demanded it.
The machine-molded glass was produced by forcing liquid glass through pipes into pressing molds. The market was flooded with millions of bottles, plates, cups, saucers and other decorative pieces, which sold in five-and-dimes for as little as 3 or 4 cents each. As the Depression deepened in the 1930s, glass dinner and luncheon sets were used as giveaway premiums to help promote the sale of other articles. Even the cheapest earthenware sets were more expensive than this machine-produced glassware.
Attending “dish night” at the movies each week was one way of collecting a free set of glasses or a luncheon service. On Wednesday nights in many small towns, a 25-cent admission ticket bought two feature films, selected short subjects, a newsreel and an addition to the family cupboard. Sears, Roebuck offered its customers complete services for four for $1.99.
Some patterns derived from traditional Sandwich-glass patterns of the 19th Century and some from English glassware of earlier days. Artistic merit was not, on the whole, great, but colors were bright and cheerful, and some of the patterns show a good deal of Art Deco charm.
Six companies produced most of the Depression glass that is collected today, the majority of them in the Midwest and Pennsylvania. A pattern such as the Jeanette Glass Co.’s Sierra was a handsome Art Deco design, extremely innovative for its time, with a pinwheel shape never used for plates until then. Moderntone, made by the Hazel Atlas Glass Co. in 1934, is another Art Deco pattern, produced in cobalt blue, amethyst and opaque white with fire-on colors, strikingly modern in feeling. Since the glass was the least expensive kind (used for commercial bottles), there were many flaws, which were obscured by the use of color.
The names the manufacturers gave this blue, pink, green, yellow, amber and opaque glass instantly call back the 1930s: Ritz Blue, for example, Ultra-marine, Nu-Rose, Flamingo. Depression glass can be used today, not only to set contemporary tables, but also--given the current popularity of Art Deco--as handsome accents elsewhere in any Art Deco or postmodern interior.
Depression glass often can be found at flea markets, charity shops such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army, country auctions, church bazaars, swap meets and garage sales. Antique shops that often carry Depression glass include the Beaded Bird in Culver City; Millstein’s General Store in West Los Angeles; Big White Elephant in West Hollywood; White Elephant in Burbank; Larry Hughes and Jay’s Antiques, both in Pasadena; Anne-tique House and Ventura Antique Market (Clensay’s Antiques and Lamplighter Antiques) in Ventura; Sherry’s Antiques in Orange; Panache Unlimited in Fullerton; Butterfield’s Antique Mall in Wilmington; Sleepy Hollow Antique Mall in Long Beach; Roberta Gauthey in Laguna Beach; the Antique Co. in Solana Beach, and Unicorn Co. and 4th and K Mall, both in San Diego.
