Antique Glassware

Antique Glassware Sales

Over the last ten years, the prevalence of online auction sites like eBay and Ruby Junction has changed the face of collecting antique glassware. On one hand, items once thought to be extremely rare, like iridescent Carnival glassware, were suddenly readily available. On the other hand, items one found in every kitchen cabinet, like mid-century Fire King milk glass coffee cups, were suddenly hot collector's items and, therefore, very valuable.

Antique Glassware - Libbey Cut Glass

Libbey cut glass is a popular line of antique glassware because virtually all antique Libbey glassware is marked at the factory with the Libbey mark; the presence and style of the signature makes pieces easy to authenticate, identify and date. The mark shows the word "Libbey" written in script. With the tail of the "y" connected to the tail of the "L," and a curved sword under the word.

Pressed glass can look similar to antique cut glassware, but the difference is in the touch. Cut glass has sharp edges - not sharp enough to cut through skin, but sharp enough to differentiate it from the smooth, rounded edges of pressed glass.

Antique Glassware – Fire King

Fire King mugs, made by Anchor Hocking, are some of the most popular antique glassware items on eBay. Collectors have made old advertising mugs a cottage industry of thief own, with a single 7-Eleven Fire King mug recently selling for $247.50 on eBay. Plain jadeite green mugs are also popular among collectors, with a set of four bringing $260.

If you ever owned Fire King, check your kitchen for a white and red salt and pepper shaker set and a jadeite green ball pitcher. The salt and pepper set brought $650 in a recent auction, and the pitcher $520. Fire King pieces are marked in embossed script, usually on the bottom of a piece. Beware of reproduction jadeite from the late 1990s.

Antique Glassware – Fostoria

The most popular antique Fostoria glassware is clear cut glass, and the blue cut glass also does quite well. An eBay seller recently got $516.99 for a five-inch-tall deep jelly compote that had a small chip on the edge (These chips are diminutively called "flea bites" in the antique glassware business.)

Other Fostoria items that bring top dollar are liquor decanter sets, etched with "bourbon" and "gin" labels, and an eight-inch shallow, flared nappy. (A "nappy" is what antique glassware dealers call a cut glass bowl.)

Antique Glassware – Depression Glass

No glass discussion complete until it mentions antique Depression glassware. Mass-produced in shades of pink, green, blue, and amber, Depression glassware was made during the Great Depression of the 1930s and later.

An aquamarine swirl pitcher made by Jeanette Glass recently brought $1,461 on eBay. The pitcher was described as "flawless" – no flea bites! A blue bowl in the Royal Lace pattern sold for $686.