Fostoria Bouquet Etched Crystal Century Creamer
No fair peeking at the photo caption now! Fostoria made this in crystal only and produced a full line up of dinnerware, stemware and accessories. They used the graceful Century blank for the etch.
It’s one of those great patterns by a clever designer who realized that putting an etch on the centers of plates made them far more useful. You can get a few scratches and barely notice when there is a pretty design in the center.
This piece is the smallest size creamer, what Fostoria called the individual size. Like the clever marketer they were, Fostoria produced a full line of glass and knew how to make their pieces seem compelling. This dainty creamer would have been marketed for breakfast, as in breakfast for two.
Give up? You can look at the caption now. The blank is Century and the etch is Bouquet.
Oddly enough this pattern remains one of Fostoria’s hidden gems. Yes, it has its fans and collectors, those who cherish lovely vintage glass. And Fostoria made it for a long time, from 1949 to 1972, which means many brides in the 1950s and 60s chose Bouquet for their wedding crystal.
So where is it? I ran a quick eBay search and found 22 listings for Fostoria Bouquet. Even allowing for eBays search vagaries, this seems very low for a pattern that is this pretty and had this many fans over the years.
What do you think? Any ideas why this is languishing on the bottom shelf and not right up there with Navarre or Meadow Rose?