- Posts about Patrician Depression Glass
- Basic Information
- Patrician Pieces Made
- Availability and Pricing
- Reproduction and Damage Concerns
Posts about Patrician Spoke Depression Glass
Patrician Spoke Green Depression Glass
Curvy Rims and Curly Designs – Patrician Spoke Depression Glass
Patrician Amber Depression Glass – Spoke from Federal
Tablescape Thursday – Patrician Amber and Trojan Topaz
Tablescape Thursday: Sunshine Amber Depression Glass
Patrician Green and Amber Depression Glass – Spoke by Federal
Antiquing at the Pink Elephant – Hunt for Elegant and Depression Glass
Friendship, Roses, Mother’s Day and Depression Glass
Puzzling Sizes and Shapes in Depression Glass – Cereal Bowls
Amber Depression Era Glass – From Honey Gold to Deep Russet
Keep Your Green Beans Out of Your Mashed Potatoes! Depression Glass Grill Plates
Beautiful Depression Glass – Antiquing Together in Downtown Kalamazoo
Green Glass on Parade – Depression Era through the 1970s
Almost Fall, Time for Amber Depression Glass
Inner Rim Roughness – How to Check Your Glass for Damage
Top 10 Reasons to Collect Depression Glass Patterns – #10. It’s Beautiful!
Collecting Depression Glass – Normandie by Federal Glass (compares similar damage susceptibility)
Basic Information about Patrician Depression Glass
Federal Glass made Patrician from 1933 to 1937 in amber, green, pink and crystal. When we lived in Michigan we saw tons of amber and many pieces of green but never saw pink or crystal shopping near home or on occasional antiquing trips to Ohio, Indiana or Kentucky. (Some depression glass patterns or colors were distributed regionally.)
Patrician is mold etched, meaning the pretty swag design is acid etched into the mold itself which allowed fast, inexpensive production by pressing the glass. The design combines curlicues, ovals, curved chevrons to make a swag border in the center and a rim design; it looks lacy. It’s quite attractive and easy to identify.
Pieces have wide curly rims and creamer, sugar, sherbet and tall 8 ounce tumbler are footed. Other pieces are flat.
Federal named their line “Patrician”, but early collectors did not know this and used the nickname “Spoke” which is a good description of the pattern because the center medallion is a circle with spokes.
Patrician Pieces Federal Made
Federal made Patrician mostly as a full dinnerware set but included some interesting accessory pieces like the cookie jar. Patrician has a full line up of place setting-sized bowls, the 5 inch berry, 6 inch cereal and the 2-handled cream soup with is 4 3/4 inches across at the top, all shown below. Notice the small berry and cereal are shaped the same, only the size differs.
Patrician also has a full array of plates, the 6 inch sherbet liner, 7 1/2 inch salad, 9 inch luncheon and 10 1/2 inch dinner, plus a 10 1/2 inch grill plate. Both the luncheon and dinner plates are wider than plates in other depression patterns, likely because the rims are rather wide making the true usable size closer to the norm.
Cup and saucer with cup ring and sherbet complete the individual place setting pieces.
Besides the regular place setting pieces Patrician includes 3 flat tumblers, from juice to iced tea size and 1 footed tumbler in amber and green, not pink. As you can see the tumblers are rather thin glass. Despite having a very large dinnerware set we never owned tumblers.
Federal made a round 8 1/2 inch berry bowl and a 10 inch oval vegetable bowl, a 11 1/2 inch oval platter, salt and pepper shakers, butter dish, pitcher, creamer and sugar and sugar lid.
We had a full amber dinnerware service for 12 (since sold or donated) and here is a table setting with the pattern. It’s quite pretty!
Besides the pieces to use at table, Federal made a cookie jar with lid and a jam jar.
The jam dish is a neat piece. It is a bowl 6 3/4 inches across and 1 1/4 inches deep, slightly wider than and shallower than the cereal. This is the same size as the butter base but lacks the inset that the butter base has to hold the lid. Take a look:
Availability and Pricing
We saw many pieces of amber Patrician when glass shopping – you can see from all my photos that we had most pieces at one time – and were able to purchase an entire set from a lady who did not want her mother’s glass. We lived in Michigan at the time.
We saw several pieces of green too, although far fewer, and they tended to be a little more expensive. (In general amber depression glass tends to be less expensive than green or pink in most patterns.) We saw zero pieces of pink. Very likely someone distributed amber Patrician as a premium in our area and people then purchased many add-on pieces and but pink was not used as a premium near us.
I’m looking online on eBay and Replacements (October 2024) and Etsy and all three sites have far more amber than green and more green than pink. I saw almost all the pieces on eBay. You can easily get all the basic pieces.
Patrician is a moderately-priced depression glass pattern, and if you purchase multiples, whether multiples of one item or a set, it is inexpensive. It’s a good pattern to collect from the standpoint of availability and affordability.
A few pieces are costly and may be hard to find, notably the sugar lid, and the usual culprits, pitcher, cookie jar and shakers are also more scarce although the flat tumblers aren’t as scarce as tumblers in some patterns. There is no pink cookie jar or footed tumbler.
Reproduction and Damage Concerns
The good news is that no one reproduced Patrician in any color, no need to worry whether you are getting authentic depression glass.
The bad news is the plates and bowls are prone to inner rim roughness if the owner has not cared for them and stored with something separating each in a stack. This roughness is from tiny nicks and might not bother you if you intend using your glass. In the very large set we had about a third of the plates had light inner rim roughness as did a couple bowls.
This means that you might prefer to purchase pieces in person vs. online as it is very easy for a seller to be unaware of rough inner rims. Most people carefully check the outside edge but a casual glass seller may not realize they need to check the inside edge too. You can reduce this risk by purchasing from people online who sell a lot of glass and have good ratings. Or buy from brick and mortar stores when you can.
Summary
Federal Patrician Spoke depression glass is pretty, mold etched with enticing shapes and motifs. Look for amber, green or pink and be confident that it has not been reproduced. It is quite easy to find a set of amber and slightly harder to find green while pink is less common. Use the full dinnerware sets or enjoy the decorative cookie jar.
It’s a lovely pattern you will enjoy having.