We’ve been looking at Century from Fostoria Glass, their go-to blank during the 1950s. Century has a lot of looks by itself and was quite popular sold as its undecorated, pristine crystal self. Here are a few pieces that show the beauty of this simple design.
First up is the relish tray. Nowadays we don’t see glass relish trays all that much; people use regular plates or plastic or may purchase pre-made relish trays from the deli. Back in the day every pattern with any claim to completeness included a relish tray.
What makes the Century one different is the handles are in the middle of the long sides, not at the end. This is practical to make it easier to pass since the dish would be better balanced. The only problem is the handles make the tray wide enough that it might not fit in a shallow cupboard.
Fostoria Century Crystal Relish Tray
Fostoria made lots of interesting accessory pieces like this cheese and cracker set. You put cheese, either cubed or sliced or a cheese ball on the small comport and crackers on the big plate.
Fostoria Century Cheese and Cracker Set
Cheese and cracker sets look super impressive, very elegant and unusual to our 21st century eyes, but they are amazingly practical. Dave gave me a Rose Point set for Christmas and we used it with hummus and vegetables besides cheese and crackers. It’s an easy way to serve this type of paired food.
Another piece that looks fancy but is completely practical is the creamer and sugar set on a tray. Have you ever gotten drips of cream on the table or sloshed some sugar? The tray keeps those oops moments off the table. If you use placemats or a table cloth you’ll welcome anything that lets you wash those less often.
Fostoria Century Crystal Creamer and Sugar on a Tray
I’ve written about lily ponds before. They are wide, shallow bowls meant originally to display flowers. You would put a flower holder in the center for a bouquet and could float flowers around the holder if you want.
Fostoria made two sizes of Century lily ponds and this is the smaller.
Fostoria Century Small Lily Pond
I showed the wavy rim bon bon in an earlier post, but here is a flat one. This is called the three-toed bon bon. You can imagine putting Easter candy or nuts out in this piece. It’s a nice size, about 7 inches wide, so it is big enough to be useful as a small serving bowl too.
Fostoria Century 3-Toed Bon Bon
Besides these interesting accessory pieces Fostoria made a full dinnerware set with serving pieces. I got a large set a couple years ago and will show some of the regular pieces next time.