Hocking Glass made Fortune and Old Café depression glass patterns about the same time, 1937-38 for Fortune and 1936-40 for Old Café, and except for a few pieces of Royal Ruby Old Café, in the same colors, pink and crystal. Since the two patterns look much alike and are easy to confuse, we’ll cover them together. Pillar Optic is somewhat similar in style and dates to the same period, 1937-1942, made in the same pink, crystal plus green and Royal Ruby.
Posts about Fortune, Old Café and Pillar Optic
Fortune and Old Café Depression Glass Tumblers
Two Confusing Patterns – Old Cafe and Fortune Depression Glass
How to Tell Fortune from Old Cafe Depression Glass by Hocking
Find Your Fortune Here! Pink Depression Glass by Hocking
Gorgeous Hocking Depression Glass Candy Jars and Dishes – Eye Candy!
Old Café Depression Glass from Hocking – Ribs Wide and Thin
Book Report Monday! Super Easy Depression Glass Guide << Good book for pattern identification
How to Recognize Hocking Pillar Optic Green Depression Glass
Pillar Optic Green Depression Glass Plate
Pillar Optic Green Depression Glass Lunch Plate
Compare Fortune to Old Café and Pillar Optic
These two patterns are easy to confuse. This is Fortune.
Note the one wide rounded panel between one narrow rounded rib.
Fortune tumblers are straight, angling up from a narrower base to a wider foot, and have a smooth band under the lip. Old Café tumblers have a bulbous top, unfortunately I do not have photos.
This is Old Café. Notice the wider panel is quite wide with two ribs between.
This is Pillar Optic. All the panels are the same width. There are pieces in crystal, green, pink, some Royal Ruby .
Fortune Depression Glass
Hocking made Fortune in both pink and crystal. I have seen only pink, no crystal, and Florence comments that crystal is more scarce. (This is not the case with most patterns where crystal is often easier to find and less costly.)
This is a small dessert or luncheon set. There are two plates, 6 inch sherbet liner and 8 inch luncheon, cup and saucer, four place setting bowls ranging from a shallow 4 inch berry to a 5 1/4 inch size. This is the 4 inch berry bowl.
This bowl is slightly larger, 4 1/2 inches, and has a handle.
There is a serving bowl that’s 7 3/4 inches wide, no platter, no creamer or sugar, no sherbet. There are two tumblers, a juice and a 4 inch tall water that holds 9 ounces. The only accessory piece is a covered candy with two handles.
As for availability, checking eBay just now, (mid July 2023), you can easily get the place setting bowls or water tumblers. There are a few listings for plates, cups or saucers, and I didn’t see any luncheon plates, serving bowl or candy dish. Be careful to check photos before buying because some pieces were misidentified.
I got most of my pieces at estate sales or flea markets over several years and never had much of this pattern. Many pieces I saw had rim nicks; you can reduce the problem by putting paper towels between each piece when stacking.
To the best of my knowledge Fortune has not been reproduced. There are very similar appearing pitchers that may be listed as Fortune that are actually go-with from Hocking, not part of the original pattern line but not fakes.
Old Café Depression Glass
Old Café has enough pieces for a small dinner service, although like Fortune, it lacks creamers or sugars. There is a dinner plate, sherbet plate, four place setting bowls, cup and saucer, sherbet, olive dish and serving bowl. This is the 2-handled 5 1/2 inch bowl with closed handles. There is a similar bowl with open handles.
The olive dish is an oval bowl with handles, about 6 inches long and quite narrow.
The easiest pieces to find are the low candy – at least the bottom part – and the low open candy dish. The base to the candy bowl is shown near the top of this page and this is the open candy dish. I have seen this in pink, crystal and crystal with cut leaves and flowers. It’s a pretty piece and not costly, easy to find..
Hocking made a juice and a water size. I’ve not seen these in person. Another piece that’s interesting and not so easy to find is the lamp.
One piece I think was made in large quantities, possibly for the florist trade, is the crystal vase, or possibly it was copied, or remade For several years I couldn’t go into a thrift store without finding a crystal vase and some of them had weak patterns, some were marked on the base and some were not. I’ve not read about reproduction vases.
Per Gene Florence there are some reproduction pieces that are satinized, frosted, the 2-handled bowl and candy dish. I’ve not seen either.
Pillar Optic Depression Glass
There are Pillar Optic plates, cup and saucer, sherbet, serving plates, pitcher, creamer and sugar, so it it could be a small luncheon set but it seems more a serving/accessory pattern. The largest plate is the luncheon size, 8 inches, and there are no bowls for individual place settings. The serving bowls are Royal Ruby only. (I’m often puzzled at the pieces companies chose to make, they don’t always seem logical.)
Note the plate has the panels on the center and the rim and there are smooth bands around the rim and separating the center from the rim.
For a depression glass pattern Pillar Optic offers a plethora of tumblers, including some that have both feet and stems. This is the flat water in pink.
This footed tumbler is either the juice or water size, likely the smaller juice size. It looks like a goblet.
There is another footed tumbler that is cone shaped without a stem.
Pillar Optic has some interesting, fun pieces too. There are three pitchers, a rounded 80 ounce one with ice lip, a more straight shaped 80 once size without ice lip and a smaller one that holds 60 ounces. Plus look for a pretzel jar, aka big cookie jar, a 2-handled round serving plate and a platter.
I have seen very little Pillar Optic. Either it wasn’t popular in mid-Michigan where we lived or I simply overlooked it. The three pieces shown are the only ones I accumulated in 20 years buying glass yet there are many listings on eBay and it looks like one could easily find most pieces.
Since we had so few pieces I cannot comment on damage concerns with this pattern.