We’re wrapping up our short series on Adam’s Rib depression glass after reviewing the pattern’s overall appeal, types and variety of pieces to seek, availability and cost. Our last consideration is durability.
Of the 5 pieces we have owned, only one of the candle holders had a tiny nick in the inside edge of the ground base rim. The others were in mint condition with no chips or cracks and virtually zero wear.
Adam’s Rib Amber Candle Holder
Based on the pieces we’ve owned or seen in malls, most likely Adam’s Rib is fairly durable and you won’t have damage issues. I attribute this to two factors:
- Shapes are rounded with few or no sharp edges or corners
- The original owners viewed this as good glass so took care of it, carefully washing and storing as we do today with our best dishes.
This candy jar is typical of the piece shapes. Notice there are no sharp corners, no protruding points, no places to get inner rim roughness. Candy jars tend to nick on the inside where the lid goes on, or on the flange of the lid from people banging the two pieces, but the base has a rounded rim, not the sharp edge that patterns like Cameo have. This particular piece had no damage and in fact didn’t look used.
Adam’s Rib Pink Candy Jar
This has one sharp corner, on the wafer just below the lid finial. The smooth band above the ribs ends in a horizontal rounded surface, not likely to get nicked the way a sharp corner would.
Just like with any glass, you will want to check Adam’s Rib pieces carefully for damage – nicks, scrapes, scratches – but there aren’t obvious points that jump out at me as nick magnets. Based on this I’d rate Adam’s Rib a 7 for durability, slightly lowering my score just because we have seen such a small number of pieces.
Overall we gave this pretty pattern an 8 for Beauty, 9 for Enjoyable, 9 for Availability and Price (but this may be too generous) and a 7 for Durability.
We have sold every piece except the center handled server listed on Etsy for $50.
Adams Rib Green Center Handled Server
Note on availability: Dave and I went to the national depression glass show in Tiffin this weekend and I saw no pieces of Adam’s Rib. Based on this I’d have to lower our Availability score to a 6.
(Dealers could have had it and I missed seeing it, and I forgot to ask. Some dealers have more pieces stashed under the tables.)
The show felt a little different to me than past events and I’ll take a few upcoming posts to write about it.