Tiffin made some gorgeous glass during the depression and this book captures some of that elegance. Depression Era Stems & Tableware: Tiffin (A Schiffer Book for Collectors), by Ed Goshe, Ruth Hemminge and Leslie A. Pina concentrates on the stemware and limited dinnerware from the 1930s. They do not cover all the various pieces or every pattern but they give an excellent overview of Tiffin’s production and review in depth the primary patterns.
I got out of the habit of perusing this book, mostly because I’m not buying so much glass and can usually recognize Tiffin. I got this book out today because Peter on Facebook posted a photo of a goblet with an etched poppy. At first glance it looked like Cambridge Gloria on stem 3130, but the poppies were a bit too squished. Peter gently corrected the identification to Tiffin Flanders so I took another look and got out my Tiffin book.
Flanders and Gloria are similar and the stems have similar silhouettes but you can tell them apart.
- Cambridge Gloria has flowers that face diagonally to the side. This pattern looks fierce to me.
- Flanders has flowers that face the top and are squished a little flat.
- The Tiffin stem 15024 has vertical ridges in the stem and horizontal ridges in the wafers at top and bottom.
- Tiffin stem top wafer is right at the base of the bowl while Cambridge stem 3130 has a space between the bowl and the wafer.
Silly me. Next time I’ll remember to check this excellent reference first.