Everyone is anxious when they first start to collect a pattern like Cherry Blossom that has been reproduced. It’s so hard. The books say things like “compared to the original pattern” or “much different than the original”. It is just not helpful if you don’t have a piece you know to be authentic to compare with a piece you know (or suspect) is fake.
This is a real depression glass dinner plate from Jeannette Glass.
Cherry Blossom Pink Depression Glass Dinner Plate
Gene Florence talks about “canal leaves” in his Collector’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass. Once you see an example of a “canal leaf” you’ll never mistake it. A canal leaf looks like a child drew an oval leaf, put two straight lines right together down the center and rigid veins, two-by-two, coming off the center. It is almost a caricature of a leaf.
Here is a close up of the real cherry and leaf pattern.
Cherry Blossom Pink Depression Glass Close Up of Real Leaves
Notice how the leaves have serrated edges and the veins look realistic? All real Cherry Blossom pieces have realistic leaves. Certainly some reproduction pieces will have realistic leaves too, but if you find a piece that does not have leaves like this, then put it down and leave. It’s a reproduction.
I hope this is helpful. I know I was going nuts the first few times I bought Cherry Blossom. I was buying for resale – when you absolutely cannot sell a fake – and found several of my pieces were suspicious. I ended up keeping some for comparison and dumping the rest (and waving goodbye to a lot of money too) and being so thankful that I realized the pieces were fakes before I listed them for sale. I’d like to save you from the same grief, whether you buy for yourself or for resale.