We may best know Imperial Glass for their beautiful – and prolific – Candlewick fine crystal, but they produced several lines that were of lesser quality that we consider depression glass, and not elegant glass. Imperial made dozens of other patterns that have depression styling, with molded designs and in colored glass, continuing to produce some even into the 1970s.
One true depression pattern is Diamond Quilted. Imperial made it from the late 1920s to the early 1930s mostly in pink and green, with several pieces also in amber, blue and black.
Diamond Quilted Pink Depression Glass Sherbert
Diamond Quilted tends to be better quality than some depression glass, such as Floral and Diamond Band, which have lots of bubbles and very rough seams. Even so you won’t mistake Diamond Quilted for elegant glass. Notice the sherbet leans slightly and you can see the mold seam. Elegant glass companies fire polished the seams to be less noticeable.
Imperial produced a full luncheon set plus many tumblers and a few stems, and accessory pieces such as candle holders, ice bucket and mayo sets, but many pieces are rather scarce.
Diamond Quilted Pink Cream Soup
Despite the scarcity Diamond Quilted is not particularly expensive. My Gene Florence depression glass book shows most pieces in the $8 to $15 range and there are several nice pieces on eBay including pink plates listed for $8 each. The problem is finding Diamond Quilted. In 16 years I’ve had only two pieces, both pink shown above, and I’ve seen maybe another couple in malls.
Similar to many Imperial plates, the Diamond Quilted plates have a definite foot. It’s one way to spot plates even when you can’t see the pattern well, (for example if you are looking at tiny pictures on an estate sale website.)
Next post we will look at Lindburgh, a very pretty pattern that isn’t well known.