Depression Glass Values Over Time

Recently an article “Depression glass likely a good investment” by Bob Swisher in the in the News-Gazette (Champaign Illinois) sparked the most re-posts on Facebook of anything I’ve posted.  Mr. Swisher was bullish on glass as a collectible, expecting one might make a profit buying now.

Any time someone talks about making money on collectibles I cringe a bit. The advent of manufactured-to-be-collectible products, like collector plates or Beanie Babies, meant lots of people bought stuff that wasn’t particularly rare or useful or beautiful thinking it was an investment instead of a hobby, only to discover there was no aftermarket demand and thousands of other people had the same “collectibles” ready to sell.

Glass is beautiful and useful and some of it is rare but much of it isn’t very valuable and it can be difficult to sell.  I thought it would be fun to look at depression glass prices over time using a couple examples.

Windsor by Jeannette

I bought a large set of Windsor back in 2002 from a lady who liquidated her entire collection of depression glass – which was enormous.  She and her husband had bought tons of glass from about 1970 to the late 1990s.  She sold me a few pieces through her annual rummage sale, then contacted me later for individual patterns she liquidated.  I lost money on this pattern!

Windsor Pink Cup Prices

• 1981 $3-4.00 Price per “Depression Glass Price Trends 1981 by Hazel Marie Weatherman”
• 2002 $10.00 My cost
• 2015 $14.00 My recent sales price, which includes shipping of about $6.

Windsor Pink Dinner Plate Prices

• 1981 $5.50 Price guide above
• 2015 $16.00 Replacements list price
• I used to sell dinner plates for $15-20 back around 2006.

Generally Windsor pink prices are fairly flat.  This is a relatively easy to find pattern with a moderate collector interest, with only a few pieces that are scarce enough to sell for over $50. Unless you are determined to have every piece in a pattern, you may be willing to forego getting the pricey pieces, and substitute with less costly alternatives.  For example, Replacements shows a 10 inch bowl with pointy rim for $200 and an 8 1/2 inch bowl with flat rim for $20. That is one factor in keeping prices down.

Cameo by Hocking

Cameo is one of my favorites and I’ve bought two large sets in the past 5 years and sold most pieces with some profitability.  It is a popular pattern, especially in green.

Cameo Green Cup

• 1981 $9.50 Price guide above
• 2003 $10  My actual cost purchasing each piece individually
• 2015 $10  Replacement

Cameo Green Oval Bowl

Hocking made several Cameo bowls and this one is particularly pretty.  I sold several for $40-55 in the last few years.  These aren’t rare but they can be hard to find without any nicks in the tab handles.

• 1981 $9-10  Price Guide
• 2011-2015 $40-50 My experience
• 2015  $41  Replacements list

Summary

Four examples don’t prove anything and they don’t say what will happen in the future.  But my personal experience selling glass since 1999 is this:

• Prices peaked for me in the 2003-2006 period.  Once Americans discovered eBay they found boxes of glass in the attic and the resulting flood of supply depressed prices.
• Some casual sellers listed and packed glass poorly, causing people to avoid paying full price for glass online.
• Popular patterns like Cameo retain value
• Patterns which are abundant or not terribly popular don’t go up in price.
• Condition condition condition.

If you found this interesting please let me know.  I’ve several older price guides and it’s always fun to see how things change (or don’t change) over time.