I got this interesting small bowl in a box lot. It has the ice cube pattern we see on Jeannette’s Cube depression glass, Fostoria American – and Whitehall, a lesser-quality lookalike from Indiana Glass.
If you are like me, it can be hard to tell some pieces of crystal Whitehall from American. Indiana did not use as fine quality crystal to make Whitehall as Fostoria used for American and often they did not grind the bottoms.
Whitehall footed pieces have little peg feet, which are different from Fostoria’s; some of the Whitehall pieces were made in 2 part molds while Fostoria used 3 part molds, but not all pieces have easy-to-spot seam marks or little peg feet
I used the brute force method to identify this. The glass quality didn’t seem quite good enough for American, but was way too good to be Cube. Plus there are no Cube bowls or sugar bases in this size or shape. That let me rule out Cube.
The bowl is 3 1/2 inches across, about 2 1/2 inches tall and has a smooth rim around the top and the base is smooth but not ground. I was getting suspicious about then this is Whitehall.
None of my books show Whitehall but they do show American and give dimensions. A quick check told me there are no American pieces in this shape or size. There are American sugar bowls without handles, but they don’t have the smooth rims. There are a couple American bowls with smooth rims, like the finger bowl, but it is a different shape.
About this time I was sure this was Whitehall, but what piece? Remember, none of my books show this pattern, so how to figure it out? Here’s where the Replacements website is invaluable. They do have some Whitehall listed with pictures and dimensions, including my exact bowl. It is not a bowl but a custard cup.
Mystery solved! I won’t list this little cup because I found some tiny nicks on the inner rim, but it was an interesting glass sleuthing exercise.