We’re looking at several prominent glass patterns from the period after the Great Depression, glass produced roughly in the 1940s-1970s, because most of us have pieces from this era and many patterns are plentiful at estate sales and antique malls. It’s always fun to collect something that you can actually find, and afford to purchase!
Fostoria Century Crystal Relish Tray
Fostoria Glass was one of the few hand houses that managed to weather the 1950s; in fact they closed shop in the mid 1980s. I visited them on a business trip in 1984 (my day job involved water treatment) and found a very old factory with plenty of people, all proud of their work. They were producing beautiful glass.
One problem all the higher end glass companies faced in the 1950s and 1960s was a change in style and tastes. Until then many customers loved the beautiful etches and delicate cuttings that companies like Fostoria produced, but tastes shifted to plain, minimally-decorated styles. It was hard for companies like Fostoria or Cambridge to compete against lower priced imports and decent quality mass-produced lines when the glass patterns superficially looked alike.
Fostoria Century fits this preference for plainer style. Century features pretty shapes, lovely clear crystal, and the only decoration is a simple wavy band of C shapes around the rim.
Fostoria Century Tidbit
Century was one of Fostoria’s flagship lines from the 1950s to their close. Fostoria sold the blank (no etch or cutting) as a lovely pattern and also as decorated with etches like Bouquet or Heather.
Fostoria Glass Bouquet Etched Crystal Century Creamer
Here is the Heather relish. I’ve found far more Heather at local estate sales than Bouquet.
Fostoria Glass Heather Etched Century 2-Part Relish Dish
The plain blank Century is rather easy to find. We purchased a very large set of Century from the local thrift store several years ago; I recall it cost $25 for service for 12 plus many serving and accessory pieces. Even if you purchase Century piecemeal it won’t set you back much. Goblets are about $15 and plates range from $8 to $28 on Replacements.
Personally I don’t care much for the stemware because it is angular and a little clunky, but I enjoy the accessory pieces for their graceful shapes and simple edge design. Here is the single candle holder, quite a pretty piece. Fostoria picked up the C shapes around the rim with the C shape of the holder; it is stylish and attractive.
Fostoria Century Crystal Single Candle Holder
Like most of Fostoria’s successful patterns that they produced for a long time, Century offers a wealth of pieces to choose. We’ll look at the dinner service next post