We showed a few pieces of elegant and depression glass from the pre-World War 2 era in prior posts, now let’s look at more recent glass, vintage pieces from the 1940s to 1970s. This is the era when many companies slathered gold trim on their glassware!
For example, Jeannette produced several variations of their popular Harp cake stand trimmed with gold, this one for example.
The gold trim on this Jeannette Feather relish is nearly gone. You can see traces of it where the curved dividers meet the center circle or the rim.
Jeannette put gold trim on several other patterns that I lack photos of. I’ve seen several gold-trimmed pieces of Dew Drop for example.
Anchor Hocking made several pieces in their Fire King dinnerware lines with gold trim, especially Shell and Swirl. In fact I saw more Golden Shell or Golden Anniversary (the pattern name for white Swirl with gold trim) than the plain glass without gold trim.
This is Golden Shell. Anchor Hocking made a basic dinnerware set, with bowls for dessert, cereal and soup, plates for dinner and salad, plus essential serving pieces, cups and saucers. You would be wise to hand wash this pattern to reduce gold loss, although I don’t recall seeing pieces with much wear at all.
Next up is Golden Anniversary/Swirl. Again Fire King made a basic dinnerware set with serving pieces. Although they produced Swirl tumblers in other colors, there don’t seem to be Golden Anniversary tumblers.
Fire King also had accessory pieces with gold trim such as this relish tray.
If you like deviled eggs, or just enjoy interesting vintage glass, Fire King made several egg plates, including this one that matches the relish dish.
One interesting pattern from the 1960s, remade 1978-9, is Golden Glory from Federal Glass. Golden Glory uses 22 K gold decorations to make a pretty bamboo leaf spray design. This wears easily and most pieces we’ve seen were a bit light.
King’s Crown is an old pattern that both Tiffin and Indiana made. You’ll see several colors, including Bicentennial Blue, crystal with cranberry flash, plain crystal, olive green and this crystal with gold, most likely from Indiana. The gold didn’t look worn.
You’ll notice the glass companies made gold trimmed pieces for serving accessories, such as the Feather relish, Harp cake plate or the Fire King relish tray, and some made gold trimmed dinnerware. Anchor Hocking made several gold trimmed lines in their Fire King ware, both serving accessories and dinnerware.
I hope you enjoyed reading about vintage gold-trimmed glassware. Remember, always hand wash glass that’s trimmed with metal to keep it from wear. Dishwashers are not friendly to gold trims!