It’s getting warm enough here that a tall glass if icy cold iced tea sounds great. And what better to drink it in than one of our vintage tall iced tea tumblers?
These first two are from Fostoria, dating between 1940 and 1972. Here is Chintz etched iced tea.
Fostoria Chintz Etched Iced Tea Footed Tumbler
And here is the Romance etched iced tea tumbler.
Fostoria Romance Etched Crystal Iced Tea Tumbler
They look similar, don’t they? Fostoria used different blanks for these, Greenbriar for Chintz and Sceptre stem line for Romance, but the basic design is similar. Both have a tall, flared bowl that holds about 12 ounces filled to the brim, a short stem that incorporates the major design element of the taller goblet, and a foot.
Fostoria iced tea tumblers usually were footed with a short stem. The iced teas were the largest of the tumblers, both the tallest and held the most.
Cambridge iced teas tended to have longer stems, so elegant. Here’s the Rose Point iced tea. We use this size for ice water when we use our crystal for dinner.
Cambridge Glass Rose Point Etched Crystal Ice Tea Tumbler
Depression glass companies – Hocking, Jeannette and others that mass produced their glass – also made iced tea tumblers. Often if the company made any tumblers in a given pattern they would include the iced tea and water, sometimes the juice size too. Sometimes they made a wide range of tumblers, letting their customers choose flat or footed. For example, here are two Cameo tumblers from Hocking. (The footed one is actually the water because I don’t have a photo of the iced tea; the only difference is the tea is slightly larger.)
Flat first:
Cameo Green Depression Glass Tumbler
Now footed:
Cameo Green Depression Glass Footed Tumbler
Not all companies used the same names for pieces. Instead of an iced tea tumbler, Jeannette called their large Floral footed tumbler a “lemonade”, but they made an iced tea in Iris. Hazel Atlas made both an iced tea and a lemonade in Florentine 1.
Don’t get too concerned about the different piece names, just remember the iced tea is usually the largest of the tumblers in a given pattern. Back in the 1930s not everyone had refrigerators nor ice readily available to cool their drinks. Iced tea with real ice cubes would have been a special drink for many families.
All this has made me thirsty! Time for a tall glass of icy tea!