We will look at Little Jewel, Lindburgh, Molly, Mount Vernon and Olive. Please see these links for Beaded Block, Diamond Quilted, Laced Edge and Twisted Optic.
Posts about Imperial’s Smaller Depression Glass Patterns
Posts about Little Jewel
Lesser Known Depression Glass from Imperial – Little Jewel
Posts about Lindburgh
Lesser Known Depression Glass from Imperial – Lindburgh #719
Ribbon Depression Glass from Hazel Atlas (discusses a similar pattern not from Imperial)
Posts about Molly
Posts about Mount Vernon
Lesser Known Depression Glass from Imperial – Mount Vernon
Another Obscure Depression Glass Pattern from Imperial – Mount Vernon
Lily Ponds – Lovely Shallow Bowls in Vintage Glass
Serve Your Cake in Style – Vintage Glass Cake Plates In Several Styles
Good Glass Site Day! Lily Ponds and Shallow Bowls for Flowers
Posts about Olive
Lesser Known Depression Glass from Imperial – Olive aka Old English
Little Jewel Depression Glass
Imperial made Little Jewel, originally called Diamond Block, line 330, from the late 1920s to early 1930s. It is a very pretty pattern whether in crystal or colored glass. Imperial made black, crystal, green, pink, red, white, yellow, although I’ve seen only the blue, green, pink and crystal.
Little Jewel is an accessory pattern, not dinnerware, although many pieces look great on a table setting. There are no plates, no cups or saucers, no sherbets, tumblers or goblets, and the small bowls are decorative, not meant for place setting use.
The green celery dish above and the larger berry bowl below are typical. Pieces have scalloped edges, impressed star centers and most are cup shaped.
Look for several bowls, from a 5 1/2 inch square honey dish, two round cupped lily bowls shaped like rose bowls, creamer and sugar, a footed jelly shaped like a small comport, handled jelly, pickle, small pitcher and a vase. This is the kind of glass one could buy for a gift, pretty and useful, even without knowing that it is depression glass.
This photo is from a downtown Kalamazoo antique mall. The pink bowl with the pink jelly inside are both Little Jewel.
You can likely find Little Jewel when you shop for glass at antique malls or estate sales, but probably not displays with the pattern name identified. I checked just now (September 2023) on eBay and found several pieces correctly identified in pink, green, blue, crystal, even red. It is not particularly expensive although colored pieces tend to be more costly than the crystal.
Lindburgh Line 719 Depression Glass
Imperial made Lindburgh in the late 1920s-early 1930s mostly in crystal and also pink and green. We found a couple pieces in a box lot early in our glass buying/selling era and it took me a while to identify it!
Lindburgh shows its Art Deco design roots with the curvy motifs. Imperial made many bowls, including footed ones as at the top of this page, flared bowls, a small bowl, cake plate, two pitchers and creamer and sugar. Similar to Little Jewel Lindburgh is meant for accessory use, occasional pieces to enjoy.
You may find a few pieces of Lindburgh the way we did, in with odds and ends, but for best selection look online. eBay has several listings, mostly crystal, but a few green or pink, and you’ll find it listed under the correct name. I recall my two bowls sold immediately once I identified and listed them, and this is apparently one of those quietly popular patterns.
Imperial Molly Line 725 Depression Glass
Molly was one of the most frustrating patterns for me. I had the two-handled pink bowl shown above for a very long time before deciding it was most likely Imperial Molly. I’ve seen several books mention patterns as being “like Molly”, but the pattern itself is documented poorly. Here’s a lovely photo from Ron Wallis, the fourth one down the page, in the National Depression Glass Association’s website.
As you can see, the pieces are octagonal with an optic on each corner to the center. Handles are squared off. The center handled server shown at the top of this page has a heart shape, very distinctive.
Imperial made Molly in ruby red, blue, pink, shades of green, yellow and amber, crystal, some amethyst, black. I’ve seen mostly pink, but that’s probably due to not recognizing it until the last 5 years or so of my regular glass shopping fun.
Of course the plain sides lend themselves to cuttings and decorations. This pink 3-footed bowl (another mystery piece I got very early when I knew zero about glass) has a simple flower and line cutting. It is pretty. I think Imperial may have done the cutting, not a decorating company, because we had some round green Imperial plates with the same design that were not Molly.
As you can see, Molly is a luncheon and accessory pattern. (I do not know whether there are Molly dinner sized plates.) Plates and many bowls have a footed base.
There are many decorative Molly bowls, various sizes and shapes, that make nice centerpieces or can be used to serve food. One interesting piece is the candle holder like a miniature of my cut bowl with a candle cup stuck in the center.
Molly is an interesting pattern with some lovely pieces in gorgeous, rich colors. I wish I had more information to share with you, but hopefully this little synopsis will get you aware of Imperial’s Molly.
Imperial Mount Vernon Depression Glass
Imperial made Mount Vernon in the late 1920s and early 30s, later reintroduced some pieces under the name “Washington”. It’s mostly crystal but there are pieces in red, green, yellow, white and iridescent.
Please note that Mount Vernon is very similar to Tiffin Glass’s Williamsburg pattern which has almost identical prisms on the sides. Mount Vernon has a waffle center in the base and Williamsburg has an impressed star. Notice the intaglio cut in the lily pond above; I assume this is Imperial’s.
Imperial made many pieces in Mount Vernon, no dinner plates or bowls for individual place settings, but both square and round luncheon size plates, sherbet liners, a few tumblers and stems and a wide array of serving and accessory pieces.
Mount Vernon, along with Little Jewel and Olive, is documented in Gene Florence’s Collector’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass. Interestingly the prices in his 2010 guide seem roughly in line with what I see online today. You can find many pieces online, but do look at the photos. Cambridge and other companies made “Mount Vernon” or “Vernon” patterns.
Imperial Olive or Old English Depression Glass
Imperial made two patterns with indents, Olive and Old English and they are very similar. I have not seen photos of the two separately. Olive dates to the late 1930s and Imperial made in red, the light blue as in my bowl, pink and green.
There are bread, lunch and dinner plates, plus cups and saucers, creamer and sugar, but no place setting bowls. It seems mostly an accessory pattern with pretty bowls, comports, candy jar, candle holder, and a lovely rose bowl
If you look for this online you’ll notice most listings named as Olive and Old English. It’s not particularly costly compared to other patterns in red or blue.