Once upon a time you could find real Madrid depression glass at every flea market, antique mall and thrift store. Those days are behind us. I found the cake plate and tumbler in pink Recollection reproduction glass this winter at an antique store and a few more pieces when antiquing in San Antonio a few weeks ago. But the real stuff is elusive.
How can you tell? Federal Glass reissued the amber Madrid for the Bicentennial in 1976 but marked those pieces with the number 76. Those are easy. The heavy pink tumbler, and the tumbler or candle holder refashioned into all sorts of pieces, are easy to spot and they’re ugly. The amber is a little harder. I bought some amber cereal bowls on eBay that turned out to be repros and they just felt wrong and the color was off a little.
It’s easy to tell reproduction candle holders from the real thing. The original candle holders are smooth inside and the reproduction have ridges to hold the candle. See the inside of this one: It is smooth, no ridges
I got these candle holders from someone who had a large set of Patrician amber glass. Federal Glass made Patrician and Madrid so the colors match and the patterns go well together. Federal made no candle holder in Patrician so Madrid is a good choice.
Your best method to avoid buying reproductions by mistake is to learn a little about the glass you are interested in. Many of the repro patterns are pretty easy to spot once you are familiar with the real thing. I recommend books by Gene Florence, especially Collector s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass,19th Edition (Collector’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass) which have sections comparing reproductions to original by pattern.