First let me be clear: I have never seen reproduction Miss America glass. I’m repeating what I read in my trusty Gene Florence Collectors’ Encyclopedia of Depression Glass and I have no first hand information as to how common reproduction Miss America glassware is.
When you choose to collect depression glass it’s wise to know about possible reproductions and educate yourself on them. Then you can purchase with confidence and enjoy your glass. Remember that most depression ware has never been reproduced and of the patterns that have been remade most have only a few pieces you need to watch for. In some patterns the risk is quite low because the fakes are easy to spot. I strongly recommend the book listed above, Gene Florence Collectors’ Encyclopedia of Depression Glass. The last edition, from 2010, is rather costly, and used copies of some of the earlier editions have the same information about reproductions. Please educate yourself and don’t rely only on a second hand source like this blog.
Per Florence, the con artists made the pitcher, salt and pepper shakers, butter dishes, tumblers, creamer and sugar and used colors that Hocking did not. Any cobalt blue, red amberina Miss America styled pieces will be fakes. Amberina glass is red shaded to orange.
I’ve found the best way to find differences between original and fake depression glass pieces is to find one in a color never made, for example, the green fake Mayfair cookie jar discussed here, then examine it carefully against the reference book descriptions for fakes. Otherwise it’s very hard to know what “different” means. Since I’ve not seen any of the Miss America fakes – it was not a super common pattern where we lived in Michigan – I can’t comment whether you’ll be able to find obvious, fake color pieces.
The creamers and sugars are said to be smaller than the originals, more poorly made and with lots of bubbles. All the Miss America pieces I have seen have been reasonably well made, especially considering it’s mass-produced depression glass. It’s been closer to modern mass-produced glass inexpensive glassware than to some of the poor quality 1930s-era glass like Strawberry which is full of bubbles, straw marks, flaws and extra glass in the seams. If you find Miss America creamers and sugars that are noticeably lower quality than the other pieces it might be wise to avoid them.
Lots of collectors enjoy butter dishes and shakers and the fakers often target these two pieces when they reproduce vintage glass. The new butter dish lid has more glass on the inside under the knob; feel inside and if the base of the knob is convex then suspect a fake. Florence gives no suggestion to identify fake butter bottoms.
The new shakers have more glass on the inside and Florence suggests using your finger to test. If you’re a lady you should be able to put almost your entire first finger inside, and if a guy, up to your middle bend in your first finger. Also the little diamond points are sharp on the old and rounded on the new.
Fake tumblers reportedly have 1/2 inch of glass on the base. This should be easy to spot since the old ones have very little glass in the base as you can see here in this photo at Replacements.
Florence says original Miss America pitchers without ice lips have a small hump on the top rim above the handle and the new ones are perfectly smooth.
If you like Miss America learn what to look out for, buy with confidence and enjoy your glass.