If you have looked for Paden City glass in your favorite reference books you might be puzzled. Gene Florence lists Paden City’s glass in his Collector’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass, not with elegant glass, even though the etches are exquisite and required plenty of hand work. I think he classified it as “depression glass” because that’s how people collected it first.
Paden City made beautiful colors and shapes, glorious etched design that are delightful to collect. They also made glass that we could easily consider depression ware as the quality is less and the pieces are undecorated.
This footed gravy boat is the plain Crow’s Foot pattern,the blank which Paden City used for many etches, including the Ardith pieces I showed in the last post here.
Paden City Crows Foot Crystal Gravy Boat
The glass quality is good, but not great. Take a close look at the foot. Can you see the seam line? The seams on most elegant glass are less noticeable. Yet this same blank, etched with flowers or peacocks, looks refined, elegant, high quality. I don’t know whether the company spent more time on pieces to be etched, or my gravy boat was lower quality than normal or we simply forgive any small flaws like seams because the etched pieces are so beautiful.
To me Paden City is good quality, about on par with New Martinsville, but not quite as high end as Cambridge or HeiseyPaden City made Crow’s Foot in rich blue, red, pink, yellow, green and even black, yet the clear gravy boat is the only piece I have ever seen. (Which is doubly odd since the clear is less common and the gravy boat certainly not the piece you expect to stumble across!) The decorated vases and accessory pieces show up now and then at antique malls or estate sales, but far less often than Fostoria or Cambridge.
What about you? Have you seen Paden City Crow’s Foot glass in your travels?