Fostoria Shirley Etched Crystal Celery Dish
Poppies were an important motif in the 1920s and into the 1930s. Think of Cambridge Gloria, Hazel Atlas Florentine, Fostoria Rogene. Poppies were a symbol of the first world war because they grew wild all over the Flemish fields that were battlegrounds and cemeteries in the war and were immortalized in poems like In Flanders Fields.
Fostoria brought Shirley to market in the late 1930s, one of several patterns introduced in that era. The blank is Baroque, which Fostoria used for many patterns that are popular yet today. Shirley is not as well known as Navarre or Meadow Rose but has its admirers. It’s a good pattern to consider if you enjoy flower designs since the poppy is clear and distinct.
The piece we’re showing is the celery dish, basically a one-compartment relish tray. It’s long enough to hold celery or asparagus stalks. My Mom’s old cookbook from 1951 shows asparagus laid whole with white sauce poured across the middle. You could recreate that classic look in celery dish easier than on a regular plate.
It’s interesting how our glass patterns show how people lived years ago and how styles have evolved over time. Vintage glass gives you a connection to the past like nothing else can.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— John McCrae, 1915