Indiana Glass made their attractive crystal pattern number 622 – which everyone calls Pretzel – for a long time in the 1940s-60s, producing a usable dinnerware assortment plus interesting serving pieces. If you have ever gone to an antique mall or glass show you almost certainly have seen Pretzel celery dishes. These are oval, about 10 inches long with high sides.
Indiana made Pretzel celery dishes in several other colors, notably amber and avocado, and these seem to be more prevalent in our area than the older crystal pieces. We got an iridescent amber/marigold piece in a box lot at auction and I’ve seen several avocado or amber celery dishes in malls.
I’ve noticed that Indiana tended to make patterns with neat design twists. In Pretzel it’s the handles on cups, creamer and sugars. These are cute little curls!
Another interesting piece is called an olive dish, basically a small serving piece you could use for candy or, yes, even olives. It is leaf shaped with a curlicue handle that looks like a stem. It’s a cute piece that could look good mixed with other glass and dishes.
I’ve not made any effort to gather Pretzel, mostly picking up pieces grouped with desirable glass or box lots. Nonetheless we have had plates, creamers and sugars, bowls and the leaf-shaped olive dish. Pieces in good condition sold well for us.
Next post we’ll look at the specific pieces you can choose for your Pretzel collection, then follow up with a discussion of the biggest bugaboo with Pretzel (indeed, with many Indiana patterns), extra mold seam glass.