Fostoria Romance, that is! Last week a local reader contacted me about her grandmother’s collection of Romance stemware and we met at a local Arby’s to exchange cash for stems. (A tip for any of you who buy or sell on Craigslist or similar, a busy parking lot at a fast food place is a safe and easy place to meet.) This year my glass buying budget is way down since I’m trying to decrease my inventory, but these were irresistible!
She had water goblets (or wine, I need to measure), cocktails and the tall and low sherbets. It was sprinkling and I took time to check each piece, but didn’t compare measurements and didn’t realize we got both sherbet sizes until I listed them today. This is the taller sherbet.
Fostoria Romance Etched Tall Sherbet
To me the taller sherbets look more appropriate for champagne while the low sherbets seem better for fruit cups or ice cream. Of course you can use both sizes either way, it’s up to you. Here is the low sherbet. There isn’t much difference in sizes; the tall is 5 1/2 inches and the low is 4 5/8 inches, but it is very noticeable when you see them side by side.
Fostoria Romance Low Sherbet
Isn’t that stem shape striking? This is the Sceptre stem line, 6017, which Fostoria used for several patterns besides Romance. Sceptre reminds me a little of the Waterfall stem we showed as part of our series on Fairfax. Both lines have ridged stems and tiered levels at the top. And like the Waterfall stem, Fostoria sold the Sceptre blank by itself, not decorated. I’ve had a couple pieces in fact. I have to clean up and photograph the water goblets and the cocktails as I have never had those in stock before. Luckily we have had the sherbets so I got them listed today. One interesting point was the decline in prices. I sold a large set of Romance about 3 years ago and the sherbets were several dollars more than what I listed them for today. Overall vintage glass prices are down, making this a great time to add to your collections!