Thank you everyone who left a comment and voted on last weeks Tablescape Thursday that pitted the mighty ultramarine greens against the delicate rose pink tables. Both tablescapes used the same pattern, Swirl depression glass. Twenty-two people cast their votes and the results are…. (drum roll please)…….
Ultramarine green: Six. Some of you had a hard time choosing, do you like the cheerful green? Yes! Six of you did.
Pink: Eight. Some of you just like pink the best any way you find it. You liked the delicacy and pretty look with Mom’s embroidered tablecloth.
And not to be out done, eight of you simply could not choose. As one poster said, “To choose or not to choose, that is a very hard question!! I never saw the ultramarine before, it is very pretty. I am a pink lady so I love the pink! I’m not sure…how about both????”
I don’t know how these colors will look together but we’ll find out on another Thursday.
Thanks to our fearless voters. This was fun and we’ll do it again.
Moving on to this week’s tablescape…
Do you like birds? I do too and this week is my treat to all of us who like birds. It is also a treat to me for good behavior and I’ll tell you about that later. First the table.
This is Georgian Lovebirds green depression glass from Federal, one of my favorite patterns. It’s so different from the Swirl glass we voted on last week. Swirl has a pressed geometric motif and Georgian has intricate mold etched lovebirds and baskets, all connected by swags.
Here’s another view so you can see what it would look like when you sit down to enjoy your lunch.
How would you use the sherbets in the center? Would you serve ice cream or sherbet? I like to use sherbets for fruit cups, the pretty glass adds a festive touch.
Tumblers are hard to find in all depression patterns. Something about breaking them, or kids knocking them off the table (along with their milk), gave tumblers a short life expectancy. If your family is like mine you probably went through dozens of tumblers. The Georgian tumblers don’t have the birds, just the baskets. Aren’t they pretty? They look like etched glass.
We haven’t talked about the creamer and sugar yet. Federal Glass made two sizes of creamers and sugars, this smaller one that looks perfect with my lunch setting, and a larger one. The bigger set is only about an inch taller but it looks more substantial. If you had a big family, as many people did in the 1930s, then the bigger set meant you only had to refill the sugar bowl every couple of days instead of every day.
Federal made a good sized set of Georgian pieces. This is the lunch set with the lunch plate, sherbet plate, sherbet, cup and saucer, tumbler and berry bowl. The berry bowl is the size my mom called a sauce dish, why that name I’ve no idea since we used it for ice cream or applesauce or vegetables. Depression glass books call this a berry bowl or fruit bowl or individual berry bowl. Do you think they ate that many berries in the 1930s?
Now let’s talk about the reason this tablescape was a treat for me. As you know all the glassware I show in these tablescapes is glass that I hold for sale in our store; I don’t use it since it’s inventory. I bought several sets of Georgian last year, most of which had a bunch of badly damaged or worn pieces. This was so disappointing that I simply dumped the glass into the nearest box and only listed part of the sets for sale.
Last week I spent all Labor Day, four evenings and most of Saturday cataloging what I have, grading it and then listing accurately. If you go to my store now you’ll see three listings for lunch plates, with them varying as to how much wear or noticeable flaws they have.
It took a long time and reminded me how important it is as a seller to be sure to list everything carefully. So as my treat for doing all that work, I set the table and took a few pictures. Please enjoy this and if you decide to purchase any Georgian please know you have your pick of pieces – and they are all accurately described.
Shopping Information: We carry many pieces of Georgian Lovebirds in good to excellent condition in our store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass. Shopping with us is like antiquing with your best friend.