I’ve enjoyed researching Viking Glass’s Prelude etch. Dean Six’s Viking Glass book lists pieces with a few photos and catalog extracts and Gene Florence’s Collectible Glassware from the 40s 50s 60s lists pieces from the entire 20+ year production.
Viking made a small dinnerware assortment – plates, cups, saucers – plus lovely serving pieces like the relish trays, pitchers, mayonnaise sets, serving bowls, creamers and sugars.
Prelude would be difficult to collect for dinnerware or luncheon because dinner and lunch sized plates are quite uncommon. Salad plates – the size to use for dessert or a snack – are readily available.
There aren’t any Prelude bowls for soup or cereal nor sauce dishes. In fact the smallest bowl is about 6 inches across with three feet and is a bon bon.
In contrast to place setting pieces like plates or bowls, Viking made four separate creamers and sugars. You might find a creamer with plain round foot, fancy round foot, four-toed and a mini creamer.
Perhaps Viking originally conceived of Prelude as a combination dinnerware/accessory line, and that over time the accessories outsold the dinnerware. Today even very popular patterns like Fostoria Navarre, have a dearth of dinner plates compared to accessory pieces or stemware. Certainly people bought glass dinnerware in the 1950s but we know it wasn’t as popular for table use as was chinaware.
Next post will look at some of the enormous line of Prelude-etched accessory pieces from Viking Glass