I got this pretty etched crystal oval celery at either an estate sale or flea market and had no idea what the pattern was. I figured it was pretty and likely something other people would like so I bought it. (I used to buy glass for resale.)
The pattern is somewhat similar to the many other etches that feature a center clasped motif surrounded by flowers or leaf sprays but this is different. I knew it was not Cambridge Diane nor neither Prelude or Florentine from New Martinsville/Viking. It was always fun to get glass with unknown etches and then spend happy time browsing books to find them.
We don’t tend to look first at Viking Glass to identify etched patterns, or at least I don’t. They made far more lovely colored shape pieces – vases, candle holders, bowls – than etched crystal, and except for Prelude which they inherited from predecessor firm New Martinsville, they weren’t a stemware house.
So it was a lovely surprise when I came across Sonata in my Viking Glass 1944-1970 book by Dean Six. The pattern is tucked away with several other less well-known etches and cuttings in the back of his book but the photos are clear and Mr. Six includes plenty of information about Viking’s piece list.
Viking included Sonata in their catalogs from 1949 to 1951 and listed about 20 pieces, all decorative accessories like candle holders, or serving pieces such as my celery dish. Apparently they made no dinnerware nor stemware. Replacements has photos of the two-light candle holder, creamer and round 2-part relish. I didn’t see any listings on eBay under the “Viking Sonata” search although there may be unidentified pieces. Certainly my celery sold very s-l-o-w-l-y. That indicates Viking likely did not make a lot of this pretty pattern and thus there aren’t people out there looking for matches to their existing set.
Pieces like this are fun to get and use. The pattern is simple enough – flowers and leaf sprays – and the shape is elegant and has clean lines. It’s a nice reminder that Viking made plenty of crystal including pretty etched pieces.