Mid2Mod: Fostoria

Showing posts with label Fostoria. Show all posts

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Pine, Pickard and pretty impressive

An impromptu eBay search the other day resulted in my delving into the history of a china manufacturer I didn't know existed. I'm not sure I even know how to look up one thing on the computer anymore without branching off onto a different path altogether. One thing always leads to another...and another.

I hadn't planned to do any shopping, but the little voice in my head that sometimes gets me in trouble said, "You haven't looked for any Russel Wright pieces in a while." The little voice was right, so to eBay I went. Once I was there, the little voice said, "Fostoria Pine." Never one to ignore a little voice, I entered f-o-s-t-o-r-i-a p-i-n-e into the search box. After all, I had to admit that after starting that glassware collection almost two years ago, I lost my momentum and allowed the so-called "collection" to languish at a pitiful three water goblets.

Then, while reading what a seller had to say about her Fostoria Pine, I ran across an interesting tidbit of trivia. She said that during the 1950s and 1960s, Fostoria manufactured several patterns to accompany Pickard china...and that Pine was designed to be used with Pickard Gossamer.

I learned that Pickard opened in Edgerton, Wisconsin, in 1893 but relocated to Chicago, Illinois, at the turn of the century. Shortly before World War II began, the company moved into a new facility in Antioch, Illinois. Soon thereafter, the company obtained a contract with the U. S. Navy. Eben Morgan, the company's president, believes that without the fuel granted for the government contract, Pickard's kilns would have been shut down and the business forced to close.

Over the years, Pickard has been commissioned to create custom china for the King of Saudi Arabia, the Hilton, Sheraton, and Marriott hotels, General Motors, the U.S. Air Force and the Queen of England, as well as producing china for the U. S. embassies throughout the world, the Presidential Bicentennial, for Air Force One, Camp David and for Blair House, the presidential guest house across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House where visiting foreign heads of state are hosted.

While I have no doubt that Fostoria Pine and Pickard Gossamer complemented each other beautifully, the china's platinum rim makes it a little more formal than I need, so I doubt that I will start a collection, but I am definitely inspired to renew my search for the glassware.

While looking at the Pickard website, I happened upon the work of Kelly Wearstler, and a trip to her website let me know that she creates much more than beautiful china. She very well may be the subject of one of my Fifty Years from Now posts soon, as she is creating some remarkable designs that I think will endure.

Pickard china is sold in stores such as Neiman Marcus/Horchow and in upscale boutiques.

From pickardchina.com

Fostoria Pine
ebay.com - whatadish1

Pickard Gossamer
replacementslimited.com

Dots by Kelly Wearstler, part of her casual collection
pickardchina.com

Marquetry by Kelly Wearstler, another of her casual designs
pickardchina.com

Mulholland by Kelly Wearstler, part of her formal collection
pickardchina.com

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Horse bookends...more complicated than I knew

A reader suggested that the horse bookends in a previous post might have been manufactured by A. H. Heisy & Company, rather than L. E. Smith Glass Company. The possibility intrigued me, so I started to look for information. I located an attribution to Heisy in a Live Auctioneers listing, but most of the information I found centered around three almost identical designs by L. E. Smith, Fostoria and New Martinsville. Heisy wasn't mentioned in those discussions.

The abbreviated version of what I read is that the main differences are in the mane and the base, as detailed here:

L. E. Smith horses are easily identified by a knotted mane and a much thicker base than the other two. Also, the neck is thinner and not as arched. The glass quality is somewhat inferior to that of Fostoria or New Martinsville, and they are slightly less valuable.
Fostoria horses have a cropped mane which appears very slightly beaded, a Roman nose and a 1/2" wide ledge around the base. Also, the right ear is smaller than the left ear.
New Martinsville horses have a cropped mane which appears straight/squared off, a Roman nose and a 1" wide ledge around the base.

L. E. Smith

etsy.com

Fostoria

Forum - ebay.com

New Martinsville

Forum - ebay.com

After looking at a number of sites and reading several discussions about how to tell the three apart, I was confident my bookends were produced by Smith, but to be absolutely sure, I sent a photo to the company, which is still in business, and received a confirmation from L. E. Smith employee Patti Bryner that mine were indeed made by their factory. I readily admit, however, that my identification was pure luck. Although I'm sure I've seen photographs of all three types, I had never noticed the differences and had no idea the Fostoria or New Martinsville bookends even existed. I've been calling them all L. E. Smith for years.

I also sent an email to the curator of the Heisy Glass Museum to find out if that company produced similar rearing horse bookends, but I have not received a response yet. If I find out that they did, I will update again.

Thanks to reader Mitzy for her comment, which resulted in my finding out more than I ever thought possible about these bookends that my parents received as a gift when they were a young married couple (including the fact that they are less valuable than the others, which is too bad for me). I hope what I gleaned from my research provides some helpful information to you vintage glass shoppers/sellers.

Update 8/2/2011: I just received another email from L. E. Smith employee Patti Bryner with more information about the bookends. She said:

You are correct about the base. I don't know if Heisy made them or not. They were produced [by L. E. Smith] from May of 1945 until the early part of 2000. This book end has been attributed to the American Glass Company in the past; however, the drawing in Plate 841 [of LE Smith: The First One Hundred Years] is from an application submitted by LE Smith for wage arbitration by the National Association of Manufacturers of Pressed and Blown Glassware...Hope this helps you out. If you can, buy the book LE Smith: The First One Hundred Years. It has a lot of information about our products.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

The ubiquitous swung vase

Makers of mid-century glass, such as Viking Art Glass and L. E. Smith Glass Company, made swung vases, which were very popular. Other companies like Pilgrim, Fenton, Tiffin and Fostoria made their own versions of the swung vase, but they were not as common.

The vases generally ranged in height from a 7” bud vase to the giant “architectural” floor versions that were sometimes over 40” tall. They were hand-blown, then hand-swung to lengthen, and then the opening was hand-tooled and heat polished smooth. The vases were literally swung around to produce the neck, with stunning results.

Popular colors were amberina (an orange-red fading to yellow, also called persimmon), green, amber, red, blue and an opaque orange usually referred to as bittersweet. However, the vases can be found in other colors, such as peach, amethyst, pale yellow, pale aqua and even multi-colored art glass versions.

With the exception of the very large pieces, these iconic mid-century vases were produced in large quantities, so they are still easy to find and very reasonably priced.