Vintage Glassware Collector’s Guide: How to Identify, Date & Collect Old Glass
Vintage glassware can be beautiful, useful, collectible, and surprisingly difficult to identify. A colored bowl found at an estate sale might be mid-century pressed glass. An etched stemmed glass could be crystal. A milk glass vase might have been produced for decades. And two pieces that look nearly identical can have very different histories depending on the manufacturer, pattern, color, and production method. This Vintage Glassware Collector’s Guide is designed to help you understand what you have before assuming that old automatically means valuable. You’ll learn how to recognize common types of vintage glass, what clues to look for when identifying a piece, which condition issues matter, and how collectors evaluate glassware today. What Is Considered Vintage Glassware? There is no single legal definition of “vintage,” but in the collectibles market the term is generally used for older pieces that are not yet antique. An antique is traditionally considered at least 100 years ...
