Depression Glass
History:
Following the stock market crash of 1929, unemployment shot up from 3% to about 25%, leaving nearly 15 million U.S. citizens jobless at its highest point in 1933. The average family income dropped 40%, and the economy didn’t recover for an entire decade, leaving little to no spare cash for anything outside of the necessities, especially home decor.
Glassmakers couldn’t sustain through the Great Depression by providing the popular labor-intensive cut crystal glass of the 1920s to the upper class. Much like we’ve seen distilleries pivot to hand sanitizer and designers pivot to mask production during the COVID-19 pandemic, glass companies that once made luxury crystal were forced to reconsider their products. In an attempt to keep people employed, glass factories in the Ohio River Valley pivoted to mass-producing significantly cheaper molded, patterned glassware thanks to an innovative machine that could produce upwards of 1,000 pieces a day.
Depression glass, as it came to be known, was produced in a wide range of bright colors—pink, pale blue, green, amber, and less common colors like canary, ultramarine, jadeite, delphite (opaque pale blue), cobalt blue, red, black, amethyst, monax, white (milk glass), and even fluorescent uranium glass that glows under UV light. In addition to kitchenware, items like ashtrays, decorative serving plates, cigarette boxes, and candlesticks were produced.
“There was so much drabness when everything went away and they had no money. This was free. And, it brought a little color into their lives,” president of the National Depression Glass Association, Pam Meyer said. “Everyone selling clear crystal glass pooh-poohed it and said it would never last, but it did.”
The brightly colored molded glassware was inexpensively produced for a country in economic strife and is still sought after nearly a century later
Rae Witte
JULY 28, 2020 3:27 PM
Following the stock market crash of 1929, unemployment shot up from 3% to about 25%, leaving nearly 15 million U.S. citizens jobless at its highest point in 1933. The average family income dropped 40%, and the economy didn’t recover for an entire decade, leaving little to no spare cash for anything outside of the necessities, especially home decor.
Glassmakers couldn’t sustain through the Great Depression by providing the popular labor-intensive cut crystal glass of the 1920s to the upper class. Much like we’ve seen distilleries pivot to hand sanitizer and designers pivot to mask production during the COVID-19 pandemic, glass companies that once made luxury crystal were forced to reconsider their products. In an attempt to keep people employed, glass factories in the Ohio River Valley pivoted to mass-producing significantly cheaper molded, patterned glassware thanks to an innovative machine that could produce upwards of 1,000 pieces a day.
Depression glass, as it came to be known, was produced in a wide range of bright colors—pink, pale blue, green, amber, and less common colors like canary, ultramarine, jadeite, delphite (opaque pale blue), cobalt blue, red, black, amethyst, monax, white (milk glass), and even fluorescent uranium glass that glows under UV light. In addition to kitchenware, items like ashtrays, decorative serving plates, cigarette boxes, and candlesticks were produced.
“There was so much drabness when everything went away and they had no money. This was free. And, it brought a little color into their lives,” president of the National Depression Glass Association, Pam Meyer said. “Everyone selling clear crystal glass pooh-poohed it and said it would never last, but it did.”
The colorful patterned dishware was sold by the case to businesses in other industries like movie houses, grocery stores, and gas stations to use as rewards or free gifts for loyal customers or to be given out in oatmeal boxes. “They would continue to go back to that grocery store, because every week, or however often they changed it out, they would have something new to get when you bought so much. And every time you went in, you would get another box that had something else in it to go with your pattern,” Pam shared. The bigger the purchase, the bigger the return. For example, an entire setting from the Lancaster Glass Company came with the purchase of a refrigerator. “With a new Frigidaire, you would get a full set—the plate, a cup and saucer, a sugar and creamer, and a serving sandwich tray.” For items like serving bowls or pitchers, Pam said, “you could go to the five-and-dime and get bigger pieces that couldn’t fit in a box, for 50 cents.”
After World War II, as the economy turned around, people began to discard their brightly colored, albeit cheaply made, glassware and upgrade to fine china. “Once they were working and had some disposable income, a lot of people threw it all away,” Pam noted.
While some didn’t want reminders of the Depression, others valued the history, the progress that building sets represented, and the ability to own beautiful items in such hard times. Pam specifically recalls pulling a cup and saucer set out of a Mother’s Oats box when she and her mom were living at her grandparents’ while her father was away serving in WWII. These memories turned into what would become Pam’s grandmother and mother’s collections. She recalls her mom continuing to collect well after the post-Depression era, passing down both sets and hobby alike to Pam and her sisters.
Pam and her family weren't alone. Seemingly, the glass that didn’t end up in the trash was handed down through generations and became something to be held onto. By 1974, Depression-era glass pieces were such popular collector's items, the National Depression Glass Association was established. Martha Stewart even has her own jadeite collection.
It’s still collected now, and as we’re in the midst of economic uncertainty with no idea what the new normal will look like, it’s easy to see how enjoying your morning coffee in a sunny window out of a patterned fluorescent green set could be a treasured comfort.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.architecturaldigest.com/story/depression-glass-history/amp