Depression Glass Indentification

In any hobby or pastime that involves collecting items that are valuable, it is important to be able to correctly identify the items you may be purchasing. Depression glass identification is no exception to this rule. Unlike some other collectible antiques, depression glass was made after the end of the American great depression period and by the same companies too, so it is important that you are able to tell which item may be original or not.

Some manufacturers of the colored glassware were also making similar looking items before the start of the great depression too. Experts argue over the validity of some items as to wether they fall under the depression glass term, but some also say that the items must be manufactured between the years of the depression, 1929 to 1939. Which ever you believe, it is still important to know what you are buying.

One of the easiest ways to identify the glass is to examine the pattern used and try to match it with a manufacturer from this period. As there were over 100 different pattens used during the time the glassware was made, this may prove difficult and may only come with time and experience. There are books available for this purpose, so please check the resources section of this website for more information. It is more common that you will be attempting to identify the pattern rather than the manufacturer and often the result of this will lead you to the maker anyway as most patterns were unique to each.

Once you have the pattern and identified the maker it will be easy to then correctly identify the value and validity of the item. Some depression glass is more rare than others, so you may want to look for more valuable items if you are collecting for money or you may just be interested in collecting items to complete a set or just add to your collection.