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Fostoria Glassware Collecting
The good thing about collecting Fostoria glassware is that there's a lot of it, and you can find great bargains even on eBay. There was a period when it was the thing for a bride to choose a Fostoria pattern to go with the Lenox china pattern she had chosen. In fact, you can build an entire set of Fostoria without spending a fortune. It's as beautiful as it ever was, and you can obtain a set for much less money than if you choose a pattern from a contemporary maker.
History
The Fostoria Glass Company was established on December 15, 1887, in Fostoria, Ohio. A newly opened gas field made low-cost fuel available there and many new industries were moving in. However, the field played out in 1891, bringing about a move of the company to Moundsville, West Virginia. Not only were materials needed for making fine glass nearby, there was plenty of gas and coal.
Early on, Fostoria joined all the other glass companies in producing pressed glass. Before long, the shift was made to high quality stemware that was blown. The glass made from the years 1910 to 1924 is high quality and if you can find some of those early pieces, they are valuable. It was in 1924 that the company began to advertise seriously. They also went national at that time. At this time, they were offering blown glass patterns as well as etched and even some pressed patterns. They were also producing custom pieces such as some with government seals for officials in Washington. In fact, all presidents from Eisenhower through Regan ordered their official glassware from Fostoria.
Fostoria became the largest handmade glassware maker in the US, at one time having a workforce of 1,000. Its output peaked in 1950 with over 8 million pieces. Lancaster Colony bought the company in 1983. It continues to make the most popular pattern in the history of glass making, American, a 1915 Fostoria pressed-glass pattern. You can build a set of American on eBay if you're persistent. Examples of Fostoria glass can be viewed at the Fostoria Glass Society of America museum in Moundsville.
Collecting
I have a full set of the Reflection pattern with a platinum rim, which I've obtained piece-by-piece on eBay. It sets a beautiful formal table along with my Lenox china, which also has a platinum rim. Reflection comes plain, with a gold rim, and with a leaf etching. I have a set of beautiful little cordials with the leaf etch. The plain version is called Mademoiselle. All of the varieties have a graceful, Greek-column stem. These blown crystal pieces are very delicate, hardly thicker than paper.
I have a friend who has a full set of the heavily-etched Navarre-pattern glassware, and it's beautiful in quite a different way, but it also sets a beautiful formal table. Formal tables have all but passed away, but it's satisfying sometimes to invite friends over and reach back to a former period and serve a formal meal formally.
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