Depression Era glass takes center stage
The Swan became the symbol of Duncan & Miller Glass Co. in Washington. The National Duncan Glass Society Inc. will have a special exhibit featuring ruby glass at this weekend’s Depression Era Glass and Pottery Show and Sale in New Kensington.
Fiestaware will be among the items available at the show.
The flared oyster is part of the Golf Ball collection manufactured by the Old Morgantown Glass Co. in West Virginia.
Several area glassware collectors will be traveling to New Kensington today for the 38th annual Depression Era Glass and Pottery Show and Sale sponsored by the Three Rivers Depression Era Glass Society.
Among them will be Jim and Marjorie Wiley of McMurray, who have been members of the society since 1984.
“Jim is more into the history of the glass,” Marjorie said. “I’m more into the touchy, feely part of it.”
The Wileys began collecting glassware in earnest in 1979. Their collection contains pieces made primarily by the Old Morgantown (W.Va.) Glass Co.
“Our objective is to preserve glass and show what Depression Era glass was really like when Washington was a booming town,” Marjorie said, referring to the society’s mission. “It’s just exciting to see what comes out of old factories. Sometimes old workers will attend our meetings and say, ‘We didn’t make the glass for you. We made it to feed our families.’ It wasn’t because they thought they would become collectibles.”
Show hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Clarion Hotel, 300 Tarentum Bridge Road.
And once again, Jim and Leora Leasure of Eighty Four are serving as co-chairs of the event.
The Leasures became hooked on Depression Era glassware when Jim’s brother showed the couple stemware that was thought to be made by Duncan & Miller Glass Co. in Washington. The “Golf Ball” pattern was particularly attractive to the couple because both worked at a golf course and were avid golfers.
“He pulled me in kicking and screaming because I thought this was something else I need to dust,” Leora said with a chuckle in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon from the Clarion Hotel during the initial setup for the show.
“But I have this wonderful thing called a depth-perception problem,” she continued, laughing a bit more, “so he does most of the dusting.”
The couple have been members of the Three Rivers society for about 18 years, and Leora is now vice president of the organization. The Leasures have retired from golf, and are now full-time antiques dealers, traveling to 34 glass shows throughout the country each year in what Leora calls their “spare time.”
“We don’t mind the lifestyle of being on the road that much, and we love the glass, and we’ve made friends in nearly every state in the country,” said Leora, who is 67. Her husband is 71. “We don’t know how to sit still.”
And like the Wileys, the Leasures’ main collection is glassware made by the Old Morgantown Glass Co. However, the amount of stemware they have collected now pales comparison to the other collectibles – among them, baskets, vases and candlesticks – they have acquired.
“We’ve branched out to more elegant glassware,” she said.
The Leasures will bring 45 “banana” boxes filled with glass, each piece individually – and meticulously – wrapped. They will display their wares on six, eight-foot tables with risers.
“We really love being part of this,” Leora said. “It’s pretty much a lost heritage in this country. It’s very rewarding to talk to former workers.”
Money raised at the event will be donated to glass museums throughout the tri-state area to preserve the history of Depression-Era glass, she said.
In addition to more than 25 antiques dealers from throughout the country, a special exhibit will feature ruby glass made by the Duncan & Miller Glass Co., which manaufactured what is considered to be “the loveliest glassware in America.”
Duncan & Miller hand-pressed and hand-finished its glassware, making it higher quality and, therefore, more expensive. The company’s glassware was sold at jewelry stores and better department stores. Glassware made by many other manufacturers, such as Hazel-Atlas Glass Co. in Washington, was given away in boxes of flour, soap and cereal. It also was given as premiums at gas stations and movie theaters.
In the “Pictorial History of Duncan & Miller Glass,” Gail Krause writes “that only the artistry of design, the skill of the workers, the batch formulas and the lovely colors have distinguished their glass from others of the time.”
Admission to the Depression Era Glass and Pottery Show and Sale is $7 until noon today and $5 from noon to 5 p.m. today and all day Sunday. Those 30 and younger with valid identification will be admitted free. Free glass identification will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday. Limit is two items. For more information, visit www.pghdepressionglass.org.