My Collection of Pink Depression Glass

I'd mentioned in my bio that I am a collector of Pink Depression Glass.

It was my Mum who started her collection of Pink Mayfair, when she received 6 water goblets as a wedding present in 1950. Over the years, she picked up the occasional piece and by the time I came along and was old enough to be trusted in an Antique shop, her collection had really grown. I learnt to identify the glassware and as I grew older and would browse in junk shops for my own collections, would pick up the occasional piece and add it to her collection.

Many years on, I picked up a piece of Old Colony and kept it - this was the start of my collection, as I was married now and Mum was a bit far away to drop another piece into her cabinet. As with all collections, one piece led to another, then another and another.

Always on the lookout for 'Mum's patterns' - I'd pick up what I could. In the '70s, pink was reasonably plentiful, but now it is difficult to find and most local glass collectors would recognise the qualities of green glass. But it is pink that draws my eye.

Well, Mum died suddenly in August 07 - and her pink glass collection came my way. I guessed she had about 40-50 pieces and that I had about 20 pieces - so decided in May 08 to combine the 2 collections. That meant pulling all of my collection down from the cabinets, washing them and itemising them as I went before adding Mum's collection to mine.

I found out that my collection was more extensive than I thought and was almost as big as Mum's collection of 70+ items. I now have a collection of over 140 pieces of pink glass. Some is in better condition than others and there are a couple of yellow, clear and green pieces. The majority of the collection is Mayfair (59) and Royal Lace (23). I have a dozen pieces each of Old Colony and Princess.

I do have multiples within these pieces and there is only one piece of Mayfair that I would consider having the handles ground down due to a break in the handle. As I have a few of these plates, it is worth the drop in value for the increase in usefulness.

As I live in a very male household, the pink glass does not come out often, but last Mother's Day, I invited my MIL for lunch and set the table entirely using my pink glass. Harry made pink place cards and it was a lovely meal. I served water in the decanters and we drank out of the water tumblers, the trifle was in a berry bowl and the cream and custard were in a sugar bowl and creamer.

The only items of tableware I do not have in pink glass are salt and peppers with tops. Perhaps that is something to look for in the future.

I hope you've enjoyed this little look at my collection.