Grandma Peterson’s Green Glassware: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Heirlooms”

 

Treasures from the Basement: Grandma Regina’s Custard Cups and Saucers

Regina Syverson: 1872-1952 (Paternal Grandmother)

When I was a little girl, I loved to explore the old wooden shelves in the basement of our farmhouse. They held a random assortment of items—the shelving equivalent of today’s kitchen “junk drawer”. There were tools and nuts and bolts my dad had set down, work gloves, some cleaning supplies, broken items awaiting repairs, jars of buttons or nails, and various bits of kitchenware of my grandmother’s that didn’t make the cut to keep upstairs. My favorite pieces were small green glassware items—deep, oddly shaped little bowls and tiny saucers made to hold the bowls. All that I knew about the pieces was that they had belonged to Grandma Regina, and that I thought they were beautiful, even crusted in dust.

When I grew up, I rescued these little pieces from the basement. By then, I had spent time with a friend whose mother collected “Depression Glass”, mass-produced glassware in translucent colors manufactured during the period from 1929 until 1939, during the Great Depression. I recognized that these dark green glass pieces shared similarities with Depression Glass, and as a result, were probably also collectible.

My basement treasures

I did some research on the pieces. I discovered they were manufactured by Anchor Hocking, a well-known glass manufacturer. The pattern was called “Sandwich” and the color was Forest Green. The mysteriously-shaped bowls were intended to serve custard, and were meant to sit elegantly upon their little saucers for sophisticated dessert lovers.

Custard cup

According to websites dealing with vintage glass, several companies made Sandwich pattern glassware. The patterns “have a flower and ornate scroll motif with the space between filled with stippling (tiny raised dots).” Sandwich patterns were based on patterns developed by glass artisans in Sandwich, Massachusetts in the 1800s, hence the name. Anchor Hocking was one of the later companies to use the Sandwich style pattern on both clear and Forest Green glass dishware.

Sandiwch pattern details including the scrolls, dahlia-like flowers, and stippling are visible on the bottom of this  saucer.

According to glassonweb.com (see citation below), Anchor Hocking produced Forest Green Sandwich pattern pieces between 1939 and 1964. Many of the pieces “were used as promotional items at grocery stores and gas stations. Five of the items, in Forest Green, were included free inside boxes of Crystal Wedding brand oats.”

I suspect that my Grandma Regina acquired her pieces as free promotions. She had been raised to be thrifty, and it would certainly explain why she owned only a few pieces that didn’t seem to suit her farmwife lifestyle. I doubt she was serving a lot of custard. I read on another site that the Crystal Wedding Oats promo began in the mid-1950s. Grandma Regina died in 1952, so she must have participated in an earlier promotion program.

Since I loved these little bowls and saucers so much, I started looking for more pieces at antique stores and on Ebay to build my collection. I acquired a set of six juice glasses, six small bowls, six teacups and saucers, and a few more custard cups. I couldn’t find any dinner plates—they are extremely rare as they were never included in any promotional campaigns. I finally settled for clear Sandwich pattern plates and bought plastic chargers in dark green to place beneath them. I now have enough dishes to be able to use them on special occasions.

Grandma Regina Syverson Peterson late in life

While my Anchor Hocking pieces are popular vintage collectibles, they are far less valuable than true Depression Glass. I acquired most of my pieces for only a few dollars. However, these charming little pieces have great personal value. They connect me to the grandmother who died seven years before I was born. While we never met, Regina and I obviously shared a love for the deep green color and charming floral pattern of this glassware. To me, they are true family heirlooms.

Sources:

“Anchor Hocking’s Sandwich Pattern” by Virginia Scott. Rainbow Review Glass Journal, March 1976. Accessed on National Depression Glass Association’s webpage. https://www.ndga.net/rainbow/1976/76rrg03a.php

“Sandwich Glass and Sandwich Pattern Glassware”. https://www.glassonweb.com/news/sandwich-glass-and-sandwich-pattern-glassware#:~:text=Anchor%20Hocking%20produced%20their%20version,of%20Crystal%20Wedding%20brand%20oats.