Did you know that if you happen to have a crystal (clear) and pink Depression Glass refrigerator bowl in Crisscross pattern in good condition and with its original cover, that it’s valued at between $300 and $335? Or that Shirley Temple cream pitcher your grandmother keeps in back of her upper cabinet could bring up to $1,250 at auction? If you didn’t, then you’ve been in dark about rare Depression Glass pieces and their values! Here are a few pieces for which knowledgeable Depression Glass collectors stay on constant lookout:

The Ruby Red Aladdin Beehive Lamp

Made for only six months during 1937, this lamp currently brings anywhere from $700 to $950 – if it can be found! Most collectors owning this piece understandably do not have any interest in letting go of it, which makes it even rarer. The color of glass in Aladdin series of ruby lamps varies from a light red with an amber tint to dark, rich red, with deeper reds fetching more interest with today’s collectors. So if you have this lamp with trademarked “Aladdin” on it wick-raising knob, you’ve truly got yourself a prize!

Cambridge Glass Company’s Blue Cleo Etched and Footed Sugar Sifter

Just before advent of Great Depression, more than a hundred companies manufactured glassware in United States. At end of Depression, fewer than fifty percent of these companies remained in business. Of these companies, seven became major players in production of Depression glass, and these seven companies utilized a little more than 90 patterns to decorate their wares. Indiana Glass, Hocking, Federal, U.S. Glass, Jeanette Glass, MacBeth-Evans, and Hazel-Atlas manufactured hundreds of thousands of pieces of this popular and inexpensive glass, creating a bright spot in lives of everyday, working-class people during a grim epoch of American history.

Before Depression glass came along, colored and patterned glass existed, but only for wealthy. Because beautifully hued and intricately designed glassware of times was hand-blown, and cost of manufacturing such pieces proved prohibitive for most people, this type of glass was simply out of reach for many households. However, with invention of mass-produced, machine-pressed glassware that produced colors and patterns – albeit ridden with flaws such as air bubbles and mold marks – a new versatility in glassware could be made available to households all over America. Because of this, even poorest families could now have cheerful pieces from which to serve their meals, hold sugar, salt, pepper, and other condiments, contain candy, and more – even to shake their martinis, if they could scrape up money for bathtub-made gin!