I'm Still Overwhelmed!

This past Saturday I went with my mother-in-law, N, and her friend, A, to an antique glass show. It has been our tradition for the past two years, and we had a blast!

Thankfully our air conditioner did just fine. I think that was because the temperature stayed in the mid to upper 90's.

We all got up on Saturday to have coffee and kolaches (they were really good fruit, cheese, and meat varieties). Then the three of us got ready to go. Before leaving, we saw a garage sale on a street in my neighborhood, so we stopped to check it out. We didn't spend too long because of the humidity. It was so dense, it felt like we could chew the air.

On the drive to the glass show, it rained quite a bit. Fortunately it stopped by the time we got there and walked inside.

Since it wasn't my first time seeing this much glass, it didn't surprise me. I will say that it was just as beautiful as the past two years have been. It's amazing that some owners of the booths traveled as far as they did, and with so much glass. I know that I wouldn't want to pack it all up to drive to another state, and then repack it later. I think it would make me nervous.

This show has about every manufacturer (maker) and style of glass you could possibly want. I won't go through them all, but I will tell you the types we collect.

N, collects American Fostoria. Fostoria is the maker, and American is the pattern.


A, collects Royal Ruby glass. That is the color and type of glass. She mixes makers and patterns, but it is all considered ruby glass.


I collect Heisey Greek Key. Greek Key/Grecian Border is the pattern and Heisey is the maker.

My Greek Key collection.

American Fostoria is fairly easy to find, except for the rare pieces of course. N and A both have most of their collections complete, but they have been looking for a few rare pieces the past couple of years. The problem with that is, those rare pieces tend to be the most expensive. It may take you years to find one being offered for sale, but you may not buy it because of the price.

With my pattern, Greek Key, it isn't as common. Yea Hol, way to go! Pick a pattern that is hard to find, and also can be more expensive in general. I have only seen one or two dinner sized plates, and that was online. I'd love to see some at a show.

The first piece I ever bought was online, and it's an "oval celery" dish.



I got it after we had all gone to the glass show the very first time. It took me a while to decide what type of glass I wanted to collect. The second year at the show, I bought two items. I had gained some courage, but I'll admit, I was still really nervous to make the two purchases. That time I got an "oil bottle" (cruet) and a 4 1/2 inch plate.





The smaller plates have various uses, but many are "under plates" for the bowls, glasses, and other items. I was also given another piece from A, who bought it online. It was a sherbet that she gave as a thank you for letting her stay at our house.


This year, I didn't see quite as much Greek Key. That was disappointing. From the pieces I did see, I was interested in two. There were a couple others that I would like to have, but can not afford right now. Especially since one of them was going for about $550.00!

A said that she wanted to get me another small piece for my collection, but was unable to find one before she came. She told me that she would either pool her money with mine to get me one of the pieces I wanted, or she would get one of the small bowls. I told her that she didn't have to do that. She said she knew that, but still wanted to. She is such a sweet person.

I decided to get the "spooner", which was a piece I had not seen before. I was thinking of getting one small "nappy" bowl as well, but before I could, N, grabbed all three of them and said, "These are mine!" I had no idea what was going on, and said, "What?" The owners at the booth laughed and said the look on my face was priceless. N, my sweet, sweet, mother-in-law told me that she was getting them for me. What? Oh my goodness! I told her she shouldn't do that. She said, "I normally don't get to spoil you, so I am now." Then she said, "When you have children I'll spoil them instead." I said, "Well maybe we should wait even longer to have kids." I was only joking, and they just laughed. I was still shocked at what had just happened.



After making our purchases, we realized that we were starving. It was past 3:00 pm afterall, and we had not eaten lunch. We took our goodies to the car and locked them up. Then we went to get some food. The funny thing is, that the people serving were out of just about everything. We didn't feel like icky hot dogs, so we had carrot cake with cream cheese icing and unsweetened tea. Healthy I know. At least the cake had carrots in it and the icing was not as bad for us as it could have been.

Finally we drove home to show J our loot from the day. N bought an American Fostoria "ketchup" bottle. One of those rare pieces. A, bought a Royal Ruby cream and sugar set, a small bowl and possibly one other item that I'm forgetting right now. We all showed J and he was impressed.

That evening we had grilled chicken on top of a mixed green salad with lots of vegetables and garlic bread. I'm not sure if that made up for the cake, but we felt a little better about it.

Sunday morning before N and A left to go back home, A surprised me again. She had wanted to get me another sherbet, but wasn't able to find one. What I didn't know was that she already had two 5 or so inch plates for me. She said, "I was going to wait until I had a sherbet or some other piece but I can't stand it." I opened the package and was amazed by all the pieces I had acquired over the past day and a half.

This is my entire collection.
I still can't believe that I gained six new pieces in such a short time.

Thank you Mom and A! I had a great time with both of you. Enjoy your new pieces, I know I will.

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