Bingo! It is Con- Cora By Consolidated Glass

Several months ago, my recently widowed neighbor asked me to appraise some furniture pieces for her. Mr. Dude and I were very happy to do that, as we were primarily furniture dealers at one time. Our job was finished, kisses exchanged and best wishes given , we were about to go home when,

Suddenly she said" Oh, I am having a sale, everything is priced, on tables in the garage, would you like to look and perhaps buy before the sale"? Every dealer wants an invitation like that and I am no exception to that rule. I wandered around and did find several pieces of china for purchase.  Suddenly I saw a pretty, what looked like, from a distance, a milk glass vase.

                                                

" Oh No", my friend said " that was my Mother's cake dish and that is the bottom piece". Now this is always a little tricky, one has to always employ diplomacy, the belongings that once were Mother's are sacred territory! We found the top in another box and when I saw the two pieces together, that old instinctive feeling that you sometimes feel when you see something good, but you don't know what it is or anything about it. My glass knowledge is limited in certain areas. Milk glass--yes  Hand painted--yes, 2 pieces, hmmm, now I haven't seen that one before.

I tried to research this piece but never could find the correct answer to the puzzle. I finally listed it in my etsy store, https://www.etsy.com/shop/SwedishGalsAttic

This morning I received an e-mail from another etsy dealer FrannieBee who has a beautiful shop. Hope that you will take the time to visit.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/FrannieBee

She generously shared her knowledge with me and identified the piece. and in the process sent me more areas for research. This is a 2 piece Hand Painted, the initials indicate it was probably decorated by Wally Hindle, white milk glass cake plate.

 In 1940, to celebrate the end of the "Great Depression", Consolidated Glass of Penn. introduced their Con-Cora line of milk glass, and this is part of that line. Further research by Frannie Bee, as she continued to search through her materials yielded this information. This is described by consolidated as a 2 piece footed "Spin a Cake" 13" # 5631/32 titled violets and the initials depending on how you look at it could be HM for Helen Mixer., Turn it the other way and you have WH. What a wonderful journey this has been,and in the process have gained a new friend.


Mr. Jack D, Wilson, who currently is doing tutorials on u-tube wrote in 1989 a book titled Phoenix and Consolidated Art Glass 1926-1980. If you can find it consider yourself fortunate because it is now out of print. Mr. Wilson has a wealth of knowledge on this subject and is a very sophisticated collector. He continues to educate and answer questions.

It is so important to maintain a high standard of credibility in the antique business.  We are meeting new collectors without knowledge all the time. It is up to us to have good, honest answers for them and share our knowledge. As a young dealer I was always grateful to learn from more experienced dealers. I am not so young anymore, but I am still learning every day and I am still grateful for the gift of someone's generosity of sharing.

Consolidated has a long history beginning in 1893 and at one time manufactured 60 % of all glass parts for lamps in this country, but that is another discussion for another time.

If you are out on the "Hunt" and have that old instinctive " Gut" feeling about something, but don't really know, follow your instincts. Someone else shared their knowledge with me, this started the Brain cells buzzing and I have been able to learn about another Great American company.