What to do with reproduction Depression glass

You go strolling through your favorite antique mall or even flea market, or even at a garage sale.  You happen to see a piece of Depression glass, and you think it’s the real deal.  You look at the price on it and see that it’s reasonable, so you go ahead and buy it.

Once you get it home, you start to poke around either in a reference book you have or online to see what you have.  Then it hits you--you realize that the piece you bought is a reproduction.  What are some things that do you can do with it?

There are many things that you can do with it.  The first thing that you can do is to sell it off either online or at an antique mall at the price that you paid for it.  If you do this, I recommend that you describe it as a reproduction so that everyone knows that you are being truthful about it.

If you happen to give the reproduction as a gift to a friend or family member, this gives you the chance to give a brief history lesson on it.  You could even take the opportunity to show what the tell-tale signs are that make it a reproduction.

Another thing that you can do is to use it yourself.  Vases could hold flowers, or even be used as a hat stand.  It could possibly even be turned into a lamp.

If it’s a bowl, the sky’s the limit on what it can hold.  Paper clips, fruit, pens, and even pocket change are a small sampling on what you can put in it.

And if it’s a candy dish, it could even hold something like potpourri or even pens.

 
 If you happen to have bought a reproduction, what kinds of creative ways have you used it for?

HELP! What was this plaque used for?

Several years ago, I picked up this brown and white enamel plaque that has a portrait of a woman on it.  When I purchased it, I was told by the dealer that it was a decoration off of the front of a stove that was made around the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s.

The dealer also said that they thought it was enameled copper.

Ever since the day I got it, I have been poking around to see what exactly it is.  The first thing that I ran across was a picture of Queen Elizabeth during her Diamond Jubilee of 1897.  The picture was pretty close to the image on the front of the plaque.

Another thing that really threw me for a loop was that I saw another listing on the internet that said these plaques were used on a front door of a house.

Is it really a decoration for a stove or a door?  Was it really made of copper?  If it was off of a stove, what brand was it on?  If you know what this is, feel free to drop me a line.  I would love to know is what this was used for.

A little history of cameo jewelry

Cameo jewelry has been a popular item for many years now, and it comes in many scenes and sizes.  Just what in the world is cameo jewelry?

Cameo is a method of carving an image into stone or shell that has a flat edge to it.  More often than not, you will see a product that has multiple colors in it to give an extra pop to the carving.  The cameos that are made of semi-precious stone like onyx and agate have examples that date all the way back to ancient Greece and Rome.  The ones that are made of shell are more modern.

The cameo that is pictured above is the type that you would find that’s made in the late 1800’s into the 1900’s.  As you can see, the piece features a picture of a person.  I’ve seen several different motifs including more than one person, an animal, and the occasional flower.

The price of all cameos depends on what it’s made of and the quality of the carving on it.  Some of the places to check are the hair, nose and facial features.  The more features that are present and are vivid, it makes the cameo just that much better.

The great thing about this type of jewelry is that it can fit any budget and liven up any outfit at the same time.  You can see some terrific examples of cameo jewelry in my Etsy shop here.

What examples of cameo jewelry have you found?