Collections… Sell or Save?

This week I did something in preparation for our move that wasted a little time. As I’ve written about before, I have been a collector of glass in the past. I have several pieces of Steuben glass that are treasures and were packed right away. I have one piece of Lenox which was a gift from a girlfriend, also treasured and thus, packed. My two pieces of recently acquired Fentonware (?milk glass) that was my mother-in-laws were pack with the other treasures.

But, I have more. I have an entire tote of Depression Glass cups and saucers. I intended to sell these pieces in our garage sale. But, as I got them out, I admired how pretty and unique each one was. The colors are beautiful, some pastel and some vibrant. Some are embossed with a pattern and others have a unique shape to the cup and/or saucer. I carefully unwrapped each of them and set them on the kitchen table. There they stayed for several days.

I am down to one reference book on depression glass. Its publication date is 1991. It’s safe to say that while I can reference the pattern and producer of the glass, I cannot reference the price. The prices are thirty years out of date! It was in the early 1990s that I started this collection of glass. In 1992, we moved back to New York state after living in Delaware and Maryland for three years. Back to our old stomping grounds of the Clarence flea market on the weekend where I probably got a few of these sets. But, my mom is really the collector of Depression Glass. She has probably over three dozen sets of sugar bowls and creamers. I got a few of her duplicates as well as some of the cups and saucers that either she didn’t want or I had expressed interest in for one reason or another.

These pieces, probably about twenty sets, moved with us from New York to Wisconsin in 1999 and then two additional times since. I was sure I didn’t want to move them a third time. After all, in the sixteen years we’ve lived at this residence, they have not been out of the tote once! I had an idea a couple of years ago that I would host an old fashioned “tea party” due to my fascination with Downton Abby, but then the pandemic struck. No, a tea party would not have worked during the last three years.

But, once I got the cups and saucers out of the tote, I was reminded of my love for glass and my appreciation of these pieces. I began looking up their worth online. You know what my husband says about that, don’t you? They are only worth what someone wants to pay me for them! And, he’s not wrong. But, some of the sets have value and all of them mean something to me. They are a connection between me and my mom. We almost lost her last fall. Perhaps, that’s why the Depression Glass seems to have added meaning to me now.

When mom was critically ill, in ICU, I stayed with my Dad at their house. The house is overflowing with glass pieces, with china hutches in the living room, dining room and master bedroom.

You might have already guessed that I won’t be getting rid of my Depression Glass just yet. This morning, I lovingly wrapped it all back up and put it back in the tote from whence it was stored. Eventually, I’ll give it up. But, the time is not now. Even if I don’t display it or use it, I know I have it:: a connection through a collection of glass.