Oh Gina, what a treasure chest!

I have a collection of dinnerware, c. 1750-1850, and my heart started to beat faster as I read your post. :)

Unfortunately, there's not a single reference book that I could recommend. The ones that try to do it all end up not doing a good job on anything, IMO. There are individual books on redware, soft paste, flow blue, mulberry, general transferware, white ironstone, Victorian (sorta general), Limoges, Depression, even things like Fiesta.

Could you post some pictures here? With pictures, I feel pretty certain we could I.D. at least most of them for you.

Again, what fun!

Oh Gina, that sounds like SO MUCH FUN, looking thru all that. Please post pics, would love to see some of what you've found.

Deb in PA

I am jealous beyond belief!!!! That would be my dream!
I agree with what Tricia said.....first you have to put a name to it.....then you can look it up!
Post pictures....we are all chomping at the bit to see your treasures!
Linda C

We have a large service of 12 of the Heisey rose pattern including a number of accessory pieces. Worth about $15,000. If you can give me some more info on what you have I might be able to give you some idea of its worth. BTW, we use it for special occasions including last Thanksgiving. One of the better books for identifying depression glass is, "Elegant Glassware of the Depression Era", by Gene Florence. it is an identification and value guide. Much of this glassware was made in Ohio and it was not expensive at the time. Some of it was placed in boxes of various products. It is imperative that fine glassware never be put in a dish washer as it will often cause the glass to "milk" up. There are also various specific brand books. As an example, we have a large collection of Fostoria American. The book I mentioned is a very good guide but specific brand books give you much more detail. these books are usually available at better antique stores.

The "elegant glassware" you speak of was not placed in boxes of soap etc. You are confusing it with a much later sort of glass, like the pattern that was called "Sandwich" and was packed in Mother's Oats.
Most of what we think of as "depression glass" was of a much lesser quality than Heisey glass....in fact Heisey, although of the drpression era, is not really thought of as a maker of depression glass. Heisey was always expensive glass. It was hand finished and polished and therefor not really of the genre of depression glass which by definition was mass produced as cheaply as possible and given away at movie theaters on "dish night" or as a premium in grocery stores.
Makers of depression glass are such as Jeanette, Hocking, Hazel-Atlas, and Indiana Glass. Some makers of "elegant glass of the depression era" were Imperial, Heisey, and Cambridge".
Lucky you with that set of rose! But I hope you know that the $15,000 value represents what it would take to replace it at top dollar. I saw plates somewhere for $25 each not too many days ago.
Linda C

Off topic...but, Linda...I snatched a 9 1/4" mulberry 'Cypress' plate last Saturday in Clinton, CT. Clean as a whistle. Yippee. Didn't need the plate but, hey, at least I added SOMETHING!

Was it a "buy"?...That's the best kind!

Not particularily...$87.

Ya buys 'em where you finds 'em.....as the auctioneer always says!!

I'll have to get some decent pictures of things....the following might give you a tiny idea of what we're dealing with in terms of volume. This is just one of the several china/glassware repositories that the previous owners used. They--now we--had a LOT of stuff! I realize much of it probably has little to no value, but dare I say it's SOOOO much fun just to go through it and look at it all!

{{gwi:1396160}}

{{gwi:1396161}}

We emptied this hutch and boxed it up when we were having some work done in the house. Twelve big boxes worth of dishes. Twelve.

We've also come across some other fun things that y'all here might appreciate more than the average person:
wedding invitation dated 1891
hundreds (not a typo) of Victorian advertising cards, most of which are in pristine condition.
a very large cedar chest filled with linens
several hand-knotted wool rugs, and a few machine-made wool rugs

I have pictures of some of the furniture as well--some of it I feel pretty confident assessing, but some of it is beyond my skills. I'll have to put up some more pictures.
Thanks SO much for the offers of help! DH and I are so overwhelmed by our luck that I fear we talk about this house and its contents nonstop. Our friends/family are nearing the eye-rolling stage, I think. But they (with the exception of one sister who practically salivates every time we talk) just aren't into antiques or vintage stuff.

Oh! My Golly Jeepers!! that cupboard alone would make me very happy!
I spy some white china with a gold rim that I'll bet says "Japan" on the bottom, several hand painted plates.....I'll bet the one behind the glass compote is marked Germany.
I see a white iron stone covered vegetable.....either great old....or new and not so great ( lOL!) a nice maybe havaland pink flowered serving dish...What's that green bowl top shelf left?
But that cupboard!!! Sigh!!!!!
Linda C

We've noticed quite a few pieces marked "Germany" or "Austria."

One great thing about the house is that we're only the second family to own it, so there is some history behind at least the larger pieces. That cupboard supposedly came to the house when it was built and has been there ever since. We've found no markings, labels, etc. on it. Somewhere I have good pictures of it.

I really will have to go through these and get some decent pictures and beg for help from the knowledgeable folks here! Already you've told me more about that cupboard's contents than I knew, even after cleaning the entire thing out!

That green bowl has my name written on the bottom..I'm sure it does! The little white ironstone has also caught my eye. Looks like there might be another white ironstone underneath the red flower thing????

More pixs, please! How old was the person who left this home and do you know WHY nobody claimed any of it?

What kind of label or marking would you hope to find? LOL!
That cupboard is mid-west country walnut, likely made out of wide boards from the big trees in the back wood lot, milled either by the person who built it and stacked to dry for several years....or sold to a mill which sold to a cabinet maker.
I wish I could see closer how it's joined, the saw marks on the back, the way the pieces are joined, the hinges and if they are original...
I may have to go out looking for another big old cupboard.....I love them so!!
Linda C

Linda, I don't know much about mid-West early furniture. Mostly, I see stuff from Boston, Portsmouth, Newport, and New York & occasionally something southern.

How late do you see wide board stuff? Wish I could see the door hardware better...sure looks bright...probably replacement but I can't tell. On a piece of that era, should I expect to see a 1" thick backboard?

I need a digital camera. You might enjoy seeing our two cupboards. One is a corner cupboard from a pre-revolution home on Cape Cod with poringer shelves and the other is Civil War, mustard grain-painted with arched & recessed doors and side panels. I'm a sucker for cupboards too...probably because of all the dishes I have to put someplace.

Tricia, hon....may you never ever have to view anything but Boston, Portsmouth, Maine and furniture of the ilk!! You are very lucky to live where you do!
As for country midwest stuff...how late do you see the wide board stuff??/...As late as it takes for someone to use up the big old boards cut from the trees in the pasture! The hand made primitive walnut can be surprisingly new in this part of the country......The back boards will be thinner than 1 inch.....but I would like to see the marks of the pit saw.....just straight....not curved like the marks of a circular saw.
I would LOVE to see your cupboards.....porringer shelves and all!....Be still my heart!! Please post!
Linda C

Tricia, do share pictures of your cupboards!! They sound positively wonderful!

This is the cliff notes version of the history of the house and its contents. It was built circa 1880-1885 by one of the more prominent families in the town (not the Rockefellers by any stretch but they seemed to have done OK...the house is very high-quality in its construction). Since then, five generations of that family have lived there. The most recent resident passed away after a fairly long illness--for years prior to this, the house had been used mostly as a summer home. Her son and DIL live in Florida and went through the house after she passed away, but they took only items of sentimental value. He is the one who sold it to us, and he said at the time that they left this all behind for two main reasons: they've already got a fully furnished house and so would end up auctioning many pieces off, and they wanted it to stay with the house to the extent possible. Admirable, because the conservative auction estimate from the estate appraiser was in the tens of thousands. He certainly let us have it for far less than that, just because he wanted to see it cared for (which we do!). They're extremely nice people!!

Linda C, the planks on the back are wide and do not have circular saw marks. The piece is now being used in our kitchen as a pantry of sorts, so I can't get pictures of the back, but I can tell you that the joinery is very nicely done. No big suprise, since the family apparently knew and employed fine craftsmen to build the house--it's my guess that one of them may have built this as well. I had hoped to find someone's name scribbled in it somewhere....a "Kilroy was here" type of ID. No such luck, at least not that I can find.

More pictures will be coming as soon as I can upload them to my hosting service. :)

Regarding wide boards, I have a circa 1825 solid cherry gate leg drop leaf table. The top and the two drop leafs are each 24" wide by 40" long. All three pieces are one each one wide board. They are book marked, that is to say all three pieces came from the same log. The table came from an eastern Pennsylvania farm but I purchased it from a dealer in New Hampshire. There were many excellent craftsmen building furniture in those days and most have passed into obilvian.

For those of us who love antiques, you are describing a situation akin to winning the lottery. If I were you, my relatives wouldn't tire of hearing me, because they wouldn't SEE me unless they came into the house. I'd never come out!!!! Then again, my mother and sister would be right there with me wanting to get in on it all. Wow, such fun! Looking forward to more pictures and descriptions.

Deb in PA

Deb H, check out this link for more pics. I'll keep taking them and post them as I go along.

We do feel like we won the lottery...not just from the standpoint of the antiques, but the house itself. It's our dream house. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: The (long) picture thread