The Depression-Era Glassware That Came in Boxes of Oatmeal

When I was a child, I admired the lovely pink dishes my grandmother had in her china cabinet. She still had a house full of children at that time, and we all ate off those delicate pink dishes. They were Depression glass, a distinctive souvenir of both hard times and the rise of mass production.  

Prior to the crash, most glass dinnerware was often clear, and handmade from cut crystal. It cost too much, for even a typical middle class family budget. After Black Tuesday, such extravagances were all but forgotten, as scores of Americans stood in lines waiting for bread.

But a revolutionary machine that used new processes such as mold etching—a method that utilized acid to etch patterns into an iron mold rather than directly onto the glass—made manufacturing glassware quicker and cheaper. The molds themselves were costly, but each one could produce thousands of dishes. Thanks to mechanization, one Depression glass manufacturer, Anchor Hocking, increased glass production from one piece per minute to over 90 pieces per minute. This allowed companies to sell individual dishes, such as tumblers, for a nickel or less.

The price was low enough that such dishes were often offered as premiums for buying other things, such as oatmeal, gasoline, or movie tickets. Read about how Depression glass went from a poor person's treat to collector's item at Atlas Obscura. I'm a collector myself, pink, please, like my grandmother's dishes.

(Image credit: Flickr user PINKÉ)


Comments (5)

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Some of the green ones do, some don't. I have a few pieces of the "Vaseline glass" on my mantle, and it has a distinct shade of green. But I still end up sometimes buying some pieces that don't have uranium in it by accident. There are uranium glazes used up to the 70s or 80s that have a different color, and I've had even more trouble telling by eye.

A certain shade of pinkish-purple depression era glass used neodymium to give it that color, and I've always wondered if the the glassware can be turned into a laser, as neodymium glass (usually of special quality) is used as the gain medium in some lasers.
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When MrsO. and I were young struggling newlyweds, we got dishes, glasses, and flatware from buying boxes of detergent. We used a lot when having to wash diapers for our first children.
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Great post! I remember the accident on the set of The Twilight Zone movie when it hit the news and only watched it because of that. The movie was pretty horrible all around, but I was morbidly fascinated by that particular segment.
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Yeah Staxeon, I was going to say the same thing: no mention of one of the most famous deaths on a movie set in recent history, Brandon Lee, (though I suspect it's mentioned in the complete article). What a tragedy.

I wish someone would start again withe River Phoenix movie "Dark Blood," because that plot sounds pretty cool.
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I don't know about you guys, but I liked Wagon's East.

On a side note, I had no idea Heath Ledger had a 3 year old daughter. What the hell was he doing popping pills?
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Justin,

I don't know the real facts, but according to "sources" he died from a reaction to combination of over the counter pharmaceuticals. As for people deliberately knocking themselves off even though they are a caregiver, isn't a new idea. You just hear about it less because those people aren’t in the eye of the media.
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Is that a screenshot of Morgan as the wizard or as the gatekeeper? It appears that he's at the gate of the Emerald City, so I would imagine that there he's the latter (as opposed to what the caption says).
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I was disapointed too that The Crow wasn't mentioned, but I would have to say that I was horrified at the 2 movies that were spawned afterwords (the 3rd movie direct to video apparently) and the god awfull TV show that were released years after The Crow was released.
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They actually came out with a fourth crow movie, and it was also straight to video. They really tried to recreate the magic of the first, with typically awful results.

At least the second (City of Angels) had a father's love for a his kid be the reason for coming back, not the typical boy meets girl.
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Jon Erik Hexum also died on the set of his new TV Series "Cover Up". He was the star of the TV Series "Voyagers" which was a highly rated and watched show on NBC at the time.
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Sadly there's also no mention of great character actor Roy Kinnear, who died from injuries suffered from falling from a horse while shooting 1989's Return of the Musketeers.
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"Gladiator" was dedicated "to our friend, Oliver Reed." His death during filming was made even more poignant by the fact that his character, Proximo, dies during the course of the film. The CGI work is truly well-done; unless you know where to look, you wouldn't know it's CGI, and I'm not sure even then. Sad, because "Gladiator" might have launched a return to acting for him.
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I was disapointed too cuz The Crow wasn't mentioned, it's one of my favorites. If it's going to have a remake, I'd be quite happy to see it, but I hope they don't ruin it...
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@arrghiamapirate
Bruce Lee did not die while dubbing Enter the Dragon.
He actually died in Betty Ting's Apartment from a reaction to a painkiller given to him by Ting. Its rumored that they were having an affair.
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