Some Oddities of Rodney Kent

My summer has been busy with little time to write so here are photos of some of the rare pieces in my collection.

 

#447  the Breakfast Utility Set

Notice the plastic spoons, which are the correct spoons for many of the condiment jars.

 

 

 

 

This lovely was used to hold citronella candles.

 

This is the 5 pc table buffet set with Frying pan and lid, serving container (note the lack of handles) and snuffer for the

 

 

The only teardrop shaped glassware for Rodney Kent

 

 

The Rodney Kent Ashtray.

 

 

 

Sometimes, the box is the only way to find out what the number is.

 

 

 

Square candy dish ... also sold with two rectangles

 

 

 

And when there seemed that there were no more things they could do with tulips, they moved on to  Sunflowers. Below is #503

 

 

And the same bowl shape as 405 is used for 506

 

 

 

 

 

 and the most recent find, #407 with the 4 tulip display instead of the ribbon display. Since the stamp on this is the triangle Rodney Kent Silver Co stamp this is an early offering.

Detective work on Rodney Kent, imposter??

I have been really busy this June and didn't get to write. Before I knew it, it was July. Still while I wasn't blogging, I was still collecting.

Item # 1 - Salt shakers

 

I have never seen a table set with salt shakers, so I bid on these because they had such a nice shape and the glass bottoms were in good shape. Probably not Rodney Kent since it is missing all the signs, but they were calling me none the less. Plus, bidding started at $1.00.

 

 

 

Then maybe I am wrong because I came across the above photo 3 years ago and I just saved the photo that the seller had posted since I wasn't sure about the piece. Lo, and behold, there are the salt shakers. The exact salt shakers. So maybe I was right. More research is needed, and if anyone has any input, I'm waiting.

 

I write to sellers on eBay and other sites and ask them about their finds. I meet some interesting people and learn a lot So while my foray into salt shakers with aluminum tops didn't help my detective work a lot, this next conversation did.

  

2. The elusive pitcher - Southern Living or Real RK?

 

 

 

 

While bidding on another piece, I wrote to the seller  about how she knew there was a pitcher in the set she was selling. I have only seen a glass pitcher once in my searches, and I was stupid enough to pass it by. The seller, in turn, miraculously found this photo (see, I am not the only one that clips photos for reference) of what she said was posted as the Southern Living Set. This may have been a promotional set through the magazine Southern Living in their Home section. Now the job is to find out if it was offered at a contemporary time or it is a reproduction. The eBay seller that I have been in correspondence with says that She has had two separate  eBayers tell her this is a reproduction group. The above photo was sent to her with the note that it is a copy of the magazine ad.

 

 

the butter dish that I know is RK

 

the sugar bowl with tray that belongs to the creamer

 Another view of the sugar bowl

 

the case for the divided square glass holder

 

the sugar and the square glass sugar packet holder or maybe tea bag holder. I don't want to discriminate against tea drinkers..

 

So the creamer is square shaped with a pressed pattern in the glass like the triple rib shown in all the RK pieces. And it sits on a tray. As for the divided glass piece, it could have been to hold sugar packets.  But I have always had issues with these pieces. I thought that the quality was just deteriorating. The butter dish is a staple in the Rodney Kent line and was used with various sets. Most butter dishes with older sets ( and I have some still in their original boxes), had good quality stamping and a picot edge on the lid. The trays of one of the stand alone dishes was stamped 470. These  poorly stamped butter dishes have no stamp. The metal is thinner. The picot edge is barely there. I still would like to get my hands on the pitcher. The idea that this may have been a promo or reproduction piece from Southern Living magazine, which I understand is no longer in print, could possibly explain the piece below.

 

 

These two jars have the recognizable mini tulip lid finial of the RK line, but nothing else about them seems correct. All the little jars by Kriescher are globe-like and small jars like this, often meant for condiments had notches cut in the lid to allow for a spoon. The ribbing on the glass has always been the triple rib design, not this equal all over rib. Lastly, the hammered stamping quality never showed the circular machine head in the stamping. The idea that this is a reproduction makes a lot of sense. Pretty as they are, they probably don't merit being included in the collection list.

 

Now I will have to review my whole collection again and see if any other pieces show the  issues of these four pieces or if these indeed are reproductions as some claim. Any input or dates would be appreciated.

 

Rodney Kent #420 - The Bridal Basket

The Bridal Basket, as it has been called is probably the one piece that shows the evolution of the Rodney Kent line from it's first debut as a piece that Krischer GiftWear probably had a gift show, to it's evolution into other designs. When I first got the idea for a blog, well really for a book,  this is how I planned to begin. It is the only design that has the three oldest stamps. While keeping the silhouette, many changes went on with the details.

The tray is a rectangular shape with folded edges. The picot edge is just hinted at with irregular crimping of the curved part. The ribbon handle has a high shine and no patina. The stamp is smaller and centrally located and the Hammered effect is not close to the bas relief stamp. The detail of the tulip bouquet is beautiful. Very dimensional. Some of the hammering encroached on the design and hammered out edges of the leaves.

  

The central part of the ribbon handle is polished. The weight of the handle and the tray feel substantial.

 

 

 

Stamped with the" Krischer GiftWear" logo, the bottom of the tray was completely hammered. It is my estimation that this was produced  in 1930, give or take a couple years.

 

The next time the bridal basket is marketed, it has a new look. The bouquet is larger, but still a beautifully detailed bas relief. The center of the ribbon handle now has small hammered texture.

 

And it comes with a new logo, The Rodney Kent Silver Co. Production time 1933 to about 1938, in my estimation.

 

 

Version 3 is late 30's with the addition of a black patina to enhance the detail of if the Gros Grain ribbon handle and the large tulip stamp.

 

  

The stamp is now the most recognizable, shield saying "Hand Wrought Creations by Rodney Kent"

 

 

The fourth version has the patina, but the stamp has been reduced in size to the original Krischer GiftWear size. This basket has it's original tag. Since the use of the postal code in the address was not required until 1943, we can confidently say this is early 40's.

 

 Now the tray shape is recognizably #420, but the Gros Grain ribbon handle has been replaced with the flower and ribbon design where the ribbon becomes the feet of the tray.

 

Notice how the detail of the bouquet fades into the hammered background texture? The quality of production is failing. This may be due to the fact that the aluminum plate is getting thinner.

 

Finally, the same design is again produced, but this time under a new number, #449.

 

 

Notice how  thin the tray has become. A new handle pattern is introduced.

 

This model is the only one that I have with all the stamp changes. There are a few serving trays with different tulip stamp sizes  and the same number. I feel confident in saying that the Triangle logo was the earliest and it is that stamp that has the most design motif changes. Those models with tulip finial on their lids  evolved as well. They will be covered in other blogs.

 

As with all stories, where there is a beginning, there is an end. Next blog will be on the end of the line in the late 50's early 60's. For those interested collectors, there is a really good bargain on eBay this week. I'd buy it, but  I already have it; A double compartment Pyrex bowl in a chafing dish with the candle and the advertising. All that's missing is the box and the verification number. It could be 475, but it's not stamped and the box is missing so we may never know. Happy hunting.

 

Colored Glass Gift Pieces

 

 

I am sure that we all have those cute little pieces that were given as gifts on special occasions many years ago. Ultimately classified as worthless, these unstamped pieces were probably given to the thrift store where the glass part was separated from the metal holder. Fortunately for me, my mother held on to her pieces and so I have the full item. I will spend another blog on the metal holders and their properties. Today is just about the glass.

 

 



Many of the decorative pieces are early pieces, based on the glass identification and history. I have ton's of books that I reference and I will list their titles at the end of my blog today. You can easily find them on eBay or Amazon. I use these references to date the glass piece, hence the Rodney Kent holder. Above is the candy dish, a perfect red glass bowl sitting in the holder with a handle and an open flower (the rose shaped metal that is usually shaped as the finial on the lids of the more recognizable Rodney Kent pieces) used as feet. The glass bowl meets all the specifications of a dessert bowl in the  Anchor Hocking Royal Ruby line, produced 1938 - 1967 and then reintroduced in 1973 - 1977. Identified as the 4 1/4"  round fruit bowl, the dinnerware piece  that was so popular in the 40'sis interchangeable with the piece shown above.

 

 

This was another gift item, a candy dish with lid that used the same Ruby Red fruit bowl from the Anchor Hocking line. It, too,  had the flower pedestal. You will note that the tulip on the lid used as a finial on the right is different than the one on the left. I believe that the reason is because they were produced years apart. When I review my collection I have noticed that the older the items is (based on my research), the more detail and quality there is. The same detail that you see on the finial is also found on the footing when the flower is open. .

 

This lovely item was recently purchased from a lady in Florida through eBay. She told me that she originally acquired it years ago in its original box so I knew that the glass globe was the original.  It was up for sale for quite a while. When I see something that is new and I am not sure if it is really Rodney Kent, I usually just bookmark it. Then in my travels I found other holders with the wire handle, which is not characteristic of the Kent line. My final piece of research told me about the glass. This is exactly the right size (4  3/4" in diameter) for what was advertised by Anchor Hocking  as a "Moskeeto -Lite" These small globe shaped jars held a citronella candle and when emptied could be used as an "ivy vase". While my research has not turned up a maker, Helen Atlas Glass company produced a lot of cobalt glass. There is no mark on the glass, so I am still looking.

 

 

 

My last find of this blog is a piece Rodney Kent #463. The piece that I own is shown in Azur-ite Blue from the "Charm" collection of Anchor Hocking produced from 1950 - 1954.

 

 

This candy dish has the 4 3/4" dessert bowl  as its glass holder. Azur-ite  was marketed with the more familiar Jade-ite, as well as  Royal Ruby and Forrest Green in the "Charm" line. All were copyrighted colors of the Anchor Hocking Company. Azur-ite, Jade-Ite and Milk White glass colors were Fire King glass, a borosilicate glass that melts at a higher temperature than regular soda lime glass. I have also seen this piece sold with the Royal ruby bowl and the Forrest green, but it is hard to tell if some other wise dealer/collector knew enough to figure out what line the missing glassware could have come from and replaced it, himself. The Azur-ite color is by far the most prevalent and the only one that I feel confident in saying was original.

 

 

 

Just to review two previous blog pieces are butter dishes, obviously from the 1950's. Both have Milk White butter dish plates. I own #418 and the bottom is definitely stamped FireKing. I recently saw a butter dish in Jade-ite for sale on eBay, but I am not sure that it is an original color as the butter dish was used by Anchor Hocking in other glass butter dish designs and I am pretty sure this is marriage, not an originally purchased unit..

 

 

My reference books:

• Anchor Hocking Catalogs: 1940 - present, Phillip Hopper, 2003, Schiffer  Publishing Ltd, Atglen, Pa.
• Anchor Hocking's Fire King and More,  Gene Florence, 1998, Collector Books, Paducah, Ky.
• Collectible Glassware from the 40's, 50's, and 60's, 10th ed.,  Cathy and Gene Florence, 2010, Collector Books, Paducah, Ky.
• Pyrex the Unauthorized Collector's Guide, Barbara E. Mauzy, 4th ed. revised, 2008, Schiffer  Publishing Ltd, Atglen, Pa.
• Mauzy's Rare, Unusual and Unique Depression Glass, Barbara  & Jim Mauzy, 2008, Schiffer  Publishing Ltd, Atglen, Pa.
• Collector's Encyclopedia of Depression Glass, 18th ed., Gene & Cathy Florence, 2008, Collector Books, Paducah, Ky.
• Depression Glass A collector's Guide, 7th ed., Doris Yeske, Schiffer  Publishing Ltd, Atglen, Pa.
• Fostoria Serving the American Table 1887 - 1986, Leslie Pina, 1995, Schiffer  Publishing Ltd, Atglen, Pa.
• Mauzy's Kitchen Glass, Barbara  & Jim Mauzy, 2004, Schiffer  Publishing Ltd, Atglen, Pa.