Cornflower Pattern Glass

My thrifting find for this week is a beautiful lemonade set in the cornflower pattern.  In a local consignment shop, I spotted the set which included a 9 5/8" high lemonade pitcher and eight glasses.  They were in mint condition! ~

Priced at $29 they were a steal and I snapped them up!  Cornflower lemonade pitchers are hard to come by and I've seen them priced over $100.  The glasses usually sell, individually, for around $10.  There isn't a chip or scratch to any of the pieces.

Cornflower is a pattern created by Canadian glass cutter WJ Hughes in 1912.  For 75 years it was the favourite pattern choice for Canadian homes.

The pattern is distinctive in it's deep cuts of 12 cornflower petals and hexagonal grid as the flower centre. The tips of the petals are fringed. ~

  The stems form a graceful arch and are dotted with elongated leaves. ~

The Hughes Cornflower Co. specialized in cutting and embellishing glass and ordered their pieces from as many as 20 different glass manufacturers.  Although it came from as far away as Europe, most of the pre WWII glass came from the USA.

Some pieces are crystal.  Others are ordinary glass.  The rarest and most expensive, as collectibles, are the coloured Depression glass pieces.

I remember this as my grandma's pattern.  By keeping an eye out at my local Salvation Army Thrift Store, I've put together a set of 8 juice glasses for 50 cents each.  Now that I have 8 tumblers and a pitcher, I can move on to wine glasses and serving pieces.

This lemonade set has an honoured place in the dining room.  It's sitting on an old, cast iron furnace grate until I come across the perfect tray for serving ice cold lemonade to my guests! ~ 

I'm sharing this with ~ What's It Wednesday