A to Z April Challenge: J is for Jeannette Glass

When my sister and I cleaned out our parents’ home, we had to make many decisions about what to do with all the stuff. Which things are truly “valuable” and which have only sentiment in their favor? Should we sell it, keep it, or throw it away? To help ensure a future for our family’s heirlooms, I plan to leave a booklet for my daughters telling the stories of what they will inherit one day. (Not TOO soon, I hope!) With this challenge I begin my book of Heirlooms.

is for Jeannette glass, specifically my pink Jeannette party plates.

In addition to the snack plates, I have coordinating juice glasses
in the thumbprint pattern.

In my family, we can’t have a party without the pink party plates. If there’s a bridal luncheon or shower, a baby shower, a retirement party, or a milestone birthday, the party plates are front and center. No clear plastic dessert plates trying to pass for glass, no themed paper plates, no textured plastic punch cups. (Ok, yeah, I confess, sometimes  often we do that too.) Using real dishes requires more effort, admittedly, but these party plates never fail to impress. My favorite response at one party was from a young woman who gasped, “Oh look – REAL paper plates!”

My earliest memory of these pink milk glass snack plates was at my Grandmother’s house sometime in the ‘60s. She was giving a baby shower for a lady who, I’m sure, was a coworker at the Colonial Store since just about all the guests were the check-out clerks. I was the helper who distributed all the games and awarded prizes. One of the games was to create a baby hat from a pink napkin. I awarded the prize to the woman who had a cotton ball in her purse and somehow attached it to the top of the hat. How cute was that? So how do the plates figure into this story? They don’t, I guess, except that the plates were there, and Grandma served cake, mints, nuts, and punch.

My sister Mary Jollette remembers seeing Grandma’s dining room table set with these pink plates. Grandma was hosting a luncheon for the ladies in the Dorcas-Friendly Sunday School class. To a little girl, these little plates and little cups were the prettiest sight.

For me the color is the main attraction. There is just something charming about pink milk glass. In the grand scheme, these plates are not all that old or valuable. I have seen them on eBay referred to as a Hostess Set selling for about $25-$50 for a set of 4, but on Etsy there is a set of 4 in the original box for $150.

They were made by the Jeannette Glass Company out of Jeannette, Pennsylvania. The company, which started as a bottle manufacturer, was a forerunner in the production of Depression glass. In the 1950s, it started producing milk glass which was gaining in popularity thanks to competitors like Westmoreland and Fenton. Jeannette introduced this pretty color called Shell Pink in 1958 but discontinued it in 1959. So that dates my party plates. 

Just look at this design. It is called Feather, but it always reminds me of a snowflake.

I’m not sure how I came to get them during the great division of our parents’ stuff – probably because I decorate with pink more than my sister does. We both love the plates and enjoy using them. My sister’s mother-in-law always used snack plates for Sunday evening leftovers. Now I want to do that instead of bringing them out only on special occasions.

Wendy

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