Depression Glass Shard ID: Paden City "Party Line" Pattern

I dug this unusually shaped shard in a 1930s family dumpsite.


I was stumped on it ever since I dug it up. The glass is very thick, so it most likely couldn't have been a wine glass, but there is evidence that a stem used to protrude from the bottom. Maybe a lid? I didn't know.

The Research Process
I actually discovered this piece through another piece!
I bought this creamer a few months ago at an estate sale.


I was looking through my collection a few weeks ago and I remembered that I had never identified the creamer pattern. I had already looked through my Depression glass book that I own, but this mystery pattern wasn't included. I had checked out a newer book from the library a few weeks ago so I looked through that book hoping that I would find a match. I ended up finding the match! The pattern is called "Party Line" or "Soda Fountain" and was produced by the Paden City Glass company from the late 1920s to 1951.

A few days later I was looking through my shards and realized the unusual green shard had a very similar pattern to the creamer I had recently identified. I browsed for a while on the internet. I came up with close matches, but nothing similar.




I was still convinced that the shard belonged to a "Party Line" piece. I kept searching.

A little later I came across something. The piece was in pink, but I think I had a match!


A side by side picture



I searched for a correct color match, but I couldn't find anything. I believe the piece is the "4 or 6 oz Tulip Sundae".

Coincidentally, on the day that I identified this shard, my new Depression glass book arrived in the mail. I found a catalogue reprint from 1928 in which my piece is visible.


Finally, the mystery was solved!

Paden City Glass Company 
The Paden City Glass Company opened its doors in 1916 in the town of Paden City, West Virginia. Although only enjoying a production run of 35 years, in that short time Paden City became well known for their unique glass. The company started out with producing crystal wares and pressed tableware, but expanded to color in the 1920s. Black glass was introduced in 1923, blue, green, amber and mulberry in 1924, pink, (also known as Cheriglo) in 1925, Golden Glow (topaz) in 1931, royal red and blue in 1932, amethyst in 1933, and lastly, forest green and Ceylon blue in 1936. Paden City began producing etched tableware as well. Paden City glass is scarce today, which may be due to the fact that their glass was shipped to the West Indies and other unknown countries. The company closed in 1951.

"Party Line"
Below are some pictures of Party Line pieces.

Thanks for reading!

Bonzo The Dog

I dug this interesting little figurine in a 1920s-1930s city dumpsite.


Like most figurines, I usually don't do much research on them, but this one seemed special. As you can see, theres an unnatural hole on the top of the body of the dog. I wondered what this was. A candleholder, maybe?

The Research Process
I started by looking up "Vintage dog candleholders". I found pictures like this, so I was getting somewhere.

I remembered the gold luster on the dog, so I added gold luster to my keywords.

Then, I stumbled upon this picture. Both my figurine and this one had a similar hole. This could either have been a pincushion holder, toothpick holder, or planter!


Now that I knew what to search, I started entering keywords like "Lusterware dog pincushion holder". One of the pictures called the dog by the name "Bonzo".



Curious, I searched "Bonzo the dog pincushion holder". I found an eBay store that was selling Bonzo collectibles. That's when I found the match!


 Even the fly on its fail matches up!

I still don't know for sure if it's a pincushion holder, because other listings show similar items listed as planters or toothpick holders.

Who is Bonzo?
Bonzo the dog was created in 1922 by a British cartoonist named George Studdy. Due to Bonzo's popularity amongst children and adults, companies were eager to create Bonzo merchandise that would appeal to the public. Bonzo books, salt and pepper shakers, keychains, and figurines were just some of the merchandise mass produced in the 1920s. Production was not only limited to England, but expanded to other countries such as America and Japan.



Bonzo Collectibles


Thanks for reading!

The TA Snider Preserve Company

I was out digging a while back, and to my surprise I pulled out 3 bottles with original labeling! Even better, it was still legible to an extent! This is an exciting moment for diggers. Below are the 3 bottles. Side note: I would also like to thank my mother for bearing with me as I bring home dirty bottles and refuse to clean them because they are labeled.


Depending on where the bottle was buried, decomposition must have been slowed for some reason. I dug it underneath a metal sign, so I'm guessing the metal protected the bottle's label from decomposing over the years. The decomposition process is very interesting to me, and is something I will definitely look into one day.

The Research/Identification Process
I've been digging 20s-30s dumps for over a year now and I have spent some time studying old glass catalogues, so I would consider myself pretty experienced when it comes to identifying shapes of bottles from this era. I know for sure that this bottle was a ketchup, also known as "catsup", and dates late 20s early 30s. Below is a screenshot of a 1933 Owens-Illinois Bottle Company catalogue depicting a round unembossed ketchup bottle. Note how it was labelled as "Catsup", rather than ketchup.


The hard part about this search was figuring out what company produced this bottle. The base is not embossed, so I didn't have any hints there. I had to rely on what was remaining of the label.

"N, I, D, and E" were visible.

The ingredients were listed here.

Something about preservatives was listed here.
I guessed that the label was advertising how the company omitted preservatives from their ketchup.

I definitely had enough evidence to find the original bottle. Now, all I had to do was search.
I searched different keywords until the search "Nide Catsup antique bottle" resulted in an advertisement for "Sniders Catsup". Below is the advertisement.

I think I had a match! The company was correct, but the labeling of the bottle didn't completely match up. I did some more research and found 2 exact ads.



This bottle was produced by the TA Snider Preserve Company.

The TA Snider Preserve Company
In 1879, 2 men, Thomas A Snider and Robert T Skinner formed a canning business based in Cincinnati, Ohio. According the the book Pure Ketchup, their tomato ketchup recipe was derived from Thomas's wife's tomato recipes, a woman well known for her excellent preserved food.
TA Snider Preserve company was later formed after Skinner and Snider dissolved the canning business. The TA Snider company was known for their use of all natural ingredients. The company often advertised the fact that the brand lacked preservatives to appeal to consumers who were looking for a healthier ketchup. TA Snider also sold canned tomato soup as well as canned beans, relish, and oyster sauce. His products were distributed around the United States and Canada. TA Snider was one of the most popular tomato ketchup brands in the United States.




Other Pictures
An old advertising crate

Vintage advertising postcard

TA Snider Co Canning Jar

Ad for Pork and Beans


That's it on the TA Snider Preserve Company! Thanks for reading! If you know anyone who would be interested in my blog, please send them a link, I'm trying to expand.

Whistle Soda by Vess Beverages

I dug this shard at a family dumpsite a few months ago.

Art Deco "Whistle" Soda Bottle Shard

This shard belonged to this bottle

I already knew this company from another bottle that I own, but the mystery behind this shard was finding which specific bottle it belonged to. Once I found out, I did some research.

Vess Beverages, a locally owned beverage company (until 1994, when it was sold to Cott Beverages), was located in St. Louis, Missouri and was founded in 1916. Sylvester Jones, nickname "Vess", invented the formula for Whistle, an orange soda, in 1916, the same year that he founded the company. However, the soda was not sold until 1925. During the years of the Great Depression the company suffered from financial troubles, as did many companies during the 1930s. Vess Beverages was purchased by Donald Schneebarger, an advertising genius. He added many other flavors to the line. Below are some advertisements from Vess Beverages for the bottle shard I found.

Thanks for reading!