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How to Identify a Milk Glass Hobnail

Milk glass is a milky white, blue, pink, green or brown and opaque glass that originated from artisans in Venice in the 14th century. Italian artisans where hired by prosperous patrons to craft milk glass structures as common accessories around the home. Items like lamps, vases and dinnerware where all crafted from milk glass. Since then milk glass structures have appeared throughout history, although they are rarely produced now. A well-known decorative milk glass is the hobnail, a horned shaped knobby container or sculpture that's patterned to look like lace or ruffles.They are a highly valued item in the collectibles market. Spotting a real milk glass hobnail is a fairly uncomplicated process if you brush up on the characteristics of the item.

Instructions

    • 1

      Inspect the milk glass to see if the texture is a knobby design like lace or ruffles; this is a main characteristic of the hobnail.

    • 2

      Check under the lid or bottom of the structure to see if there's a manufacturer's logo. If you see a logo, check the manufacturer's website's history page. Listed here is often a year-by-year recap on what they produced.This will help you determined whether you've found a real milk glass hobnail or a replica.

    • 3

      Inspect the color of the milk glass hobnail. Milk glass is usually white, blue, pink, yellow, green or brown with a opalescent shine to it. If it's a unusual color like orange, it is more likely that it is some other type of glass with the hobnail detail. Colors are also helpful, in determining who produced a certain type pf milk glass. Chocolate milk glass, for instance, is synonymous with Greentown Glass, that was produced by the Indiana Tumbler and Goblet Co. between 1894 and 1903.

    • 4

      Contact the National Milk Glass Society and ask if they have any local appraisers in your area. If you've already purchased your hobnail, get it inspected, find out if it is indeed milk glass and get it appraised,

    • 5

      Purchase a copy of Regis F. and Mary F. Ferson's "Yesterday's Milk Glass Today." This book was published in 1981, and if you're really set on purchasing and identifying a milk glass hobnail, collectors considered this an essential reference item.


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