Collecting Mary Gregory Glass

Mary Gregory Glass is a type of fine crystal ware that was popular both in Europe and the United States. It originated in Europe but migrated to the U.S. in the mid 1800's.

The Mary Gregory Glass made in the United States is identifiable by the child figures that are hand painted with white enamel. The gold-trimmed Mary Gregory pieces are typical European ware.

These particular vases are Czech-Bohemian, they have gold rimmed tops, clear handles and of course the hand-painted children on cranberry glass.

Mary Gregory Glass production ran about 50 years, up until the early 1900's. Cranberry is the most popular color, or shall I say, it brings higher prices at an auction. Other popular colors include amethyst, dark blue, green and amber.

If you are a collector of Mary Gregory Glassware you can find some great deals on eBay and every once in awhile there are antique glassware auctions that usually have a variety of Mary Gregory pieces. I went to a fine glass auction a few years ago and there were several hundred antique cruets. The Mary Gregory cruets brought anywhere from $50-$250 each.

There has been a lot of reproduction Mary Gregory type glassware in the past decade. The reproduction pieces can be detected with a magnifying glass, you need to look for screen-printed children with very little hand painting.