Remember the Alamo?

Reproductions of Texas Centennial items appeared in the market over a decade ago. They are both made of cobalt blue glass with white enamel decoration. The Alamo is on the front; the Texas and American flag on reverse. Despite their recent manufacture, both pieces are dated as if they were made during the Centennial celebration which took place in 1936. No old exact counterparts were found for comparison.

The new pieces are well made of good quality glass, no bubbles or flaws and with a reinforced rim. The white decoration is sharp and crisp and nearly perfectly opaque. Some reproductions of white enamel on cobalt like the new Shirley Temple pieces are applied with a coarse screen which leaves a pattern of dots in the image. Images on these Texas tumblers are perfectly solid and do not show any dots.

The shapes of these new items are nearly identical to shapes made by Hazel Atlas for their late 1930s line called Ships or Sailboat or Sportsman. The new samples were $12.50 each from a reproduction wholesaler.

Fig. 1 Reproduction cobalt blue glasses with white enamel decoration: 3 3/4″ high juice glass, left; 4″ high tumbler, right.

Fig. 2 The dates on these new glasses are misleading; they are of recent manufacture.