how it’s going: checking in, part 2

The decision to move forward strictly with Wexford glassware from my thrifting excursions was easy to make: that long ago, the shelves were packed with the double-diamond details of the prolific late-ish Anchor Hocking pattern. It was too old to be new, too new to be ‘valuable’ old, and it had belonged to everyone’s mother or grandmother so there was a steady stream donated for me to find.

Nearly ten years ago, my husband and I bought our house, our Cattywampus Cottage tucked into the Historic Northeast neighborhoods of Kansas City, Missouri. This meant an entire household to stock with Wexford. It also meant basement storage for overstock pieces for entertaining.

The usability and durability still amaze me. The manageable-sized pieces of clear Wexford all go through the dishwater, and they come out crystal-clear. There had been damage in the past; I have found etched glasses likely from older machines using abrasive powdered detergents, but modern high-efficiency dishwashers let Wexford shine.

I have watched iced tea tumblers (our preferred daily-use glass) tumble three feet from counter to hardwood floor, and then bounce and roll away. Admittedly, we have lost glasses over the years: if they land crooked and the impact hits to the outer edge of the base, the glass will likely crack, but we have recovered a surprising number of fallen glasses.

I mean, thrifted for mere dollars and durable? Chunky, mass-produced versions of fancy-pants crystal? Sign. Me. Up. Now and forever.

Wexford allowed me to feel fancy on a thrift store budget, much like families buying it new as sales specials in their grocery stores back in the 70s and 80s. I found it everywhere, literally. In the fifteen to twenty years I have been collecting Wexford, I have maybe been in a thrift store three times where I could not see at least one piece of the pattern.

At some vague point, color was introduced to my crystal clear Wexford world. Once I found that pair of ruby flashed bud candlesticks, I didn’t look back. Well, maybe once.

I did once pass on a pair of amber cordial goblets that I have never seen since, and I still regret leaving them behind. I am learning from that mistake and embracing the rarer color and color-flashed items.

The metal trim latched onto me after I came across two four-packs of the Golden Wexford beverage tumblers for sale on Mercari. Gold, silver, and plantinum have been filling my life ever since.

About the time the color flash and precious metal trims were exploding into my collection, a woman found my tiny little Wexford blog and introduced herself. Her name is Tina Spain McDuffie. She is an Anchor Hocking Early American Prescut (EAPC) collector and author of this book about it. If you collect EAPC and are unaware of her, you should definitely check out her comprehensive guide to the pattern.

She is also the admin for the Wexford Glassware Collectors Facebook group, and invited me to join. A Facebook group that didn’t exist when I decided to start this blog because I couldn’t find the Wexperts™, or the collectors in the world.

As it happens to be, she is currently taking on the project of writing a similar book for Wexford. A Wexford book that didn’t exist when I decided to start this blog.

This was a few months back. I have been a prolific poster there. I am now a moderator. I definitely enjoy having a group of people gathered together for their fondness of this glass pattern.

In the months since, I have learned so much of the accurate history of Wexford, of the other names that Wexford pieces were sold under like Oxford and Kingsford, of the third-party companies that used Wexford pieces Like Kromex, Tuscany Imports Ltd. and Amercian Heritage Industries. Having met a Wexpert™ like Tina has decidedly added to my own journey to becoming a Wexpert™. And I welcome it wholly.

Also, I now realize exactly how much of the pattern I have. And how little is left to find. And this information has me branching out into places I didn’t expect to be: embracing Kromex chrome and brass sets with Wexford glass, finding boxed sets from various periods of production, delving into the use of Wexford as components in styles like Hollywood Regency, searching out other glassware patterns with compatibility to Wexford to fill in gaps that Wexford never offered, intentionally adding imposters and knock-offs to speak to the popularity and influence Wexford had on the glassware market.

I am winding down the Wexford path, finding my way to Wexpertdom.