Tulip - Dell Glass Company

by Joyce Nichols
Volume 26 No. 6 - February 2000

The deadline is near. My creative mind must go to work. What do the readers want to hear about this month? Well, I'll bet they will enjoy hearing about a pretty pattern that is extremely hard to find and seems to disappear as soon as it goes on the shelf at a show. Yes, it's the Tulip pattern made by Dell Glass Co. in the early thirties.

This pattern was made in a pretty blue (at right), a vivid green, amethyst, and, they tell me, amber and crystal. The last two colors I have not seen in my travels. The first encounter with Tulip came before. Mr. Florence included it in his book, so I had to do some serious research to find out what to call it. I had managed to get pretty much a basic set in amethyst. I found that one of the members of our local club collected this glass and she called it Tulip pattern. She added all that I had found to her collection.

Then one day I was browsing a local flea market and found a complete set of green. This went as a set to a fellow dealer at the first show that I carried it to. I began to think ... what is it with this Tulip pattern?

Last August, at the Pensacola Florida Show, a set of the blue appeared in the booth of a friend. Since I had been very fortunate in selling all that I had been able to acquire, I was interested in adding this set to my inventory. I bargained for it and it became mine.

Then one day my interest changed. I thought: Hey! That is a neat set. Wouldn't it be nice to collect a place setting of each color and use it as a table setting? So that is when I began to seriously look at the Tulip pattern. I learned that a place setting consists of a dinner plate that is about 10½ in diameter, a salad plate, a sherbet plate, cup and saucer, and a nice little bowl that the ad calls an ivy vase that can be used as a sherbet or fruit bowl.

As I began to collect this pattern, I discovered shot glasses, tiny (1¾ in. and holds an ounce), and a larger glass that is 2¾ in. and holds three ounces. This second glass also sold as a cigarette holder.

This pattern can be quite pricey. All of the accessory pieces which I have seen have commanded high prices and I have seen few since I decided to collect it for myself. I have one complete place setting in the blue and have found that the sugar bowl fits nicely in the saucer and can be used as a cream soup. Of course, NOW I wish that I had saved a place setting of the green and the amethyst, but we all know that the time to buy this glass is when we see it. We cannot dilly-dally around and try to decide if we want that or not, because there is a collector sitting right around the corner who has been looking for just that piece.

Let me tell you though, this Tulip pattern by Dell Glass Co. is a fun pattern to hunt for and sets a pretty table when you find it. If you are wanting a challenge and don't want to find a lot of your pattern at any one time, may I suggest that this s a good pattern to collect.

May you find a fun to collect pattern and Happy Collecting!