While my current employment situation has put off the kitchen renovation yet again, (I am yet another casualty of the current recession), when we do actually get to renovate, I hope to increase the storage as well as display space for our always growing collection of vintage glassware. Right now, most of it squeezed in there, but some of it is hard to reach so I forget how much cool stuff we really have.

These orange, blue, yellow and black harlequin glasses are our everyday tumblers. Hubby had them when I met him, and he had bought them from Warsaw’s, the now gone Polish (or was it Ukranian?) grocery store near Schwartz’s in Montreal. These glasses are almost indestructible and, thankfully, are dishwasher safe!

Our secondary everyday glasses are these beauties. We found the ones with the square pattern about a year ago at Value Village, and recently we found the diamond pattern ones. When we got them home, we realized the colours were an exact match, so we wonder if they were made by the same company. All I know is I handwash these as I’m not sure if the colours would fade. So that’s why they’re the secondary everyday glasses.

These cute little juice glasses were a gift from a friend of my mom’s for my 29th birthday. There’s three pink, and three blue and I only use them on the weekend when we are having boiled eggs ‘cause they match the pink and blue melmac egg cups. Also because I have to handwash them as well ‘cause they’re hand painted. The blue, black and yellow striped glass is from a set we bought from a coworker of hubby’s parent’s estate sale. The gazelle glasses seen below were from this same estate sale. These were in the bar at the sale, and hubby’s friend totally remembers the swingin’ cocktail parties his parents used to throw so I’m sure these have seen their share of gin & tonics, Harvey wallbangers and Singapore slings!

These gazelle glasses also came from that estate sale. I think we have two of each colour.

This pair of juice glasses were from VV too. They’re slightly bigger than what we normally use for the ever costlier orange juice (man, is that stuff made with gold or what?) but we love the little international style building on them. I wonder if that lodge is still around?

These apothecary themed glasses were another Value Village find. There were 7 of them and I couldn’t bear to break the set. I love the lime green and pale coral colour combination and the bizarre vintage druggist theme, with the prescription “RX” on the book and the other vaguely medicinal apparatus shown.

These smoked “roly poly” glasses came from my parents when they downsized. My mom told me they were gas station give aways and I have about four to six each of each size, so I’m sure my parents were filling up quite a bit back then. I only remember using them during the holidays when I was growing up as they were the only matched set of small drinking glasses we had (my brothers, sister and I were particularly hard on the glassware in my house, especially when I would throw glasses at my sister when we were fighting…don’t ask). The roly polys get a lot of use now though, as they are the perfect size for gin & tonics or a scotch when hubby’s having a cigar.
The yellow rubberized glasses were a recent Value Village find. I believe these are called spaghetti string glasses and the rubber coating makes them ideal for outdoor use.

This pair of pink starburst glasses are yet another Value Village find. I wish there were more of them, but there’s only the two. Wouldn’t it be great if we found more in different colours?

These red and gold glasses were, again, from Value Village. We have three of them (we try to only buy even number multiples when we find glasses at VV, but I hate breaking up the set). They look lovely when housing a nice refreshing Caesar, especially with a stick of celery popping out, to contrast with the red.

These are just a sample of our bowling glass collection. We had our wedding reception at a bowling alley (great idea to get people mixing and not just sitting around not talking) so ever since we keep getting them as gifts. The bowling pin cocktail spears are from a great vintage store in Leslieville called Winkel and the gag bowling shot glasses are from VV.

These are a set of four glasses that Hubby had when I met him. His parents gave them to him when he was a bachelor for his swingin' cocktail parties. I love the camel theme. Camels get thirsty, get it?

These travel themed glasses also are from VV and came in a set of three. They’re great for international highball cocktails like a singapore sling or a South Seas Sunset.

Speaking of international themes, this set of United States themed glasses are, again, from VV and have been collected over the past few years. Every time we see one we’re not sure if it’s the same size as the ones we have at home, but we luck out every time. 9 states down, 41 to go!

These three 1964 worlds fair glasses are from an outdoor fleamarket in Dunedin, Florida, that we went to during our trip to Treasure Island for our anniversary last October. I worked at a company that had these glasses in the lunchroom. I should’ve swiped them when I had the chance, then we’d have a complete set!

Lastly is our favourite collection. These are called Fantasyware (or at least that’s what I’ve been told they’re called) and they were gas station premiums back in the day. I think they were only available in Canada as I see them go for big money on Ebay due to their kitschy aomeba pattern in turquoise and gold. They came in many different sizes, including highballs, shot glasses, beer steins, pilsner glasses (I have some of these but they’re too tall for the back bar shelves), stemmed cocktail glasses, roly poly glasses and old fashioneds. I love them ‘cause turquoise is my favourite colour, but I have to hand wash these too, as the gold comes off in the dishwasher. We come across them at VV every now and then, but they’re usually in pretty bad shape, due to this. I always joke with hubby that if we can’t make a mortgage payment then we could sell this set to make some quick cash. Well, if I can’t find a job soon I could either sell these glasses or just drink my blues away!