January 2014 Newsletter

Little Hostess Party Sets

In this issue of Hazel Atlas News we take a look back at the children's tea sets produced by Hazel Atlas Glass. Other than Jeanette Glass and Akro Agate, Hazel Atlas was the only glass house that manufactured a consistent variety of child glassware toy tea sets. The first tea sets were released in the late 1940's. The advertised name of these sets were Little Hostess Party Sets, with branding of Moderntone for pastel sets, Sierra for non-pastel sets and 20th Century also known by some collectors as New Century (not to be confused with the depression glass pattern New Century also made by Hazel Atlas).

Production of the Little Hostess Party Sets ceased prior to 1954, as Hazel Atlas was in the process of selling their production to Continental Can. Nevertheless, stock of these Hazel Atlas Party Sets remained in retail stores until as late as 1959. Which may indicate either that they were not widely popular as a toy set for little girls or an overzealous production of sets caused a higher supply than demand. Imagine buying your daughter a glass tea set to play with! I recall my Aunt had received a set for her 7th Birthday in 1958, when I asked her what happened to it, she could only remember playing with it a few times and it eventually ended up in the attic.

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Variety of Styles

One marketing concept that made Hazel Atlas the largest glass house in the world was their tenacity at producing a diverse variety of products from one idea. The child tea sets are no exception. There are three distinct styles known; the three-band, two-band and 20th Century. 20th Century is the unbanded taller style which is likely the later version of the sets. The three-band sets were the first sets designed, and later the two-band sets were introduced. Boxes show the name of the 2 and 3 bands as Sierra (for the darker colors) or Moderntone (for the pastels), while the box containing the unbanded taller version bears the name 20th Century.

While the Moderntone was produced in pastel pink, blue, green and yellow; the Sierra sets came in a large variety of color combinations;(green, gray, burgundy, chartreuse, cocoa, turquoise, black, flamingo pink, white, gold and rust) and the 20th century was only available as pastels, white and a very unusual fired on 'fiesta' colors, both in platonite and clear glass. The pastel sets and the 20th Century sets did not include a teapot. Boxes came in several styles, indicating 14pc for pastels and 20th century and 16pc for sets with teapots.

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Reproductions in Children's Tea Sets

To date, there are no known reproductions of Hazel Atlas Glass party tea sets. Because the original Hazel Atlas glass used was Platonite, a patented blend of glass, it is highly unlikely that anyone will successfully reproduce this set in the future. That combined with the wide variety of colors in each set make it a less likely target for reproduction manufacturers. As an example, the Akro Agate children's tea sets and the Jeanette Glass Cherry Blossom children's tea sets have been reproduced, because of the simplicity in manufacturing those pieces.

Price Trends

*Please note: prices quoted are retail prices, if you are selling to a dealer, you should expect at least 30% less
The original sets that sold in the late 1940's to mid 1950's retailed for around $2. Collectibility of the Hazel Atlas Little Hostess party sets began in the late 1970's, where a complete set in the original box was easily found for under $20. The highest interest in the Little Hostess sets came from collectors of childhood memorabilia until the mid 1990's when glass collectors took notice of these tea sets and drove prices upwards. Largely, in part, this was due to Gene Florence's books on Depression Glass.

Prices peaked in the early 2000's with a complete boxed set bringing an average of $200 for the Moderntone/Sierra with teapot and lid and $125 for the 20th Century. These prices have recently stabilized with the average 14pc Moderntone selling for around $65, the16pc Sierra complete sets commanding around $100 and the 20th Century selling for about $50. Typically the box in good condition will add up to $20 to the retail price. The highest value piece is of course; the teapot with lid, generally valued at about half the price of a set. A teapot and lid in Aqua or Burgundy sells for around $50, the Cocoa teapot with Yellow lid is harder to find and usually in the $65 range, while the pink teapot with black lid has sold recently as high as $125.00. The hardest color combination to assemble is the pink and black set (this color combination was later called Flamingo), a complete set in pink and black with teapot usually brings around $150-$200.

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Rarities and Oddities

Occasionally, you may discover a 20th Century style tea cup with a design, decal or unusual painting. These are not really rare or odd in the sense of collectibility, they are usually referred to as demitasse cups and saucers, and most likely were marketed that way, not as children's tea sets.

Most of the pieces found with decorations are one of a kinds that really have insignificant value in terms of price. However, they do have intrinsic value in terms of variety and collectibility. Collectors of tea cups and saucers will find these attractive for their collection. Most of these decorated pieces are after-market decorations, meaning that a company decorated them specifically as souvenirs. We have found some of the 20th Century cups and saucers with commemorative decals for tourist destinations across the USA.

Other than assembling a complete set of the 3 band, the only other hard to find pieces of course are the lids to the teapots. These lids are usually unrecognized by non-collectors, so if you have a picture of one, take it with you when you go shopping at flea markets, auctions and even antique shops. It is likely you could find one in a junk box!

There is an odd note to the 20th Century, and that is I have found a few cups with saucers that are fired on in dark 'Fiesta' type colors (red, yellow, blue and green) as opposed to the often seen pastels. It is my experience that completing a set in the 20th Century fired on fiesta colors is impossible, having only found 6 pieces in the last decade! It is possible these fired on pieces were either test pieces or samples and never intended as a complete set.