Glass Hen on Nest Covered Dishes: Identification & Value Guide, Second Edition

By Shirley Smith

From Frank Chiarenza's 2015 review:

For those who do not already have a copy of the first edition on your reference shelf, and even if you do, it is time to rejoice because author Shirley Smith has spent the past seven years revising and updating her book to produce a second edition. The resulting product can only be hailed as a monumental achievement. Among the vast assortment of popular “collector” books, this surely must be ranked as one of the most comprehensive, authoritative, and – I feel certain – truly definitive because it is unlikely ever to be surpassed in scope or presentation. Any new findings regarding glass hen covered dishes in the future will merely be footnotes to this volume.

In the matter of sheer size alone, the second edition numbers 464 pages; hence, for the readers’ convenience the printed version is offered as a two-volume set.  

The arrangement and overall design of the main body of the second edition is substantially the same as the first. Manufacturers and distributors of the glass hen covered dishes, 60 in all, are listed alphabetically in two separate sections: 34 American entries and 26 European. Add to these a score of Asian imports and the group of those ”yet to be identified,” one must marvel at the author’s ability to document such a staggering number of specimens.

Consider how much information is contained in a typical entry: a concise history of the manufacturer, a summary of the different forms and sizes, an accounting of the various colors, followed by color photos and detailed descriptions of all its known specimens, a note about the company’s mark(s), if any, notations regarding the moulds when known, and a review of reproductions, reissues, or replicas, where applicable.

The photographs in the book number just shy of 3,000, some of them unique and less than optimal when culled from old and rare catalogs. The quality of most color photos, however, is excellent, and the detail is fine, with some exceptions, as usual, for the difficult to photograph white opaque pieces.

The author often includes multiple photographs of the same piece to illustrate and identify the colors by the names their manufacturers, such as Boyd and others, have assigned to them. Thumbnail photos of 236 Chick Salts are shown with the names Boyd assigned to the colors as well as the dates of issue. Such documentation is also helpful for collectors of other pieces besides glass hens to identify the correct name for a given color. Take the color blue, for instance, which may be termed Sapphire Blue, Sky Blue, Bermuda Daze, or something even more ambiguous as Heavenly Days!

The concluding sections of the book also have been revised, together with a new Appendix devoted to the items having the XXX marking. As with the first edition, the Glossary and the Bibliography and Reference entries are excellent resources for beginners as well as those seeking additional information on specific companies or related reference articles.

In sum, to have been able to assemble such a mass of material concerning what is perhaps the most ubiquitous of animal covered dishes, the glass hen and its kin in all its forms, colors, sizes, and origins, is mind-boggling. The author’s achievement in my view is simply unparalleled.