These two are from my own collection. Brockway is on the left, and Federal Thin is on the right; notice the difference that the Brockway is slightly wider at the top.
When beginning the hunt, there will be noticeable, physical differences in the types of glasses. I don’t mean the different designs; some will be thicker and heavier than the other thinner, lightweight ones. That’s because there were two different companies that made them. The Brockway Glass Company made their drinking glasses with more glass and wider at the top, making them heavier; while the Federal Glass Company made theirs thinner and more uniform in shape, thus being light-weight. The two types of glasses earned the nicknames of Brockway and Federal Thins respectively. These two types out there are a problem all on their own.
The obstacles with this problem are in the glasses themselves. Any good collection will contain all of one kind of glass. This means that a collection should be either all Brockway or all Federal Thins. This is where it becomes complicated. The Federal Thins had less glass used to make them, which made them easier to break, thus harder to find. The Brockways were more durable due to their thicker structure, making them easier to come by. But the Federal Thins are more valuable due to there being fewer in existence.
As to solutions, there are three different paths to take here. Collect all Brockway glasses, as they would be the easiest to find. But by hunting down the Federal Thins, this could catch the eye of another collector quicker when and if one decides to sell a collection. This would be harder but could turn a profit. Finally, the third choice would be not to care what type you buy as long as it completes the set of each character in the series.
To start, I would suggest following the last of the three solutions. You feel a sense of accomplishment when you do finally finish a set. However, always be on the lookout for any Federal Thins, and if possible, purchase it. While making a set of only Federal Thins would be very hard to accomplish, but by selling it as an individual glass to an avid collector who might be trying to complete his or her own set could turn a profit for any of us.
What solution would you recommend for this problem? You can type your answers below in the comments section by clicking on “Leave a reply.”
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