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Fostoria Navarre Crystal |
Fostoria's most collected crystal pattern |
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 Fostoria
Glass Works established its business in Fostoria, Ohio
in 1887, hence the name Fostoria. Because of lack
of resources, Fostoria relocated to Moundsville, West
Virginia in 1891 where gas and coal were plentiful and
remained there until 1986 when the company ceased
operations.
Most of the workers moved with the company to
Moundsville to work in the new state-of-the-art plant.
Remembered as a
well-respected American company, Fostoria's history is
still celebrated at the
Fostoria Glass Museum in Moundsville.
 The Navarre Pattern Makes its Debut
During
the depression years, Fostoria introduced the
Navarre crystal pattern in clear. It became the
collection of choice on bridal registries in the 1940's and is now
very popular with Depression Glass collectors.
The most coveted pieces for collectors are the pitchers,
footed
and
ice lip, as well as the syrup
and
cruet, all of which can bring anywhere from $500 to
$600 in the resell market.
Being one of Fostoria's most popular etched
crystal patterns, Navarre was produced for almost half a
century from
1936 through 1982. Navarre's etch number is 327
and the stemware blank, number 6016, is shared with
the
Meadow Rose pattern, which sometimes makes it
difficult to tell the two patterns apart.
 A Bit of Color
In
1973, Navarre was produced in the colors azure blue and
pink. Both colors are highly collectible and
demand higher prices than comparable pieces in the
clear, with the pink stems being the most difficult to
find. The color stem collections were limited to
mostly traditional stemware pieces, iced tea, water,
wine clarets, and champagne, with the magnum champagne
demanding the highest price in the reseller market.
Other sample colors were tried in Navarre but never made
it to production.
In 1983, the
Navarre pattern was sold to
Lenox and
production continued for four more years.
The pink color of the Fostoria Navarre and the
Lenox Navarre differ slightly and both pink colors are a different hue than the pink
that is well known in Depression
Glass pieces. Navarre pink and blue stems are usually signed on the bottom by their
respective maker,
Fostoria or Lenox.
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Resource Books
 Fostoria: Its First Fifty Years
written by Hazel Marie Weatherman is the
most recommended book for Fostoria resources and
information. The
book is out of print now, is difficult to find, and has
become a collectible in itself. A grand book with 320 pages,
it includes many
images of early catalogs which would be rare to
impossible to come by nowadays as well as many images of
Fostoria glassware. It occasionally
can be found on Amazon's used book sellers
here.
Check for availability on the link under the title.
Gary Schneider's
Navarre by Fostoria ,
another out-of-print book, commits
itself solely to the Navarre pattern and can be
occasionally found on Amazon from used book sellers as
well. Mr. Schneider is still an avid collector of
Fostoria.
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