How to Collect Boudoir Glass
Boudoir glass generally refers to perfume, cologne and other women's toiletry bottles. However, boudoir glass may also refer to glass bedroom lamps of various descriptions as well as some personal grooming items. Collecting boudoir glass is a hobby that can range from casual to intense, inexpensive to quite costly. Getting started is a matter of familiarizing yourself with various kinds of boudoir glass and deciding what to collect. There are several books on collecting these items as well as many websites filled with useful information.
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Instructions
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The library, bookstore or online sites are good places to begin searching for information on boudoir glass. Check your library, bookstore or online for information on boudoir glass. Most of these resources have accompanying images that will help you determine your collecting preferences, plus you will find historical and background information as well as various insights into the hobby. Boudoir glass comes in many shapes, size and colors; there is blown glass from England, France, German and Bohemia and cut glass and pressed glass with ornamental designs and interesting figures.
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Antique and Goodwill stores and flea markets are good places to begin. Having decided what to collect (for example, perfume bottles) experts recommend you start your collection by prowling antique shops, flea markets, Goodwill stores and other outlets where you can find old and discarded items. It is unlikely you will start collecting expensive Czechoslovakian boudoir glass or Rene Lalique's French boudoir glass immediately unless you have ample resources for these items.
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Establish a budget to keep from spending too much on your boudoir glass. Set up a budget for your collecting. You can do this by deciding how much to spend per month or per item. Collectors often get carried away and overspend on items they covet. Boudoir glass is no exception and can get quite expensive. For example, an antique boudoir pink bullet lamp with an Art Deco design sold for $325. Similarly, Lalique's boudoir glass sells for hundreds of dollars a piece.
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Seek out other collectors in your area. Check for a boudoir or glass collecting club in your area. For example, Kansas City is home to the Heart of America Glass Collectors specializing in all manner of glassware, including boudoir glass, manufactured during and after the Great Depression. The club encourages the collecting and preserving of 20th century American glassware and publishes various articles on different aspects of the hobby. Affiliating yourself with like-minded collectors can open doorways to collecting that you might not otherwise discover.
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Don't be afraid to question antique dealers or other collectors. Ask questions. Don't be afraid to approach antique dealers or other collectors with your specific questions. They may know of other places to search or investigate that you have not considered. Antique dealers often visit obscure places in search of various items. Some of them may share those places with you or, if you are searching for a specific piece of boudoir glass, they can be on the lookout for it.
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Check online auction sites Regularly check auction sites, such as eBay, Online Auction, Hi Bidder and others sites that frequently carry all manner of boudoir glass. Searches for "perfume bottles," "glass bedroom lamps," boudoir glass," boudoir bottles," and so on can produce results. Also, check your daily newspaper ads section for estate sales or collectibles.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Perfume bottle image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com Books image by explicitly from Fotolia.com victorian style store image by Pierrette Guertin from Fotolia.com money image by Horticulture from Fotolia.com perfume bottles image by L. Shat from Fotolia.com Young business man and woman at office image by dimis from Fotolia.com gavel image by Cora Reed from Fotolia.com
