Owl & Twig

The Field Guide

How to identify, date, and value the things you find. Written from what passes through our hands, one estate sale at a time.

Doorway into the Owl and Twig Vintage booth at The Rabbit Hole in Waterford, Michigan, under a hand-painted owl sign FeaturedSeller's Desk Find us in Waterford: our new booth at The Rabbit Hole The Rabbit Hole in Waterford Township is doubling its floor space and adding 23 new vendors, and Owl & Twig is on the lineup. Booth pieces are sold in the store only. Reopens September... September 16, 2026
A display of opaque jade-green jadeite glass tableware and kitchenware GlassJadeite Glass: McKee Made It First, and Fire-King Still Gets the Credit By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · October 2, 2026 McKee Glass sold the first opaque... Oct 2, 2026 GlassHeisey Glass: The 1911 Patent Behind the Shine, and the Mark Imperial Kept Using A.H. Heisey patented the fire-polishing process behind its glass's signature shine in 1911. What that patent can't settle... Oct 1, 2026 Transparent yellow-green uranium glass fluorescing bright green under ultraviolet light GlassVaseline Glass Got Its Name From Somebody Else's Trademark Uranium glass predates its best-known nickname by a century, the first documented American patent for it dates to... Oct 1, 2026 A vintage Pyrex #402 nesting mixing bowl in the Foraging Fancies mushroom pattern GlassPyrex: The Mixing Bowl That Was Never Actually Pyrex Glass By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · October 1, 2026 A 1919 patent protects a glass... Oct 1, 2026 GlassAkro Agate Marbles: The Company That Started By Reselling Its Rival's Glass By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · September 30, 2026 The crow-and-marble trademark on every Akro... Sep 30, 2026 Five Viking Glass owl glimmer fairy lamps in Ruby, Honey, Brown, Avocado and Persimmon GlassThe Viking owl glimmer: the seven-inch bird that outlived the glasshouse that made it Viking Glass introduced its two-piece owl fairy lamp, catalog number 6900, around 1970 and poured it in the... Sep 3, 2026 GlassVintage coffee mugs: four things to check before you buy Nobody flips over three hundred mugs. Four visual cues — color, shape, words, and technology — do almost... Aug 14, 2026 Glass owl on nest: how to date one and tell the makers apart GlassGlass owl on nest: how to date one and tell the makers apart The hen on a nest sold by the thousand. The owl did not. What survives came from a... Aug 9, 2026 Illustration of a two-headed hen on nest design, two hens facing each other on a woven nest lid GlassFive hen on nest rarities actually worth chasing Most hen on nest dishes sell for $20-60. These five real categories — a one-of-one Greentown mold that... Jul 25, 2026 Vintage sparkling clear crystal art glass snail figurine GlassSteuben glass: the one fact that dates almost any piece Steuben's hundred-plus-year run splits cleanly into two eras that collectors treat as almost different companies. Color or clear... Jul 25, 2026 Set of L.E. Smith Moon and Stars amber pressed glass tumblers GlassMoon and Star: the signature tells you everything One pattern, four makers, a hundred and thirty years. The current producer signs every piece specifically so the... Jul 24, 2026 Blenko yellow crackle glass vase, design 6424 by Joel Myers, mid-century hand-blown art glass GlassBlenko glass: no mold seams, and a scar on the bottom Blenko is blown into a wooden mould and then spun, which erases the seams. That, plus the pontil... Jul 24, 2026 GlassFairy lamps: a candle salesman invented an entire collecting category Samuel Clarke did not set out to make collectibles. He wanted to sell more candles. Here is how... Jul 24, 2026 GlassViking glass never signed its work. Here is how to date it anyway No moulded mark, ever. Just a paper label that fell off decades ago. Colour, form and one very... Jul 24, 2026 L.E. Smith diamond point crystal swung glass vase, 21 inches tall GlassSwung vases: the seam test that settles it in five seconds Every mid-century swung vase carries a mould seam that fades as it climbs. If the seam runs all... Jul 24, 2026 GlassThe Tiara honey bee box, and why collectors chase it A Victorian pattern, revived in the 1970s and sold at kitchen-table parties. Here is how to date one,... Jul 24, 2026 Jadeite green milk glass hen on nest covered dish, 5 inch GlassHen on nest: how to tell a real one from a reissue The covered hen is the most reproduced object in American glass. The question is never whether it is... Jul 24, 2026