Amberina "Moon And Star" Vintage Glass Collection Offered At Interstate 81 Antiques

Shippensburg, Pa., Group Shop Celebrates Second Anniversary

July 6, 2020

Next month, Interstate 81 Antiques in Shippensburg, Pa., will celebrate its second-year anniversary. Below, owner Brenda Hoffman reflects on business and some merchandise of note.
Amazing, would be the most appropriate word to describe these past two years, Hoffman starts. I often say we are trying to improve what we do daily and should always keep learning and growing both on a personal and professional level as well. Not a day goes by that we can't learn something from someone. In fact, If we take the time to listen to our customers, we can serve them much better.
I hope I speak for other such businesses when I say we meet the most wonderful people every day. Meeting new people and sharing interests is how I met Don and Linda. As frequent shoppers to our store, we became friends, and when they asked for help to sell their collections, I was happy to assist.
A collection of Amberina “Moon and Stars” pattern glassware was something they enjoyed displaying in their Newville, Pa., home over the years. It was a hobby the two equally shared and enjoyed together. I loved hearing the stories of how and where items were found. It all began with Linda saving S&H Green Stamps. No one enjoyed the licking of the stamps into books, but the benefits of saving these stamps in order to make purchases at an S&H Green Stamp Store was a popular thing. Linda started by shopping for Christmas or birthday gifts and also picking out a piece of glassware with the leftover stamps. Thus, the Amberina collection began and grew well over 40 years.
S&H Green Stamps were a line of trading stamps popular from the 1930s all the way until the late 1980s. They were distributed as part of a rewards program operated by the Sperry & Hutchinson company, founded in 1896 by Thomas Sperry and Shelley Byron Hutchinson. During the 1960s, the company promoted its rewards catalog as being the largest publication in the country and boasted that it issued three times as many stamps as the Postal Service. Customers would receive stamps at the checkout counter of supermarkets, department stores, gasoline stations, and other retailers that could be redeemed for products in the catalog or Green Stamp Stores.
The “Moon and Star” design was originally known as “The Palace,” which was produced from 1894 to 1905, first by the Adams Glass Company of Pittsburgh, and later by the United States Glass Company that acquired the old Pittsburgh firm. The distinct pattern was made in many electric colors, but a host of companies produced this kind of pattern glass. A few include L.G. Wright, ca. 1930s-60s (Fenton Glass Company for L.G. Wright); L.E. Smith Glass Company, ca. 1940s-2004; Weishar Enterprises or Island Mold, current producer, and also the Kemple Glass Company is credited with the “Moon and Star Pattern” among variations. The collection being sold at Interstate 81 Antiques primarily dates to the 1940s.
If interested in vintage glassware collecting, it is a worthwhile visit. The shop is very service oriented and seeks to serve customers and cultivate new shoppers.
Interstate 81 Antiques is located at 15 Hershey Road in Shippensburg, Pa. (Exit 29 of Route 81). Shop hours are Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. There is an outdoor flea market every Saturday.
To learn more, call 717-300-3746.


 

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