Hoosier Glass Diamond-Point Flower Vase, Pressed Clear Glass with Flared Collar, c. 1955–1975

The Piece

A pressed clear glass flower vase by Hoosier Glass, built on a hexagonal footprint that swells gently through the middle and draws back in before opening into a wide, flat-rimmed collar. The proportion is the thing — it's shaped to hold a loose hand-tied bunch upright without the stems splaying, which is exactly what a florist needs and what most straight-sided vases fail to do.

The entire body is covered in sharp diamond-point, hundreds of small faceted pyramids pressed in tight diagonal rows that spiral subtly with the hexagonal form. Clear glass worked this densely stops behaving like a window and starts behaving like a prism: it catches light along every ridge, and it does the kind, useful thing of hiding cloudy water and cut stems while still reading as glass. The collar rim is left smooth and slightly flared, a clean band that frames the texture below it. Underneath, the base carries an impressed starburst and the maker's mark with its mold number.

History & Provenance

Hoosier Glass takes its name from Indiana, the Hoosier State, and belongs to the great Midwestern pressed-glass corridor that ran through Indiana and Ohio for more than a century. The company's business was the florist trade: sturdy, well-proportioned pressed vases produced in volume and sold to flower shops across the country, each one marked on the base with a mold number identifying the shape. Those numbers are shape codes rather than dates, which is why so many of these vases are misdated online.

They were designed to be workhorses. A florist filled one, sent it out with an arrangement, and never expected it back — which is precisely why they turn up in such numbers today, and why the good shapes are worth rescuing. The diamond-point pattern this one carries is a direct descendant of nineteenth-century hobnail and diamond-point pressed glass, revived because it did its job so well: it sparkles under shop lights and it forgives cloudy water.

Product Details

Why It Belongs in Your Home

This is the vase you actually reach for. It's the right size for a grocery-store bunch or a handful of whatever's in the garden, the collar holds stems where you put them, and the faceted body means you never have to think about how the water looks. Clear glass goes with everything, so it works on a kitchen island, a bathroom counter, an entry table, or a desk without competing with anything around it. Empty, it earns its place too — set it where morning light can pass through and the diamond points throw small bright flecks across the surface it's standing on.

A note on care: hand wash in warm water and use a bottle brush or a little uncooked rice swirled with soapy water to reach the interior. Skip the dishwasher, which etches and permanently clouds pressed glass, and dry the outside with a soft cloth so no spots settle into the pattern.