The Cambridge Apple
by Phyllis Smith
Issue No. 117 - January 1983
Have you ever seen a Cambridge Apple candy box? Until very recently, we had not seen one except on a catalog page in the May 1978 issue (#61) of the Cambridge Crystal Ball, and in a few old advertisements appearing in China, Glass & Lamps and Crockery and Glass Journal.
Sometimes it is strange how things happen. We have been collecting
Cambridge glass for nearly fifteen years and finding one of these
apples has never been a priority item. In fact, if we hadn't been
visiting with a friend a few weeks ago we quite possible would never
have given this apple any thought at all.
As it happened, our friend was telling us about her daughter who is a school teacher, and her lovely collection of apples in various shapes, sizes, etc. This brought to mind the fact that the Cambridge Glass Company did produce an apple candy box, so we looked it up in order to show the apple to her. The only references we have for this apple are the catalog page which came from the 1940 catalog of the Cambridge Glass Company and a few Xerox copies of advertisements placed in the March, July and September 1940 issues of the trade magazines mentioned above. We believe they were produced for only a very few months during 1940, hence the reason for their scarcity.
As luck would have it, within two weeks of the time we discussed this apple with our friend, we were the proud owners of one of these lovely thin blown candy jars! It seemed almost too good to be true. My husband, Bill, had attended an Auction in Cambridge OH (it was advertised as having quite a bit of Cambridge glass, but no mention of an apple) and as fate would have it, he was fortunate enough to recognize and purchase this unusual piece of Cambridge glass.
Perhaps these are not as unusual or rare as we think, but we thought the other members of NCC might enjoy learning about it. Perhaps you can now go out and recognize an apple candy box for your collection!