Vintage Blue Opalescent Glass Plate and Green Cased Glass Vase in Turquoise

A vintage blue opalescent pressed glass plate with a frilled rim, paired with a pale green cased glass vase with a turquoise crimped top.

They are not a matched pair, but we put them together on the shelf and could not bear to split them up. The plate is pressed glass in a soft sea blue, with a starburst at the centre, a band of fine diamond cut panels and a scalloped, beaded edge that turns milky white where the glass is thickest. That opalescent glow is the look Victorian and Edwardian glassworks loved, and it catches the light beautifully on a windowsill. The plate measures 18cm in diameter and stands 3cm tall.

The vase is a round, bulbous little shape in pale pistachio green cased glass, with the inside and the crimped rim lined in turquoise, so the colour flashes bright blue green at the top. Its four pinched points open out like a tulip bud. It measures 9.5cm tall and 9cm across.

Sitting the vase on the plate turns the two into a pretty arrangement for a dressing table or bathroom shelf, with the plate catching rings, hair clips or a bar of good soap. Put a few sweet peas, a single garden rose or a twist of rosemary in the vase and it looks lovely on a bedside table. They also work apart: the plate makes a charming trinket dish or a stand for a scented candle, and the vase is just right for a posy from the garden or a handful of snowdrops in February.

Both colours sit happily with other pale blue and green glass, with white china and with seashells, so they would suit a coastal or cottage scheme. Each piece has the small irregularities you would expect from vintage glass, which we think is part of their appeal.

A sweet present for anyone who loves soft colours or is setting up a guest room, and an easy way to start a small collection of coloured glass.