Dear Helaine and Joe: Could you shed some light on this blue glass rolling pin? It belonged to my husband's great-grandmother from the late 1800s. It is 15 inches long.
Thank you. — S.E., Caledonia, Mich.
Dear S.E.: It is said that rolling pins have been around since the time of the Etruscans. This ancient people are largely associated with Northern Italy where they were advanced farmers for their time.
The Etruscans are said to have invented sophisticated recipes using the ingredients that they grew in such abundance, and were so proud of their culinary accomplishments that they sometimes had images of food preparation painted on vases and the walls of their tombs. They pioneered several cooking tools, and among them was the rolling pin, which they used to roll out a pastalike dough, which they portioned out using a cutting wheel.
Today, there are all kinds of rolling pins available to those who feel the need to flatten a little dough. There are basically two types of rolling pins — a long cylinder-like rod with no handles and a roller type that has a thick middle and handles on either end. Sometimes, the rod-like rolling pins can be found with turned ends that resemble handles.
Rolling pins can be found made from a variety of materials such as wood, marble, china, stoneware, metal (cast-iron rolling pins are very rare, tin and aluminum examples less so), silicone covered and, yes, glass. Wooden rolling pins are probably the easiest to find, and collectors will pay between about $10 and $35 dollars for examples with painted handles — black is generally the most expensive followed by green with red at the bottom.
Collectors, however, are generally most interested in glass rolling pins, and some of these can be worth relatively big bucks. There are all kinds of glass rolling pins. Some are enameled with nautical scenes or messages of remembrance painted on them, and these were clearly not meant to be used for pastry making.
Other glass rolling pins did double duty as a sort of bottle with a screw cap on one end. When these were new, some of them initially held such things as bath salts, vinegar, cocoa or baking powder. After they were empty, these rolling pins could be filled with chilled water that kept the pastry at a good working temperature. However, many cooks say that this does not work very well because it just deposits unwanted water condensation all over the dough during the rolling out process.
Some rolling pins were made from opaque glass during the Depression era, and these can be highly sought after. It has been reported that a rolling pin in Delphite Blue with a shaker in one handle can be worth as much as $1,750.
The rolling pin in today's question was made right at the turn of the 20th century or just a little before, and is in a color called "medium blue." Its handles are solid so it was never intended to be filled with ice water. Other similar examples can be found in transparent emerald green, cobalt blue, milk glass and clear colorless glass.
For insurance replacement purposes, the rolling pin belonging to S.E. is worth between $200 and $250.
Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of the "Country Living: American Glassware — What Is It? What Is It Worth?" (House of Collectibles, $19.95). Questions can be mailed to them at P.O. Box 12208, Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.