Blakely Collectibles   

As with everyone, life throws curve balls at us at the most unexpected times.  Parent illnesses and aging seem to have been my top priority the past few year and will continue to be but, I wouldn't have it any other way.  Add in the happy parts of life of you nieces and nephews weddings and first babies arrivals also have to take a special place in your life, we don't have kids so the nieces and nephews are the next best thing for us in that category.  Add it an unexpected change in your employers ownership without notice - adds to the craziness of my life recently.  These things have taken me away from building this website and expanding information on the items given away by Blakely.  I do have some additions I hope to bring to the site in he way of some additional photo's and information.

We began collecting Blakely in 1982 with the first purchase being made in Quartzite, AZ during the annual Pow Wow.  We arrived on Saturday morning and shopped in the cold and wind and found a dealer selling a frosted set consisting of the pitcher and 10 glasses for $35.00.  We shopped and shopped but, before leaving we had to go back and buy that set.  Why you ask?  Well like a lot of us Blakely collector’s, they brought back memories.  I grew up with them, drank from them, broke them, Mom and Dad still has 3-4 of the glasses and I want a set for myself.

What happened next?  Well, you see that set was not complete as there were duplicates of the cactus patterns requiring us to search out the 1 missing cactus glass.  In that search, my husband went to the antique mini mall that at the time was located on 35th Avenue and Bethany.  He came home to inform me that he found what he called “baby” frosted glasses just like the tall ones.  It turned out that they were juice glasses from Blakely.  Yes, you guessed it, we had to have them and from that point on it became an addiction for us.

We shopped swap meets, antique shops, thrift stores, yard sales and watched for ads in the paper for people selling Blakely.  There were many times I phoned sellers and bought items site unseen.  Most of them were liquidating either because they needed the cash or just needed the room and weren’t interested in collecting or keeping them any longer.

As we collected and searched, we needed to know more about who Blakely was.  It was time to begin the research and that we did.  We have spent many hours looking through old newspapers and ads.  We’ve met and talked with people who remembered the stations, worked or knew someone who worked at a station and other Blakely collectors over the years. 

We still search for pieces we know are in existence but, have eluded us for one reason or another.

Arizona Blakely Cactus Glassware and China is a great way to preserve our legacy of life in the desert.  I is also a part of Arizona's history from the 1950's-60's. 

We hope you enjoy your collecting as much as we have and still do.

CONTACT US

Email:  director@blakelycollectibles.com