Practical and Affordable Glassware

Fire-King produced a range of products in the 1940’s that collectors love-and still use!  Designed to be inexpensive, attractive, and durable, Fire-King glassware was the result of a merger of the Anchor Cap and Closure Corporation and the Hocking Glass Company.  Formed in 1937, Anchor Hocking introduced its popular line of Fire-King glassware in the early 1940’s.  Attractive and durable, a Fire-King casserole could go  from oven to table to refrigerator.  Fire-King was the name of what was intended to be a single line of multiple offerings, but proved to be so popular that other lines were introduced. 

Souvenir and Advertising

Fire-King is mass produced glassware that came in a variety of fired-on, painted on, or solid colors.  The majority of offerings were in cookware, dishware and tableware, but they also made baby bottles, vases, ash trays and souvenir pieces.  These souvenirs are mostly found in the form of mugs, bowls, plates and ashtrays.   A line produced for Esso Gasoline included tumblers, pitchers, and trays and featured Esso’s smiling “Put a tiger in your tank” mascot.  More recent advertisers include Bazooka, Burger King, A & W Root Beer, Stuckey’s and McDonald’s. 

Jade-ite, Jadeite or Jade Green are all names for Popular!

Jeannette Glass of   Pennsylvania may have been the first to produce the soft milky green color they named Jadeite, but Fire-King made it huge.  The color became so popular that all manufacturers of consumer glassware such as McKee Glass, Fenton, New Martinsville, and Akro Agate had their own versions. 

Thanks almost single handedly to Martha Stewart, vintage Jade-ite made by Fire-King and others has seen a huge upsurge in popularity in recent years.  Martha Stewart offers a line of her own “jadeite” pieces, and these and reproductions, fakes and fantasies frequently show up on eBay as vintage Fire-King.  The market is still strong for unusual and verifiable Fire-King jade-ite, but weak for common items as well as those pieces known to have been reproduced. 

In 2000, Fire-King reissued some of their old pieces, and the bottoms are clearly marked with the date. These have back stamps as well as foil labels, and the handled bowl could be purchased at Meijer Stores for $14.99.  Collectors should be aware that there are unmarked reproductions passing as vintage pieces, especially of the most popular and/or valuable pieces such as the batter bowl (handled bowl) and the ball jug (authentic ball jugs have no back stamp). New pieces have sharper edges and seams than ones that have been in use for fifty or sixty years.    For more information about Fire-King, go to FireKing.net. or the Anchor Hocking Museum.