Fire-King
Known for practical and affordable glassware, Fire-King produced a wide range of products in the 1940′s that collectors love-and still use.
Inexpensive & Attractive
Designed to be inexpensive and attractive, 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. Fire-King products were designed to be low cost, functional, durable and versatile. And since a Fire-King casserole went from oven to table, it needed to be attractive as well. Fire-King was the name of what was intended to be a single line in a group of multiple offerings, but proved to be so popular that other lines became unnecessary.
Souvenir and Advertising Fire-King
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.
From Philbe to Jade-ite
Philbe dinnerware was Fire-King’s earliest release. It offered a series of dish and serving ware in ivory, clear, sapphire blue and a color Fire-King called Jade-ite. Soon after, Jade-ite became the company’s signature color, and the company came out with lines of restaurant dinnerware that, thanks to Martha Stewart, is wildly popular with today’s collectors.
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 all 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, particularly serving and accessory pieces, but weaker 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. The handled batter pitchers have bottom stamps as well as foil labels, and could be purchased at Meijer Stores.
Reference: Fire-King: An Information and Price Guide (Schiffer Book for Collectors with Price Guide)
-Reference note by p4A contributing editor Susan Cramer.