A common favorite collectible among vintage connoisseur is Fire-King glassware. Fire-King is an Anchor Hocking brand of kitchenware similar to today's commonly known Pyrex. Despite what many people believe, Fire-King was not a company in its own. Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation owned Fire-King in itself. The Hocking Glass Company was founded in 1905 by Isaac Jacob Collins. The company merged with AnchorCap and Closure Corporations in 1937. Anchor Hocking was primarily located in Lancaster, Ohio as seen on the common stamp raised on the bottom of some pieces.
Now let's get scientific--this glassware was created from 'borosilicate glass'. Glass-forming constituents, silica and boron oxide have low coefficients of thermal expansion and resist to thermal shock. To say this simply, we have what is called 'heat-resistant' glassware. Although these pieces are great for oven use, they simply cannot be cleaned in any other way but by hand. Heat and chemical products seemingly ruin the luster finish. Borosilicate glass is the most common glass used for cooking and is also seen in other products used today outside of the kitchen such as aquarium thermometers and high-quality flashlight lenses. Otto Schott developed this rather scientific kitchenware in the late nineteenth century and was sold under the name 'Duran' in 1893 and later, Corning Glassware picked up the material. After Corning Glassware introduced 'Pyrex', the name became a synonym for borosilicate glass in the English speaking world. Pyrex is still created to this day.
Let's get back to basics--Fire-King products were again, produced in the mid 1900's and given away for free in bags of flour or sold at gas stations, grocery stores, and hardware stores. These products were not quite a decorative object as they were an everyday use. They were common in households.
Nesting bowls, dessert bowls, glass beverage containers, casserole dishes, mugs, and more pieces can be seen made by Anchor Hocking Company for Fire-King. Variations of patterns and colors were created and today, as with depression glass (mentioned in my last post), have different rarity. Along with the products, color also varies from their famous 'rose-ite' color, to turquoise blue! Collectors can find 'azur-ite', a pale light blue, white, ivory, pastel green, pastel blue, pastel peach, pastel yellow, primary orange, primary blue, primary yellow, and primary green. Found in a fired on Lustre color finish is gray, white, and peach. Outside of gray, white, peach, rose-ite, turquoise blue, azur-ite, white, and ivory, other colors were actually fired-on coatings over crystal.
In fact, Martha Steward popularized the 'Jade-ite Restaurantware' on her television show in the early 2000's. Due to popular demand, 'Fire-King 2000' was brought back in the classic jade-colored favorite. The raised stamp on the bottom of the newer pieces will of course be different than the vintage pieces.These products are not made of the the same classic molds, newer molds were used.
In regards to the stamp on the bottom of each piece, the lettering is made of raised glass. Depending on the time period or the piece, a stamp may be backwards or upside down. This is absolutely a tad unusual but absolutely not a rare mistake. Some Fire-King logos were intended to read looking down through the glass. When such a mold was used with an opaque slag, such as white, ivory, or jadeite, the backwards logo made more sense. If you are looking at this blog to get information about a piece you have, flip the piece over and take a glance at the stamp. Do you see numbering on the stamp? If so, you may be looking at the plant number. For example, Plant '44' is located in Monaca, Pennsylvania. Interesting, right?
To find a piece in perfect condition with no chips or cracks is certainly a rarity and if you do come across a piece, please pick it up! I hope today's blog left you with a better appreciation of the history of these pieces. Next time you see a piece from Anchor Hocking's Fire-King Collection, check it out.
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