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Saturday, March 9, 2013

Collecting Milk Glass and Jadeite For Easter


A display of Jadeite Fire King in an antique
 shop. Rarer blue Azurite milk glass tableware is also shown.
      Jadeite (kitchenware), also known as "Fire King Jade-ite", is a type of glass tableware made of Jade-green opaque milk glass, popular in the United States in the mid-20th century. A blue variety called "Azur-ite" was also produced for several years. Jade-ite and Azur-ite were both produced by Anchor Hocking. It should not to be confused with jadite, a green jade-coloured shade of vaseline glass product made in the early 20th century.
      The "Jadeite Fire King" brand was first produced by the United States glassware firm Anchor Hocking in the 1940s. Most of Anchor Hocking's output of Jadeite was between 1945 and 1975. A durable product in a fashionable color, it became the most popular product made by Anchor Hocking.
      The glassware's popularity also makes it an affordable and popular collectable today. Reproduction items are produced today by various manufacturers. Fire King Jadeite is still produced in reproduction lines by Anchor Hocking, which designs variations into its reproductions so that they are not mistaken for originals, to maintain the integrity of the genuine status of original Jadeite articles.
      Jeannette Glassware was a United States manufacturer of green milk glass tableware similar in appearance to Jadeite Fire King. Kitchenware in other materials, such as aluminum canisters and bread containers, were produced in the mid-20th century in the same shade of Jadeite green, to match the glassware. White milk glass is an opaque or translucent, milky white or colored glass, blown or pressed into a wide variety of shapes. First made in Venice in the 16th century, colors  include blue, pink, yellow, brown, black, and the white that led to its popular name.
Decorative pedestal milk glass bowl.
      First made in Venice in the 16th century, colors include blue, pink, yellow, brown, black, and white. 19th-century glass makers called milky white opaque glass "opal glass". The name milk glass is relatively recent. The white color is achieved through the addition of an opacifier, e.g. tin dioxide or bone ash.
      Milkware was made into decorative dinnerware, lamps, vases, and costume jewelry, milk glass was highly popular during the fin de siecle. Pieces made for the wealthy of the Gilded Age are known for their delicacy and beauty in color and design, while Depression glass pieces of the 1930s and '40s are less so. Perhaps one of the most famous uses of opal glass (or at least the most viewed example) was for the four faces of the information booth clock at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan.

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Video by Vintage Variety.

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