Retro Saturday

Today's 'retro' item is Jadite.


I started collecting this kitchenware back in the early 90's before Martha Stewart popularized it on her TV show. Since then it has more than doubled in  price.


You got to love the classic mug above. Then add the tea cup:

Then another:

And with some variation on a theme:

Can't leave out the refrigerator containers:

Oh yeah....then the egg cup:

The mixing bowls have come in very handy:

And there were dishes:

Here is a brief history I found online:



Jadite was manufactured by many companies from the 1930's to 1972. Jadite is occasionally referred to as "clambroth" a term also used for opaque white glass. Each company produced a slight variant either lighter or darker of jadite's basic seafoam -green color.
Jadite was heavy, durable, inexpensive and, sometimes it was even free. It was often packaged as a giveaway in food and cleaning products. Restaurants served meals on jadite dishes, as they cost pennies to buy and had a high threshold for breakage.Because Jadite is functional, good looking, and easy to find and still fairly cheap to buy, it is an ideal collectible.What makes jadite especially fun to collect is the hundreds of different items available. There is everything from basic tableware and kitchenware to unusual, even quirky, things like cigarette boxes, footed bulb bowls, jucie-saver pie plates, door knobs and water dispensers to name a few.
By far the largest and most well-known producer of jadite was the Anchor Hocking Glass Co. was founded by Isaac J. Collins, in 1905, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to produce pressed-glass dinnerware.
After Hockings merged with the Anchor Cap Co in 1937, the new company, the Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation, started to manufacturer glass ovenware that could endure high oven temperatures. Their wildly successful line of ovenproof glass, called Fire-King, debuted in 1942 and was made for 30 years. Offered in a variety colors, Fire-King named their opaque green color Jade - ite which would become the line's most popular color.
Alice: With a delicately embossed floral pattern, this is the oldest Fire King style. It came out in the early 1940's and only cups, saucers and dinner plates were made. The cup and saucers, which are much more plentiful than the plates, were given away with Quaker Oats crystal Wedding Oats, while the plates were a move goer's premium.Restaurant Ware. Produced from 1950 to 1956 is the most well-known jadite pattern, and many collectors buy only this. It is a clean simplistic pattern, once used in diners all over the country, and was advertised as :Mass Feeding Establishments". It was sold in five and dimes, it was produced in a wide variety of tableware objects, including partitioned plates and different sized cup, mugs and bowls. The thick lipped coffee cups were known as "cheater mugs" by using these cups, restarants could save about an ounce of coffee.These are just a few of the designs available for collectors, others were Jan Ray and Swirl.
Except for rare items, Jadite is fairly abundant. You will be able to find it easily when searching garage sales, flea markets , online auctions etc. Before you buy , research the Jadite , notice what it looks like , and how it is marked on the bottom. There are a great deal of duplicate or new jadite being passed off for the vintage. So beware. Some Dates and Marks that might help you identify your Jadite by Mark and Year:

Date Your Jadite

Date Your Jadite
1942 - 45 FIRE-KING in block letters
1942 - 45 OVEN FIRE-KING GLASS
mid 1940's OVEN FIRE-KING WARE
Mid to late 1940's OVEN Fire-King WARE MADE IN U.S.A. ("Fire-King" is written in script lettering)
1951-1960 ANCHOR HOCKING OVEN Fire-King WARE MADE IN U.S.A. ("Fire-King" is written in script lettering)
1960 - late 1960's ANCHOR HOCKING OVEN Fire-King DINNERWARE MADE IN U.S.A. ("Fire-King" is written in script lettering)
late 1960's- early 1970's ANCHOR HOCKING OVEN Fire-King OVEN-PROOF MADE IN U.S.A. ("Fire-King" is written in script lettering)
Mid To Late 1970's ANCHOR HOCKING OVEN Fire-King Suburbia OVEN-PROOF MADE IN U.S.A. ("Fire-King" is written in script lettering)
Other companies also produced "jadite" . McKee is known for their pale green "skokie Green" jadite. Pieces are often marked "mcK" in a circle and are recognizable by the bulge or hump on the bottom of each piece. McKee produced some pieces with decals, and canisters and shakers frequently have black letters to indicate what goes inside.
The Jeannette Glass Co. bought McKee in 1961 and closed their doors in the early 8,0's. Some of collectors favorite Jeannette jadite pieces are mixing bowls and refrigerator dish the later is very hard to find. The mixing bowls have vertical ribs that go part of the sides and a star design emanating from the bottom.
Fenton Art class Co also made Jadite called "Jade Green" . Unlike the other companies, Fenton made more art glass pieces and fewer practical, everyday items.




After reading all of the above, you will certainly have to use one of these:

Ahh-h-h! That's better.


Lots to read, I know, but very informative.


I use this stuff all the time. It is very durable and usable around the kitchen.


I definitely remember Jadite from my childhood....it may have been something my Mom got for free from boxes of rolled oats or something along that line.


And of course, restaurants were using the coffee mugs.....some, maybe, still are!


Anyway, I like these pieces....the colour, the chunkiness makes them very versatile.


Trust the weekend is going great. It's a long one here in Nova Scotia.

Tumultuous Thursday

                         Queen Anne's Lace (notice 'drop of blood' in centre)


Read a blog that I follow yesterday and his 'topic' was all the armed conflict in the world today. His point was that his country, the US, is perpetuating this conflict/violence by 'answering' perceived threats with violence.


His point was that this only begets more violence. And I agree. The comments he got in reply, and there were many, was 50/50 insofar as supporting conflict or not.


In some cases he was even called a traitor to his country. This is a fellow who lives very peacefully and tries his best not to contribute to any type of overt negativity in the world.


This is a very 'sticky' issue when it comes to backing that which our country  involves itself. Whether its a war, an environmental issue or a basic human right, what our country supports has a direct effect on us as individuals.


Having grown up, or should I say survived, in the late 60's, I couldn't help but notice and be involved in a lot of political 'activity' (read demonstrations), I came to the conclusion that peaceful, vocal objection is a democratic right we have in this society of ours.


Some people will say that this is a complete waste of time as there is nobody listening and nobody who really cares. I disagree. Ever since we humans began to build 'societies' they (the societies) were and are in a constant state of flux. Everything is always changing, all the time.......now whether for the better is the question here.

                       Sophie and Golden Rod at Point Pleasant Park yesterday.


How to get something changed is really up to us. I look at it as evolving into a culture that is 'user friendly' for ALL in that society.  If it wasn't for the demands of the masses throughout history, we wouldn't be where we are today......I know, but there IS a lot of good in the world too. We just have to drag ourselves through all the hyped up negativity out there and see it.


All it takes, as a start, is an email to your ELECTED official, or to a multinational company. And if you feel strongly enough, tell a few friends to do the same thing. Some things in this world of ours are getting out of control and we are the only ones who can affect change. 


Isn't that what it's supposed to be about? Accepting the statis-quo has only lead to a great divide between the haves' and 'have-nots'.

                       Queen Anne's Lace and insect.

Company's Coming.........

Been busy with company lately.....yesterday, Ron's cousins from Ottawa (Canada's capital) and Halifax. Today my niece and her friend from Edmonton, Alberta.


People always want to go to the beach when they get here.......can't blame them since they don't have one near by their place.

So off to the beach/river we went. They soaked up the ambiance as much as they could and didn't want to leave. The weather was perfect.....a warm breeze and lots of sun. The tide was low so there was plenty of room to roam.

After all this fresh air we built up an appetite.......so off to the local Irish Pub, since all but two of us were Irish . We stuffed our faces.


Today we'll hit another beach with the next bunch. It is the first time for one of them to the coast! Sophie will break them in, I'm sure.

For more of Sophie's adventures check out her blog, yes her's :  http://fromsophiesview.bolgspot.com

Contemplative Monday

"When we hold on to our opinions with aggression, no matter how valid our cause, we are simply adding more aggression to the planet, and violence and pain increase. Cultivating nonaggression is cultivating peace."

Above quote by Pema Chodron from her book 'When Things Fall Apart' .

Retro Saturday

To all you vintage and retro buffs, today I'd like to show you two of my favourite pieces. I got one of them in PEI last week (the casserole dish, Pyrex)....much to my surprise I must say! The other (the mug, Fire King) I got in Maine a few years ago.

It's called Gay Fad. Didn't know too much about it, other than it was hand-painted by a company in the USA.


Found this online: www.santafetradingpost.com
Gay Fad Studios
When I first started researching Gay Fad, the earliest reference I found was an excerpt from a 1949 book by Polly Webster, How to Make Money at Home. In Chapter 4:, Money in Your Hands, this fascinating little tidbit appeared:

Her friends said she was foolhardy, but that didn't stop an Ohio woman who, ten years ago, gave up dress designing and bought twelve dozen tin wastebaskets for thirty dollars. She went to work painting them with bright oil paints and opened the Gay Fad Studio. Today she grosses several thousand dollars each year with her painted glass and tin trays, canisters, and bowls. The Gay Fad Studio is big business that grew out of a simple idea; but remember, it got its start as a home industry ten years ago when enamel painting was new. Today such painting is a fairly widespread pin-money venture. But women who have specialized in one article have been able to make a living at it.

Wow!! But why couldn’t Polly tell us the name of this early female entrepreneur??? That mystery was solved when a lovely lady named Pat sent us an email identifying her aunt, Fran Taylor, as the founder of Gay Fad Studios. At the time she first wrote to us, Pat had a mystery of her own to solve, and this led to a positively amazing series of emails, a heartwarming family reunion, and extensive discussions about Fran Taylor and Gay Fad Studios. By now, we practically have a blog and it just keeps growing! It’s great reading that you’re sure to enjoy, so click here. Pat even steered me to a Women’s History website where I found this picture of Fran and the bio written by  her daughter Stephanie.
Fran Taylor worked from home from 1938-1945 hand decorating those wastebaskets and other tin items, as well as an ever increasing number of glass pieces. She opened Gay Fad Studios in Lancaster, Ohio, in 1945, and for the next 18 years Gay Fad was one of the best known and most prolific decorating companies in the country. Pin money venture?? Hardly! Fran and her staff did extensive decorating work on “blanks” purchased from Anchor Hocking, Hazel Atlas, Federal Glass, and Imperial Glass, among others. However, few of the Gay Fad pieces were marked (many carried paper labels that were immediatelytaken off or became lost over the years), and this has led to a great deal of confusion as to which pieces were actually decorated by Gay Fad and which were decorated by other companies in the “Gay Fad style.” On the marked pieces, I’ve found four versions of the Gay Fad signature so far and there may be others. The mark, however, seems to be consistent, an interlocking G and backward F in whatever color coordinated with the overall design.
Fran Taylor was an amazingly talented and versatile artist and her pieces run the gamut from colorful fruits and flowers to people and cartoon characters to geometrics to 2-color state souvenir glasses to elaborate full-color Currier & Ives scenes. All are beautiful and all are eagerly sought after by collectors today. Here at the Trading Post we continue to seek out Gay Fad pieces that demonstrate Fran Taylor’s wide range of artistic endeavors. She and her family have become very special to us. Enjoy!



I would love to go to that Gay Fad Exhibit in Lancaster, Ohio this summer. If any of you bloggers are near there and go, let me know what you thought.


I haven't seen any Gay Fad for years around here until last week and it got me interested again. I'll be keeping my eyes wide open for it. I like the bright colours and the 'human touch' each piece has.

After looking at the above web site, I realized I may have a few more pieces of Gay Fad , frosted juice pitcher and glasses with pineapples painted on them.......just have to find them now in a box in the basement! And then determine if they are 'true' Gay Fad.

Anywho, something else to look for.


Also found and bought two more items at the same place in PEI ......... a converted church turned Antiques and Collectibles shop.


Since Sophie is part Poodle I couldn't resist these S & P's. Cute eh? No identification marks to be seen.

Then this stenciled enameled pot.

I like enamel-ware and this was from Shanghai, China and labeled Bon Voyage ware. Whatever that is.


That's it for this Retro Saturday. Hope you are having a great weekend all! 

Prince Edward Island

Sandwiched between two bodies of water, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Northumberland Strait, sits a crescent-shaped island....PEI.


It is an island steeped in history with a good mix of Scottish, Irish, Acadian and Mi'kmaq heritage.


My maternal grandparents  ( MacIsaac's and MacDonald's) were born and raised on PEI. As a result I have been going there since I was a child and have always felt a close bond with the place. That side of the family has been there since the 1700's.

It's like 'going home' when we visit PEI. Two of my sisters and a brother share a place there and we were lucky to have been offered it again this year.


Here a few images that caught my eye.

At 'Singing sands' beach.

Ah-h-h-h!

Sophie's 'own' pool!

Abandoned.

Potatoes everywhere.

Heron.

Hot out there!

Fishing village.

Now that's being 'green'!

Enough said.....

One way to get off and on PEI......another is a bridge.

Hey, Ron matches.

Petulant poppies.

Very spritely, eh?

Hardy little guy.

Hardy big guy!

Fossilized foot print?

Panmure Island lighthouse.

Fishing boat.

Colour splash.

Wha?

Wakey, wakey.

All aboard!

Until next time.......