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.