Our vintage glassware collection is growing! These past few weeks we found 3 beautiful vintage patterns in 3 different colors made by 3 different American glass companies and all of them are wonderful. Let us introduce you to these beauties and the companies behind them. The brief summaries of these American corporations are courtesy of Just Collecting and Tias.
Colony Park Lane by Indiana Glass
“The Indiana Glass Company was founded in 1907 in Dunkirk, Indiana, and became well known for manufacturing a variety of high-class glass items such as auto head lenses, restaurant ware, crystal ware, vases and much more.
The company’s coloured glass items first became popular during the 1920s, and featured a variety of different coloured-press patterns. Some of their most popular patterns include Avocado, Sandwich, Tearoom, #612 Horseshoe, Indiana Custard and Pyramid, to name a few.
Even though the Indiana Glass Company closed its doors in 2002, Indiana glass products are still being produced by the Bartlett & Collins factory today.”
The Park Lane pattern was first produced in the mid 1950s and has been discontinued. Source: Just Collecting
Vintage Grape Milk Glass by Smith Glass
“The company was established in 1907 in Jeannette, Pennsylvania and despite being overlooked by many American glass collectors, is one of the few remaining hand-made glass factories in the United States. It is perhaps best known for producing the first headlight lens for the Model T Ford.
They began manufacturing colored glass in the early 1920s. Their most popular colors were cobalt, amethyst, yellow, amber, green and pink. The company finally gained nationwide recognition for their unique black glass formula, which set them apart from the competition of the time.
In 1975 the company was purchased by Owens-Illinois, Inc. of Toledo, Ohio, a glass container manufacturer. Smith continued to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary. L.E. Smith Glass Company was acquired by William Kelman in 2005 and is now known as Smith Glass Co.”
The best we could find insofar as dating the Vintage Grape Milk Glass pattern is up to the 1950s when the popularity of milk glass waned in the US. Source – Just Collecting
Chivalry by Libby-Rock Sharpe
“The Libbey Glass Company was one of the largest glass manufacturers in the United States of America during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In 1888, Edward Libbey moved his glass-manufacturing establishment from Massachusetts to Toledo, Ohio. They produced bottles, containers and window glass.
The Libbey Glass Company became even more profitable after Michael Owens, an inventor from Newark, Ohio, joined the firm. Owens developed a machine that could automatically produce bottles, tumblers, and glass chimneys. The company remains in operation in the twenty-first century. In 2004, it was the United States’ largest manufacturer of glass dinnerware, with plants in Louisiana, California, and Ohio, as well as in the Netherlands.”
Chivalry, dating from the mid 1980s, is available today in clear; however, the pink color is no longer manufactured. Source: Tias
