Anchor Hocking tall octagonal jar

This unusual and very attractive clear glass octagonal jar stands a whopping 15" tall when lidded and probably was originally a drug store show globe apothecary or display jar. The bottom of its round pedestal base is 3-3/4" in diameter, and the round mouth opening is 3" in diameter. The bottom rim of the 3-3/4" finial-topped lid carries the Anchor Hocking anchor and H logo on one side and says U.S.A. on the other. This is quite an impressive old piece that’s starting to iridesce in beautiful rainbow colors in just the right light. Great condition, with no chips, cracks, or scratches outside and only minor usage scuffing inside. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.

Price: $70.00 + s/h and insurance

** SOLD **

Anchor Hocking tilt top candy jar

Many years ago, this big ol’ tilt mouth jar undoubtedly started its life in a General Store or drug store as one of a row of matching containers holding colorful penny candy. Its black tin lid was hinged at the top so the proprietor could flip it up to scoop out the candy, but I’ll bet you anything that countless gleeful little kids did waaay more lid flipping than that kindly proprietor! The jar stands 9-1/2" tall x 6" wide, but its faceted sides flare out to become 7-3/4" wide and the bowed center of the 8" long sloping front is 6-3/4" wide. The large opening in that sloping front has an inside diameter of 5" and an outside lip diameter of 6" over which the black tin lid rests. It still has its metal hinge at the top, but all that lid flipping decades ago must have been too much for the metal collar that surely originally encircled the jar’s short neck and to which the hinge attached. It’s long since gone, and the lid itself has several little dents and scratches where the base metal shows through. The back side of the jar is curved, as is the lower portion of the front side, both leading to the 5-1/8" x 6-3/4" bottom in which the slightly concave base contains the impressed Anchor Hocking logo of an anchor and H. Glass is in excellent condition with no nicks, chips, or cracks, and only minor interior scratching. Whether you fill it with candy, cookies, colorful pasta, or even your prized matchbook collection (which is what it contained when we found it), this neat old jar is ready to continue leading a useful and decorative life for many more decades to come. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.

Price: $80.00 + s/h and insurance

Large Anchor Hocking mixing bowl

This is heavy clear glass Anchor Hocking mixing bowl that stands 4-1/2" high with diameters of 8-1/4" at the rim and 4" at the bottom. Marked on the bottom with an anchor in a rounded square plus the words (which you have to read “from the top” through the glass) “Do not use in oven or over direct heat” and “USA; not heat resistant”. Near perfect condition with no nicks, chips, or cracks, but some very light usage scratching on the interior. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.

Price: $15.00 + s/h

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Anchor Hocking Fire King square baking dish

This clear glass square baking dish is marked “8 in” on the bottom, but is 8-5/8" square, 10" across at the handles, and stands 2-1/4" tall. Bottom is marked with the Anchor Hocking logo and says “Anchor Hocking Fire King ovenware, Made in U.S.A., 8 in” Carries the numbers 452 and 10. Perfect condition with no nicks, chips, or cracks, but some very light usage scratching on the interior. Perfect size for baking brownies -- yum yum! (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.

Price: $15.00 + s/h

Fire King Gay Fad covered refrigerator dish

Here’s a great vintage Gay Fad lidded refrigerator dish. The dish measures 8-3/8" x 4-1/4" x 2-1/2" tall and is made of translucent milk glass with colorful hand-painted peaches, grapes, and foliage on both sides. This was one of the designs produced for Fire King by Gay Fads Studios* during the 1950s, and it became one of the most popular lines of glassware ever. Every kitchen had bunches of things in this pattern and we never dreamed they’d be collectors’ items 50 years later or we would have treated them with TLC instead of using them for daily needs! The circular bottom mark says “Fire-King Ovenware, Made in U.S.A.” and carries the number 12. The clear glass lid features a 1/2" beaded border around its innermost raised rectangle and is marked “Fire-King Ovenware” inside plus the number 9.

*Want to know an absolutely fascinating piece of history? During the 1950's, the Gay Fad Studio was located across the street from Anchor Hocking’s plant in Lancaster, Ohio, where Fire-King was made. Gay Fad worked for a variety of glass companies, including Anchor Hocking, Federal Glass, and Hazel Atlas, specializing in hand-painted pieces of ovenware in anchorwhite and ivory in various designs. And just who was Gay Fad Studios? Well, in her 1949 book How to Make Money at Home, the author, Polly Webster, notes in Chapter 4: Money in Your Hands:

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??? I’ve searched all over the Internet, but can’t discover her name, so if you know, please email us.
Mystery solved! A lovely lady named Pat sent us an email identifying her aunt, Fran Taylor, as the founder of Gay Fad Studios! Please read Pat’s email. Not only does she provide a unique personal perspective of corporate history, Pat’s got a mystery of her own that maybe you can help her solve!

When lidded, our Gay Fad refrigerator dish is 3" tall. The leftmost brown stem on one side of the dish has lost most of its brown color over the years, but other than that, both the dish and its lid are in perfect condition with no nicks, chips, or cracks. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.

Price: $25.00 + s/h