During the 1940’s, 1950’s, and 1960’s there was an explosion of hand-painted (also called hand-decorated) glassware. Fran Taylor’s Gay Fad Studios was probably the most famous of the glass decorating companies, known for its beautiful high-quality work and unique frosting that feels satin smooth to the touch, but there were other decorating companies, too, such as the Washington Company, Charleton, and Hansetta-Artware. Some of the glass manufacturing companies, such as Federal Glass, Libbey Glass, Dunbar Glass, Bartlett-Collins, and Imperial Glass, had their own inhouse decorating departments.

Nowadays, you see lots of glassware advertised as being Gay Fad pieces when they’re really not. Worse yet, beware of pieces advertised as being in the “Gay Fad style.” Just because a piece is hand painted does NOT necessarily mean it was hand painted by Gay Fad! Many designs produced by other companies are strikingly similar to Gay Fad designs.

I have seen all of the pieces on these “Gay Fad Era” pages attributed to Gay Fad, but since none of them carry the Gay Fad signature or insignia and had no Gay Fad label on them when we acquired them, and since I’ve never found these designs in any Gay Fad catalog, advertisement, or price list, I’m certain that they are not Gay Fad designs. This does not, of course, detract from the beauty or value as of these pieces as examples of vintage hand-decorated glassware.

Want to test your own Gay Fad knowledge? Take the Gay Fad Challenge!

Set of 8 Federal frosted fruit zombie glasses

This is a set of 8 beautiful tall frosted zombie glasses produced by Federal Glass that is made up of 2 each of four different hand-painted colorful fruit designs that I’m calling Cornucopia, Grapes, Pink Pineapple, and Oranges respectively, although each design contains multiple fruits. Glasses stand 6-3/4" tall with a diameter of 2-1/2" and make you feel refreshed just by looking at them! Great size for iced tea, lemonade, or even a Tom Collins. All eight glasses are in outstanding condition with no nicks, chips, cracks, scratching, or paint loss. Require hand washing to preserve the finish and paint. Should you already have a partial set of these gorgeous glasses and are trying to complete your set, be sure to see our individual glasses listed immediately below. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.

Price: $100.00 + s/h and insurance

  only 1 set available

Federal “Cornucopia” zombie glass

This is a tall frosted fruit glass produced by Federal Glass and hand-painted in a colorful fruit design that shows raspberries, pineapple slices, and cherries emanating from a cornucopia. Glass stands 6-3/4" tall with a diameter of 2-1/2". Perfect size for iced tea, lemonade, or even a Tom Collins. We have two of these glasses and price is for each. Both are in outstanding condition with no nicks, chips, cracks, scratching, or paint loss. Require hand washing to preserve the finish and paint. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.

Price: $15.00 each + s/h and insurance

  only 2 available

Federal “Pink Pineapple” zombie glass

This is a tall frosted fruit glass produced by Federal Glass and hand-painted in a colorful fruit design made up of lemons, cherries, strawberries, and a large pink pineapple. Glass stands 6-3/4" tall with a diameter of 2-1/2". Perfect size for iced tea, lemonade, or even a Tom Collins. We have two of these glasses and price is for each. Both are in outstanding condition with no nicks, chips, cracks, scratching, or paint loss. Require hand washing to preserve the finish and paint. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.

Price: $15.00 each + s/h and insurance

  only 2 available

Federal “Orange” zombie glass

This is a tall frosted fruit glass produced by Federal Glass and hand-painted in a colorful fruit design made up of limes, cherries, strawberries, and oranges. Glass stands 6-3/4" tall with a diameter of 2-1/2". Perfect size for iced tea, lemonade, or even a Tom Collins. Outstanding condition with no nicks, chips, cracks, scratching, or paint loss. Requires hand washing to preserve the finish and paint. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.

Price: $15.00 + s/h and insurance

  only 1 available

Fire-King covered refrigerator dish

Here’s a great vintage Fire-King lidded refrigerator dish that measures 8-3/8" x 4-1/4" x 2-1/2" tall and is made of translucent milk glass called Anchor White, Fire-King being a division of Anchor Hocking. Both sides feature colorful hand-painted peaches, grapes, and leaves, and here’s where the fight begins as to whether this is a Gay Fad design or not. It’s not! Virtually all vintage Fire-King milk glass pieces decorated with hand-painted fruit are attributed to Gay Fad, and I thought so, too, until I did more research and discovered the Washington Company of Washington, PA. This decorating company started in the mid-1940’s about the same time as Gay Fad did, but outlived Gay Fad by at least 15 years. As early as 1956, Washington Co. was advertising their “Vintage” design on translucent white “oven glass” that definitely looks like Fire-King, although of course no decorating company advertised the companies that produced the glass “blanks” they decorated. The Washington Co.’s Vintage design has many fruit components, including pears, peaches, grapes, plums, and cherries. How many of these components appear together on any given item depends on the item’s size. A coffee mug might feature only a single piece of fruit, while a salad bowl or a refrigerator dish usually combines two or more fruits together into one design. A 1965 Kroger coupon book picturing the “hand-painted ovenware” that people could get each week as freebies or at drastically reduced coupon prices says the design name is “Vintage” and the pieces are hand-painted in Washington, PA, although the book doesn’t specifically mention the Washington Co. or say which glass company made the ovenware. However, our refrigerator dish is one of the pieces shown in that coupon book! So our refrigerator dish was decorated by the Washington Co., not Gay Fad.

The circular bottom mark on our dish 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. When lidded, this refrigerator dish is 3" tall. The leftmost brown stem on one side of the dish has lost some 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. See our coordinating bowl listed immediately below. (Click on picture for more images.) Tell a friend.

Price: $25.00 + s/h

  only 1 available

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