About the Maker

Anchor Hocking

Anchor Hocking traces its origins to the Hocking Glass Company, founded in 1905 by Isaac Jacob (Ike) Collins in Lancaster, Ohio, and named after the nearby Hocking River. Established to manufacture affordable, practical glassware, the business grew from a small local factory into a major name in American household glass.

During the Depression years, Hocking's investment in mechanised production helped keep everyday glassware affordable. In 1937, the company merged with the Anchor Cap and Closure Corporation to form Anchor Hocking, bringing household glassware and glass-container manufacturing together under one name. Its output expanded across tableware, drinking glasses, kitchenware and decorative pieces.

For vintage collectors, one of the company's best-known names is Fire-King, used for a wide range of ovenware and dinnerware from the 1940s onward. Its production encompassed transparent and opaque glass in numerous colours, including the distinctive green Jade-ite, pale blue Azur-ite, ivory and white. Decorated white glass and pieces with fired-on colour further broadened the range.

Anchor Hocking's appeal extends well beyond Fire-King. Its coloured table glass includes Royal Ruby red and Forest Green, while the company's No. 1600 line is widely known to collectors as 'Bubble'. The variety of colours, shapes and finishes across its production offers a vivid record of changing American domestic tastes through the mid-20th century.

Maker's marks can provide useful identification clues, including the anchor superimposed over an 'H' and various Fire-King wordmarks. Not every piece is marked, however, so shape, colour and period catalogues remain important when identifying individual finds.

Read more about Anchor Hocking's history here, and the National Depression Glass Association's Fire-King reference here.

You May Also Like