I Could Become a Hoarder...If it Wasn't for the Price of the Stuff!

Just look at that gorgeous, soothing, milky-green color above. I could just surround myself with it. I don't know if they make a bathtub out of Jade-ite, but if they did, I would bathe in it daily (and that's coming from someone who doesn't do baths...only showers...I think baths are a waste of water and the thought of bathing/soaking in your own dirty water is repugnant to me).

My first pieces of Jade-ite were two mugs that I purchased from an antique dealer about four years ago. I usually have my morning coffee in one of these mugs.

Then came my butter dish (the letters that spelled out Butter have since worn away) and my spoon rest with the strawberry motif.

Let me show you my current Jade-ite hoard. I placed all I have (thus far) on my dining room table and took a photo (I have more than I thought).

On my birthday, The Colonel surprised me with some new pieces. He bought me two new mugs and a very beautiful lady dish.

I keep some of my pretty jewelry pins in the lady dish. She is so lovely and unique. Thank yous to The Colonel!

Yam and Spud gave me money and gift cards for my birthday...guess what I spent it on?

Jade-ite chili bowls and a set of nesting mixing bowls...what else?

Since I am talking about bowls...The Colonel and I go north to a town that is full of antique dealers (where I got my first mugs) and every time we go I check out the Jade-ite items. Here are some more mixing bowls I bought.

I also found a pretty cake stand but it did not have a top to it. So, I bought a glass cake stand at a discounted price. I kept the top and gave the bottom back to the dealer so she could sell it again (that was part of the discounted price negotiation). During another visit to the antique-filled town I came away with the hens. The large hen holds my phone charging cords as she sits on my kitchen counter and the tiny hen (a salt cellar) sits on my toaster oven.

I had some more birthday money to spend and looked online for more Jade-ite items for sale. I saw some pretty cereal bowls and dinner plates on Ebay. I just had to have them. The Colonel helped me bid for them and keep an eye on the other bids. With his help, I swooped in at the last second with the highest bid and won them.

The dinner plates had never been used. They still had the manufacturer sticker on them (a bit of a history lesson later).

The Anchor Hocking Fire King Jade-ite is highly collectible and pricey but you can find some pretty green glassware (non Jade-ite) at Wal-Mart and Target. I have four little, square plates, a salt/pepper shaker and a tiny cupcake stand.

When I saw the tiny cupcake stand I had no idea what I would do with it, I just knew I wanted needed it (it is so cute). I found the perfect use for it. I had and equally tiny doily and tiny copy of Edvard Eriksen's The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark. I put the cupcake stand, doily and mermaid statue together and sat them next to a log cabin (one of my mom's, she collected them) on my kitchen counter (not too far from the hen).

Three years ago, The Colonel and I took a trip to The Cumberland Gap and while there we stopped by one of the curio shops that dot the area. This shop had all kinds of rocks and pieces of slag glass strewn about outside. I saw a pretty piece of milky green glass with a thin ribbon of pink running through it. I asked the shop owner where did the glass come from and she told me it was from the Anchor Hocking Company. I bought it and set it in my rock garden.

The color of the blob of glass (minus the pink) looks like my Jade-ite items. That would be because the Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation produced the Fire King Jade-ite ware. Remember the original sticker on my dinner plates?

Here comes the history lesson I warned told you about...

In 1905, The Hocking Glass Company was founded by Isaac Jacob (Ike) Collins in Lancaster, Ohio. It was named for the Hocking River nearby. The Company merged with the Anchor Corporation & Closure Corporation in 1937.

The Anchor Hocking Corporation produced Fire King "Jade-ite" to withstand high temperatures in ovens and stoves (do no microwave it...there were no microwaves in the days it was created). Fire King items came in many colors like pink, light blue, turquoise, ivory, white and of course green.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Jade-ite, a stain and heat resistant, milky-green glassware was sold in hardware and Five and Dime stores. They were sometimes found in bags of flour or box of oatmeal, as an inducement to the consumer to buy more of a set.

Jade-ite Fire King ware was mostly produced between the years 1945-1975. It is still produced by Anchor Hocking but with design variations in reproductions so not to be mistaken for originals to maintain the integrity of genuine status of original Jade-ite articles. The new items are marked as Fire King 2000.

We can all blame Martha Stewart and her daughter Alexis for starting the Jade-ite collecting craze. Unlike Martha Stewart, I do not have endless amounts of money and a army of people scouring the world for perfect Jade-ite ware.

Guess I will have to be content with my hit or miss purchases at antique stores and online (or more surprises from The Colonel).

Note: The next day after publishing this post, The Colonel and I went to the town full of antiques and had a delicious pre-anniversary lunch and I found these Jade-ite steak plates. I bought the set of four.