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Volume 35, Number 3 Page 9
News & Views
McXee (j{ass Comyany By Barbara E. Mauzy
The Earlv Years
McKee and Brothers Glass Works was formed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1853. As norm for this period they were producers of clear glassware. In the spring of 1888, H. Sellers McKee moved to Westmoreland County, PA to establish a new glass factory. Workers employed at the factory and the goods and services they required quickly led to the development of a community and the town of Jeannette was born, named for H. Sellers McKee's wife. This region of PA was rich with the natural resources needed to produce glass, and itsoon became home to many famous glass companies, and today this region of the state remains saturated withvintage glassware.
The National Glass Company acquired McKee and Brothers Glass Works in 1901 it was renamed McKee-Jeannette Glass Company. Glass production continued quite successfully, but in 1908 there was additional corporate restructuring resulting in the establ.ishment of the McKee Glass Company.
In 1917 Glasbake Ovenware was introduced by McKee to compete with the highly successful PYREXR oven-ware manufactured by Corning Glass Works. This clear, tempered glass was designed to withstand the hot
Jtemperatures of an oven and yet tolerate the chilly interior of an ice box. (Glasbake continued to be produced until 1983, long after the demise
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Page 10
McXee §Cass Cmrpany
The Depression Years
News & Views
by Barbara E Mauzy
By the mid-1920s colored glass dinnerware was being offered to the consumer by other glass manufacturers, and as a company already producing clear glass dinnenvare McKee Glass Company was in a better position than most of its competition to create the colorful pieces that enticed American women. McKee is not usually thought of as a major player in Depression Glass, but several dinnerware patterns were produced by McKee, most notably Rock Crystal Flower introduced in 1921 and Laurel manufactured in the 1930s.
Other lesser known McKee dinnerware patterns include plain or blank glass with a scalloped edge and in an eight-sided/octagonal shape. Occasional pieces such as bowls and covered jars and boxes were produced in the Brocade pattern in pink and green. Jade-ite luncheon sets were made as well as a variety of water sets, dispensers, lamps, vases, and more. Compared to many other glass manufacturers, McKee's dinnerware options were limited.
It is not the tableware that The McKee Glass Company created but the kitchenware that today's collectors seek: reamers, measuring cups, mixing bowls, shakers, canisters, refrigerator dishes, and so on; kitchen glass utilized to prepare, serve, and store food as opposed to glassware used for dining.
McKee is also famous for the No. l 00 triangle vase that was produced in more than one height and for multiple uses. This vase features a Deco portrayal of a nude woman on each of its three sides so it is often referred to as a "nude vase." Rare vases depict a dressed female. Always a company to utilize a mo Id for multiple purposes, the nude vase was offered with a triangular lid and became a candy jar. It was also produced with a hole in the bottom or an indent that allowed one to easily punch a ho le, and it morphed into a lamp. Generally vases in the opaque colors are more easily found than the transparent colors, but the rarest vase of all is the single cobalt blue vase pictured in my book that is thought to be the only one ever made.
McKee is noted for "bell" bowls, bowls that when turned upside down have a bell shape, created in a colorful variety of opaque glass w.ith and without decorations. There are so many configurations of bowls in the same few sizes that it is easy to see how a collector like my husband could amass a large quantity of bowls. Besides the polka dots and diamonds there are stripes, Pennsylvania Dutch designs, strawbeITies, flowers, ivy, and more.
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:M.cXee {i{ass C0111JJany
The Later Years
by Barbara E Mauzv
After the Great Depression glassware for the kitchen continued to be produced. In the 1940s M.cKee Glass Company offered glass stovetop cookware that was in direct competition with PYREXR flameware. They also produced child's tea sets in the Laurel pattern reminiscent of Hazel-Atlas Glass Company's Moderntone Little Hostess Party Sets, but will little success.
During World War II glass manufacturing for domestic use was minimal, and unfortunately little documentation of McKee Glass Company endeavors in glassware for the home can be found after World War II. With roots in insulators and even early automobile lenses, McKee Glass Company was diversified enough to continue as an independent entity until l 951 when it became a subsidiary of Thatcher Glass Manufacturing Company. Thatcher had its beginnings in the production ofreusable glass milk bottles around the turn of the twentieth century. Technical glassware became the focus of this division- beakers, fimnels, and so on.
ln 1961 Jeannette Glass Company purchased Thatcher and therefore acquired McKee or at least what was left if it. Some glass tableware continued to be manufactured until Jeannette's closure in 1983. McKee Glass Company's story ends as many other American glass companies: the factory closed.
Collecting McKee Kitchen Glass Today
The vast assortment of McKee glass that was created makes this company's kitchen glass a perfect subject for those of you inclined toward your ancestral roots of hunting and gathering. There are so many different salt and pepper shakers that Jim and l have yet to feel we've documented them all. We were delighted with the Roman Arch shakers (shakers with curving designs on two sides) with French notations for salt, pepper, flour, and sugar that Canadians find plentiful. There are dozens of different reamers to collect. All vintage Sunkist reamers were produced by McKee. Not all of these were marked, although much of McKee kitchen glass is found with their logo ofMcK in a circle on the bottom.
Canisters are basically refrigerator dishes with labels. A plain container is a refrigerator dish, but with the addition of "Coffee" or "Flour" printed on one side it became a canister and McKee was able to extend the use of a single mold. Adding "Drippings" to refrigerator dishes created the fifth item that was sometimes sold with Range Sets. Lids for canisters and refrigerator dishes are found in clear glass, the same color glass as the base, and occasionally in a contrasting color such as a black lid on a Seville base.
Condition is paramount - a basic fundamental in assessing the value of glass. The mixing bowls were poorly finished when produced and often feature some roughness as made around their rims. Collectors desire bowls that are relatively free from scratches and true chips and dings, and decorations need to have survived in bright hues.
If the definition of a collection is having three or more of one item than you, too, can become a McKee kitchen glass collector. It's as easy as acquiring
four Range Set shakers: salt, pepper, flour, and sugar or a nest of mixing bowls!
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Page 12 News & Views
:M.cXee §Cass Company by Barbara E Mauzy
When Jim and l began selling antiques and collectibles we had a vision of our product line that did not include the vintage kitchenware for which we are now noted. It was Fire-King dinnerware and McKee mixing bowls which threw Jim over the edge or maybe I should say "over the rim," and as the businessman entity of our budding venture in the 1980s, he set the course and steered us right into kitchen items from the I 920s-l 950s.
At one point we had 56 nests (matching bowl sets in diminishing sizes) of mixing bovv ls displayed in our Pennsylvania kitchen. Guests weren't sme how to react as this was a man previously noted for collecting old decoys, not bowls. While I was writing about PYREXR he was caressing his McKee bowls with polka dots and stroking his No. 100 triangle vases. He was hooked and I soon followed, particularly as we began photographing range sets: salt, pepper, flour, and sugar shakers, in earnest and I began to appreciate the endless array of designs and decorations.
McKee is not a company known for a vast selection of mold designs, but they certainly hit the mark concerning color and Jim and I are all about color. We were drawn to the lovely opaque glass in Chalaine, Delphite, French Ivory, and Seville, and we were bewitched by decorations that included polka dots, diamonds (today's collectors refer to this as "diamond check"), and bow ties.
It was just a matter of time and finding advanced collectors for one or both ofus to pen a book showcasing the colors of McKee, and this finally happened in 2008 with the publication of McKee Glass of the Depression Era.
(For more information on McKee Glass contact the author for her latest book: McKee Glass of the
Depression Era. ([email protected])
Bibliographv
http://www.carnivalheaven.com
http://www.glassian.org
http://homepages.rootsweb.com
http://glassandpotterysellers.org
http://www. myinsu lators. com
http://www.earlyamericanworkshop.com
