08/26/2026
This is a very informative post about the Washington Company which was a glass decorating company in PA from the 1940s to 1960s. Many of their pieces get misidentified as Gay Fad which was another decorating company. Click below to read the whole original post.
Have You Ever Heard of The Washington Company?
Joel Ecker is probably the most knowledgeable person about The Washington Company that I know, and he has graciously agreed to share the information he has compiled.
The Washington Company was a glass decorating company that formed around 1945 in Washington, Pennsylvania — the same town where Hazel-Atlas was founded some years earlier, along with several other glass companies that are no longer in business.
The Washington Company specialized in decorating glass rather than manufacturing or casting the actual glass pieces. Their decorations appeared on pieces made by Fire-King, Federal Glass, Hazel-Atlas, and others.
Two of their most commonly seen patterns were “Vintage” and “Apple Blossom.” In the early 1960s, these patterns were commonly featured through grocery chains such as IGA and Kroger.
The company offered several basic bowl and casserole patterns that could be purchased inexpensively through stamp and coupon promotions from these grocery stores.
🍎 IGA became associated with promoting the Apple Blossom pattern.
🌼 Kroger likewise promoted the Vintage pattern.
One interesting piece of Washington Company history is that these two patterns are often incorrectly identified as Gay Fad Fruit and Peach Blossom.
Apparently, Gene Florence, one of the authors of popular glass price guides, misidentified these patterns in his guide, and that information continued to be repeated in subsequent publications.
However, the identification can be challenged through original advertisements and manufacturing decals found on NOS (New Old Stock) pieces, which provide evidence for their Washington Company origins.
Unfortunately, the grocery-store sales and promotions were apparently not enough to sustain the Washington Company. It appears the company went out of business around 1966.
The Washington Company produced many different patterns over the years. Some of the earliest are often found on Fire-King Early Ivory Oven Glass, including:
🍎 Apple
🌺 Poppy
🌸 Poinsettia
I love finding these pieces because they tell a story that goes beyond the glass itself — they show how decorating companies, glass manufacturers, and grocery-store promotions all came together to put affordable decorated glass into American homes.
A special thank you to Joel Ecker for sharing the information he has so carefully compiled and helping preserve the history of The Washington Company.
Do you have a Washington Company piece in your collection? And have you ever found one with an original Washington Company label or advertisement?
