New Opaque Blue Glass Batter Bowl

Fire King batter bowl copied, bowl similar to Park Avenue/Manhattan patterns

New green opaque glass, or Jadite, has been widely reproduced since early 1999. Opaque blue has been also copied.

One of the shapes – a batter bowl that sold for $19–is a very close copy of a Fire King original by Anchor Hocking worth $250 -$300. Another shape, a large ribbed bowl, is also very similar to two other collectible patterns originally by Anchor Hocking, Manhattan (1938-1943) and Park Avenue (1987-1993).

Batter Bowl

Original Fire King batter bowls were made in both Jade-ite and opaque blue, called Turquoise Blue. All original Fire King batter bowls have the Fire King logo in raised molded letters on the bottom (Fig. 7). Original Fire King bowls were made with two styles of top bands. In one version, the molded band around the top rim is 1″ wide; in the other original version, the top band is ¾″ wide. The molded top band around the rim of the new batter bowl is only ½″ wide.

12″ Mixing Bowl

No pieces of original Manhattan and Park Avenue were ever made in opaque blue. Although the 12″ size new bowl has no exact old counterpart, there were large bowls in the original patterns that are generally similar in shape. Manhattan included a 9″ salad bowl and a 10″ bowl was available in Park Avenue.

13″ Platter

There doesn't appear to be any old counterpart in 1930-1950 opaque glass approaching the size of this new monster. The largest authentic plate we could find was a rare 10 3/8″ plate in Jadite Fire-King. That original is currently valued at $1000. This piece should automatically be suspect simply from its huge size.

Color

The pale blue color of the new pieces is a close match to the originals. On our samples, the color was smooth and consistent throughout. The only exception was the batter bowl which had slight streaking around a small area above the base.

The majority of vintage opaque blue kitchen glass was made by Anchor Hocking, McKee and Jeanette. McKee's blue was sold under the trade name Chaline; Jeannette's was called Delfite. Anchor Hocking sold a line of opaque blue glass dinnerware called Turquoise Blue, the name now associated with other Anchor Hocking opaque blue.

"Jade-ite" with a hyphen and a letter "e" after the "d", is the trade name of Anchor Hocking's opaque green glass. "Jadite" without the hyphen or "e" after the "d", or "jadite" with a lower case "j", are generic terms for opaque green glass by any manufacturer.

Fig. 1 New opaque blue batter bowl. Very similar in shape and color to original Fire-King batter bowl by Anchor Hocking. Original blue Fire-King pieces are valued at $250-$300. The new batter bowl retailed for $29.

Fig. 2 New opaque blue serving plate, 13″ diameter. Opalescent edges. New retail price, $19.

Fig. 3 Reverse side of 13″ plate shown in Fig. 2. Removable bar code tag and "Made In China" label in center. All three new pieces are made in China.

Fig. 4 New opaque blue ribbed bowl, 12″ dia. × 5″ tall. A massive piece weighing over 6½ lbs. New retail price, $39.

Fig. 5 Underside of new bowl from Fig. 4 No exact old counterpart known, but similar to pieces in Manhattan and Park Avenue.

Fig. 6 Original Fire-King batter bowls were made in two styles. One, with a 1″ wide band molded around the top rim; the other with a ¾″ band molded around the top rim. The new opaque blue batter bowl has only a ½″ wide band molded around the top rim.

Fig. 7 Original Fire-King batter bowls are marked with the Fire-King logo on the bottom in raised lettering. The new blue batter bowl is not marked.