This series of articles explores the glass and china marks that will help you to identify the maker of the glass product that you’ve purchased or are considering purchasing.

As most of you who collect glassware or china know, many of the companies who offer glassware, or have done so in the past, also offer a way to identify that glassware by virtue of their own particular marking on the glassware.

Some of the more famous ones are easily recognized by any glass user, while others are a bit less readily identified and take a little research to uncover.

A few of the more obscure ones of course are from companies which remained in business for a very short time, while others have evolved over the years, moving from one to another as the company underwent changes, sales or other upheavals across eons or even centuries.

China and glass companies as well as other manufacturers, including those  who existed only in the short term usually have their own specific mark that appears somewhere on their product. Some of them are so little seen that we aren’t even certain yet what companies they represent.

Finding a mark on a glass product that you have not previously seen is like a small mystery to a glass collector and most of us won’t rest until we know what, or who, it represents. Many are very well known, and easily linked to companies, while others take a lot of digging to uncover.

Some of the examples of  glass marks you may see which are more or less obscure and will help you to identify the company who made your glass product  are:

Oil City Glass Works–just a few miles from my home town in Pennsylvania, this glass company was in business for a relatively short time, about 15 to 17 years. (1952-1969) The mark resembles an oil derrick, which is symbolic of the area where the company is housed.

Olean Glass mark, from Olean New York, the OG may be encircled or without it. The G is not always clear and sometimes appears more like a C than it does the G that it should be

The well known Ball Glass Company mark, used on Ball canning jars,  originally began its life as the Ball Bros Manufacturing Company/Ball Bros Glass Company until 1969 when it became Ball Glass. It is located in Muncie,Indiana, but was originally located in Buffalo, NY  until about 1888. Best known for their manufacture of fruit and canning jars, Ball has also made a wide array of other products during their lifetime.

This very well known mark is symbolic of the Anchor Hocking glass company, from Lancaster, OH (as well as other factory locations) the company has been in existence since the late 1930’s. Reportedly this particular mark was no longer used after 1975 or 1976, I have personally seen it on Anchor glass products so I’m not quite sure what to make of that.
In the early 1980’s a new corporation was formed known as  Anchor Glass Container Corp, which has it’s own particular logo.

The quite well known mark of the Federal Glass Company. The mark is simply an F inside a shield. Federal Glass Company,which originated in Columbus, OH and operated from 1900 through 1980, began use of this mark in 1930. They made a huge array of table serving glass, drinking glasses, and were very well known and collected. Particularly interesting to collectors is their depression glass.