Dunbar Glass

The history of Dunbar Glass began in 1923 with the formation of the Dunbar Flint Glass Corporation. This wonderful company produced glassware for nearly 30 years. Dunbar produced a variety of glass products starting with glass chimneys. Over the years Dunbar specialized in glass pitcher and tumbler sets, kitchen items, vases, barware, and tumble ups.

Perhaps this company has not been well researched in the past because they did not have a major Depression Glass tableware pattern. Because of this many of the pieces they produced were at one time attributed to other major companies.

Depression glass collectors have been adding pieces of Dunbar to their collections all along. They just were not aware of the history of the tumble up or cocktail shaker that they purchased. Even during the Great Depression, Dunbar continued to produce mass volumes of glass. They were able to make pretty colored glassware that sold for very reasonable prices. The fact that they could survive speaks a great deal for the popularity of their glass during these hard times.

Dunbar continued to prosper and in 1932 with the end of prohibition they feature designs by John Held Jr. These were sold in both Bloomingdale's and Macy's. By the 1940s Dunbar was a major competitor and knew how to market their glassware successfully. They created a fictional spokesperson which they featured in major magazines including the The Saturday Evening Post and The Ladies Home Journal.

Dunbar became well known for their blown glassware (which often had an iridescent colored finish). This lovely glassware was light weight and beautifully designed. Colors that Dunbar produced include crystal, green, pink, cobalt, black, and iridescent luster finishes, in blue, crystal, amber, rose, and two tone combinations. Some pieces had satin finishes and gold decorations.

During the late 1940s Dunbar was producing lighting fixtures, private mold glassware, heat resisting cookware and vases for florists.

In 1956 Dunbar was struggling. They were trying to decide how to produce a product that would be profitible. Competition from overseas were making producing glassware difficult. The board of directors decided to concentrate on on machine drawn tubing development cutting back on the more expensive to make glassware they are noted for. Soon after this decision Dunbar closed its doors.

Information for this brief history was taken from the book "West Virgina Glass Between the World Wars" by Dean Six. This is a fantastic sorce of informantion about some of the little known, and well known companies from West Virginia. It is well written and researched. This book gives us the history of many companies that little has been know about before.