Fostoria Glassware

• Fostoria began producing glass in 1887 in Fostoria, Ohio, and then moved to Moundsville, West Virginia, in 1891.
• In general, colored stemware and dinnerware pieces made by Fostoria are valued higher than clear counterparts in the same pattern.
• Fostoria is categorized by collectors as “elegant” glassware, although many pieces were produced during the depression era. This term came about due to the high quality of this type of glass when compared with other depression era dinnerware.
• Newly made pieces of American, made under the Whitehall name, can cause confusion with novice collectors. Be sure to read up on this Fostoria pattern before making a costly purchase.

Fostoria's original glass factory borrowed its name from the town in which it was built, Fostoria, Ohio, in 1887. The factory packed up and moved to Moundsville, West Virginia, in 1891 where glassware of the highest quality was manufactured through 1983 when Lancaster Colony bought the company. Three years later, the Fostoria factory closed for good.

Looking back to 1887 through 1909, as seen on an old advertising paperweight, Fostoria touted manufacturing “tableware, colognes, stationers' glassware and candelabra.” They also made inkwells, sponge cups, numerous vases, fingerbowls and even fruit jars with marked tops along with other varied items.

Many of the early tableware pieces were needle etched or wheel cut, both popular forms of decoration for early 20th century glass. Fostoria also offered some lines decorated with ruby red or gold bands, another fashionable style of the day.