Rare Vintage McKee Glass Laurel Pattern Scottish Terrier Scotty Dog 14 Piece Set

Description

Rare Vintage McKee Glass Laurel Pattern Scottish Terrier Scotty Dog 14 Piece Set. Includes 4 plates at 5 3/4" wide; 4 cup & saucer sets with saucers 4 1/2" wide and open sugar bowl & creamer. The color is a slight jadeite, not a light green like Fire-King but more of an off-white with very slight tint of green. The sugar & creamer have a slightly different tint color. All have the McK mark on the bottom for McKee Glass Co. and are guaranteed genuine vintage McKee Glass. Fine condition with no cracks or chips, slight paint wear only - see my 12 detailed photos.
McKEE GLASS COMPANY  ~  The McKee name has long been associated with glassmaking in the Pittsburgh region. The various firms they were involved in, and the history and timelines are highly confusing and incomplete.  For much more detailed, well-researched info on McKee factories, products and marks, see Glasshouses & Glass Manufacturers of the Pittsburgh Region 1875-1910 by Jay W. Hawkins (published 2009).
Firm #1:  S. McKee and Company.  Samuel McKee (in 1834), and later along with brothers James and Thomas (starting a new glass plant in 1836) produced tremendous quantities of window glass as well as hollow ware including fruit jars, bottles of every description, pressed telegraph and lightning rod insulators, with total glass production apparently extending over a period of over 70 years. They are well known among insulator collectors for their threadless insulator (CD 731 style) marked “S. McKEE & CO”.
Firm #2:  McKee Glass Company.  Frederick and James McKee (two of five sons of Thomas, co-owner of S. McKee & Company, discussed above) started this firm under the name  “F. & J. McKee” in 1854, after the breakup of a previous partnership “Bryce, McKee and CO” which had begun in 1850.   They produced cut glass, vials, bottles, pressed, and other types of glassware as well as window glass. The exact company name changed several times, becoming “McKee & Brothers” in 1867.  A wide variety of early pressed glass tableware patterns and novelties were made by this firm, especially throughout the 1860s, 1870s, 1880s and 1890s.
McKee & Brothers moved to Jeannette, PA in 1888, and in 1899 became part of the National Glass Company “combine”.  However, by 1903, McKee had apparently broken away from the combine, and about 1904 became known as  “McKee-Jeannette Glass Company”.
In 1908, the name was changed again to simply “McKee Glass Company”.  Under this name large quantities of high quality glassware was produced, including pressed pattern glass,  jadite (opaque green) , white milk glass, black glass and other opaque ware.
“Glasbake” brand glass, introduced in 1917,  was McKee’s answer to “Pyrex” (the heat- and breakage-resistant cookware produced by Corning).     Window glass was also produced, at least during the early years at Jeannette.
McKee also made industrial glassware, as I have received information from Mark Ounan indicating they produced automotive glass headlight lenses in the c. 1917 period.  He owns a lens marked “Dodge Brothers / U. S. A. / McKee & Co. / Jeannette PA”. I presume this is the same company as “McKee Glass Company” .
After many years of production, the McKee Glass factory was acquired in 1951 to become the McKee Division of Thatcher Glass Company.
In 1961 Jeannette Glass Company bought the property and a variety of pressed glass tableware was manufactured there by Jeannette until it closed in 1983.