GAY FAD STUDIOS - GLASSWARE

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You have probably seen the term "Gay Fad" associated with various hand decorated glassware from the 1940's-1960's. The term originated from Gay Fad Studios (1945-1962) which was formed by Fran Taylor and mainly based in Lancaster, Ohio. Gay Fad Studios painted blanks from Anchor Hocking (Fire-King), Hazel Atlas, Federal Glass and Imperial Glass among others. There is a terrific 2 volume resource book on Gay Fad written by Donna McGrady and Kitty Hanson which can be purchased at www.santafetradingpost.com which shows over 900 designs and gives examples of numerous pieces misidentified as Gay Fad. Misidentifying Gay Fad pieces is very common. Fire King reference books have "Gay Fad" patterned pieces which actually might be attributed to Washington Co out of PA which was another glass decorating Co. Not every piece of hand decorated glass is "Gay Fad".

Gay Fad sold their own wares and I recently purchased a Martini Mixer which was painted on a Federal Glass "blank". Federal glass had their own in-house decorators, so, knowing if a piece was truly decorated by Federal or another company can really only be determined by a reference in a catalog, advertisement or a piece in it's original box.

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