Viking Glass History 1938 to 1998
I do not pretend to be a glass historian and everything you read here will be excerpts from history written by Glass Experts. If you want the complete history of Viking Glass you need to buy Dean Six "Viking Glass 1944-1970". This is a very thorough book on Viking Glass and the history of the company. Some of the information on this web site came from this book. BUT! Most of the documentation comes directly from Viking Catalogs issued by the Company!


Viking Glass came to be after New Martinsville Glass went broke in the late 30's. In 1938 the company was sold to people associated with Silver City Glass Company of Meriden, Connecticut. The plant reopened as New Martinsville Glass Company for a short time. In June of 1944 the stockholders formed Viking Glass Company.

Color Introduced 1950-1951 (excerpt from Dean Six, Book Viking Glass 1944-1970).

"As the decade turned and the 1950's saw America recover from a decade of war, indeed saw America soar, in a post-war economy and into the period we call the baby boom, America spread her wings. In glassware, color supplemented and almost completely replaced the clear Swedish influenced crystal. China, Glass and Decorative Accessories reported "a trend to increasing variety of colors is indicated for the coming year by C. E. Willis, sales manager of the Viking Glass Company. This reflects the growing consumer interest in color, which has been widely noted and which has been specifically felt by the Viking organization. Colors for 1951 include, in addition to Crystal, Evergreen, Amber, Ebony(black), Cobalt Blue, Sky Blue(colonial blue) and Ruby."

Color, Color, Color is what Viking Glass was all about in the 1950's and 1960's.

Catalogs were now used in marketing and an by the early 60's much of the glass inventory can be documented. A collector's dream has come true. The variety of designs and colors continue to change with the trend of the day. Examples of major changes, from Flowerlites to Glimmer in the early 70's, from solid colors to Pastels of the 80's. The catalogs in the late 70's and early 80's were 40 pages plus with hundreds of items in beautiful colors and some huge sizes. In the mid 80’s hard times hit America and Viking was not immune. The Viking Glass Company as we know closed in 1984.

Dalzell/Viking was immediately opened by Kenneth Dalzell a former executive from Fostoria Glass Company. The company closed its doors forever in 1998.