Heisey Glass: from
the Glass Encyclopedia

Heisey Glass was established in Newark, Ohio, in 1895 and the company, A. H Heisey and Co., opened their newly-built glass factory in 1896.

The founder was Augustus Heisey, born in Germany in 1842 and brought up by his sister in Merrittown, Pennsylvania after his father died. He fought for the Union Army in the Civil War and after the war started his career in the glass industry with King Company in 1865.

Augustus Heisey married George Duncan's daughter, Susan, in 1870 and in 1879 he and James Duncan were the owners of the Duncan glassworks in Pittsburgh, which became part of US Glass Company. Heisey worked for US Glass as Commercial Manager, but left around 1893 and in 1895 he was encouraged to set up the new Heisey glassworks in Newark.

Initially Heisey made pressed glass in designs imitating cut glass, using the latest machinery and complex patterns that were difficult to tell from genuine cut glass. Heisey also produced designs which were part imitation cut glass, with large areas of clear glass which made them suitable for decorating. This kind of glass was popular with the decorating companies which were flourishing at that time.

Heisey produced suites of tableware around the turn of the century, the EAPG era, and then went on to be one of the prolific producers of glass tableware during the the Depression Era (the 1920's and 1930's).

The company continued to produce glass until 1957, when it closed. However, collectors need to be aware that many of the Heisey molds were bought by the Imperial Glass Company in 1958, who continued to produce some of the Heisey patterns until they in turn closed down in 1984. There are differences in the colors used by Imperial from those produced by Heisey.

The Heisey company has a reputation for producing good quality pressed glass. Their trademark was an H in a diamond, shown left. This was molded into the glass. Sometimes it was used without the H, and sometimes a triangle with a line drawing of a glass item was used as a trademark. Heisey also used paper labels with the name Heisey or Heisey's in a number of different designs.


If you are looking for glass made by Heisey, you can usually find items on offer on ebay - click here to see the Heisey glass listings currently for sale on ebay.