McKee Glass produced their Rock Crystal pattern for a very long time, beginning in 1915 and running into the 1940s. It is an unusual design, full of curves and curlicues, a little thicker than most mold-etched depression ware. Despite the name Rock Crystal is a pressed pattern.
Like most glass companies McKee sought to make glassware that more people could afford; in comparison during the 1910s and 1920s the high end glassware was often brilliant cut crystal, costly because only skilled craftsmen could make the precise cuts. Rock Crystal was meant to look like the fine quality hand-crafted glass except McKee could mass produce it. Imperial Glass is another company that made quite a bit of pressed to look like cut glass.
For a pattern made so very long I sure don’t see much of it. I’ve seen a few pieces of green in antique malls and this statuesque pitcher and tumbler set in rich amber.
Per Gene Florence McKee made green, aquamarine, yellow, pink, red, blue and crystal in addition to the green and amber, and he notes that there are multiple shades of green, red and blue. Possibly some of the color variation is from the less-careful quality control typical of the depression era. McKee continued making crystal for several years after the depression but I believe they stopped producing colored Rock Crystal after the 1930s when colored glass went out of style.
What made me think about Rock Crystal today was reading a post on our Facebook page that asks for help identifying a pink comport. It has a scroll pattern and ruffled rim and an angular knop in the stem, but after reviewing photos I rule out Rock Crystal. I’m leaning towards Atterbury Scroll for this piece.