We showed Fire King Swirl recently. Swirl is a dinnerware and cookware pattern with an interesting spiral design like this serving bowl.
Fire King Swirl White Vegetable Bowl
Anchor Hocking had a winner with their Fire King glassware as it was popular for bake ware and cookware from the 1940s into the late 1970s, and just like the Pyrex patterns of the 1970s, that popularity translated into patterns that coordinated a family’s dishes with their serving and cooking casseroles and bowls.
Anchor Hocking produced a lot of different patterns under the Fire King brand, some basically the same shapes but different designs, and some, like Swirl and our pattern today, Shell, from different molds.
Fireking Peach Lustre Shell Serving Bowl
This Peach Lustre bowl at first glance looks like the same pattern as the white serving bowl above – much flashier color though! Take a close look at the rim. See how the Peach Lustre rim is scalloped? Those scallops make this the Fire King Shell pattern. The white bowl has a plain rim, making it the Fire King Swirl pattern.
It gets even more confusing when you find pieces that are superficially the same design! Fire King made a similar white with gold trim pattern on both Spiral and Shell, and made both in Jade-Ite and solid white. They used Peach Lustre and a mother of pearl finish for Shell but not Spiral, and use blue Azure-Ite for Swirl but not Shell.
Fire King made Swirl earlier, 1949 to 1962, and then came out with Shell from 1965 to 1976 so families didn’t have to choose between them. We collectors do have to be aware of the differences though. I know it took me quite a few looks to spot the difference between the patterns, but once you see the scalloped rim it’s easy. Scallops=Shell; Smooth=Swirl. No problem!