Colony Crystal Mid-Century Tumblers

May 15, 2023 | Museum Monday Treasures

Today’s Museum Monday treasure from the Museum of American Glass in WV is a wonderful pair of mid-century decorated tumblers from Colony Crystal. They were designed and signed by Frank J. Maietta. One of the two is painted pink inside and the other is yellow – this is typical of mid-century design when frequently a single set of six tumblers would be available in a single color or each piece might be in a different mix-and-match color. We know that this pattern with its abstract flowers and cartoon-like bees also came with white and black interiors, as well as in clear. Other likely colors may have included blue, green, and possibly lavender.

Our other piece designed by Frank Maietta is a whiskey tumbler with an “Around the World” decoration in raised 22 K gold on black. This was most likely also sold by Colony Crystal. (Colony Crystal was a division of Pitman-Dreitzer & Company, who in turn became a division of Lancaster Colony Corporation, parent body of the Indiana Glass Company. Since Colony also imported glass, it can be problematic trying to determine exactly who made their glass.)

Frank J. Maietta was product designer for Colony Glassware in the 1950s, but also worked with many other companies, including the Lily Tulip Company, makers of paper cups, and Faberge Perfumes.

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