Imperial Glass mark (IG)

How to read it

Imperial was formed in Bellaire in December 1901 and first made glass on 3 February 1904, the National Imperial Glass Collectors’ Society records; an Ohio historical marker describes it as a mass producer of attractive and affordable pressed tableware. Candlewick and Cape Cod were its mainstays from the 1930s until it closed. The Society dates the IG to 1951, after patent approval, and counts it, with the earlier Iron Cross, among Imperial’s most recognisable trademarks. Bill Lockhart and his colleagues, writing for the Society for Historical Archaeology from the collectors’ table of marks, give the first use as 1 February 1951, initially on milk glass, and registration on 17 March 1953. The monogram appears mostly on tableware, with a few flasks made in the historical style.

Also searched as: alig mark, ig mark on glass, imperial glass, imperial glass mark, lig mark.

LIG, ALIG and NI

Imperial’s owners changed the mark by adding a few lines to it, so the older moulds could still be used, the SHA researchers note. An L was added on 26 December 1977 for Lenox, Inc., which owned Imperial; that version was registered in 1978 and used until 26 June 1981. When Arthur Lorch, a New York investor, bought the company on 1 June 1981, an A was added, and that mark was used until September 1983. A new monogram, NI for New Imperial, followed in 1983 and was used for less than a year.

When Lenox bought Imperial

The dates differ. The Collectors’ Society’s history says the shareholders decided in December 1972 to sell to Lenox, Inc. The SHA researchers give 4 January 1973 in their text and 1 January 1973 in their table, and also quote the Society’s earlier timeline as saying January 1971. The Smithsonian’s archive of Imperial’s records gives 1973.

Imperial’s earlier marks

Before the IG, Imperial used NUCUT from 1911, the word IMPERIAL in the four parts of a cross from 1913, which the Collectors’ Society calls the Iron Cross, crossed arrows from 1913 and crossed I’s from 1914 (Peterson, cited by the SHA researchers).

After 1984

Imperial filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in August 1984. Consolidated International and Lancaster Colony bought it on 21 November 1984 in a joint venture to liquidate it, and the Smithsonian’s archives say Lancaster Colony Corporation of Columbus took over the company’s assets. The factory was razed in 1995. Imperial had itself bought the Heisey moulds in 1958 and the Cambridge Glass Company’s assets in 1960. Fenton, which bought Imperial moulds in the liquidation, marked glass made in them with its own script F in an upright oval.

IG on bottles

The Illinois Glass Co. also used IG monograms, on bottles, from about 1906 to about 1914. The SHA researchers point out that the other companies’ IG monograms are either from a different period or on tableware.