More Fire King fakes

Reproduction Fire King C-handle mug.

Saw this guy here in an antique store in Georgia about a month ago. First time I had seen a completely fake Jadeite mug. Notice the handle. It has been made to look as close as possible to the increasingly pricey Fire King C-handle mugs. For a comparison of the real deal Fire King mugs, check out this excellent resource.

(Edit 8/18/2014: Here's a little wayback machine snapshot of the site that might help if my original link isn't working)

Forgive the less-than-ideal cellphone picture here. It's really really difficult to capture the differences between the fakes and the real stuff! But first clue here should be it's priced at $15.99. It was out in the open - more valuable jadeite items are typically behind a locked case. Perfect condition, including the bold black lettering with no wear.

Another thing to note with this reproduction Jadeite (or Fake-ite, as I've dubbed it) is that it does have some textural differences from the real Jadeite. New, reproduced jadite can be very glossy. Depending on the piece, it can look wet, almost like the glass is not 'set'. Items that are decalled or have lettering, the colors are crisp and perfect. Too perfect.

And to my knowledge, Fire King never made a Tom & Jerry mug in Jadeite. If that is the case, this item gets termed a "fantasy item", meaning one that never originally existed. What can make these items seem so realist is that they are frequently a combination of two different companies actual work.

This is my previous post about Fire King reproductions, namely decalled items such as mixing bowls, grease jars & shakers.

Happy Treasure Hunting!