Dominion Glass Company Ltd.

Dominion Glass was a major Canadian glassmaker with product lines ranging from bottles & jars to pressed tableware and art glass.  In its early years, it was a corporation which grew through multiple takeovers of smaller firms, and the original company was the Foster Brothers Glass Works in Quebec established in 1855.

Renamed in 1890 to the Diamond Glass Company Ltd., more acquisitions meant that the company operated plants in Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario.  New ownership was the reason for a name change to the Diamond Flint Glass Company Ltd. in 1903.  Previously in 1897, Diamond Glass had acquired a small Montreal company called Dominion Glass, which had been in operation since about 1885.  This name was adopted eventually by Diamond, and 1913 finally saw the incorporation of the new Dominion Glass Company Ltd. 

Flat-top shakers and slanted-top shakers in 'Blue Cornflower'.

Throughout its subsequent history, factories also would be located in Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.  Another name change to Domglas Ltd. was made in 1976, and a takeover occurred in 1978 by CB Pak, a subsidiary of Consolidated-Bathurst (a pulp & paper conglomerate).  The Wallaceburg Ontario plant became Libbey - St. Clair in the late 1970s, then was re-named Libbey Canada when Libbey Inc. purchased its assets in 1993.  A long-time rival of Dominion Glass, Consumers Packaging, the former Consumers Glass Company, acquired Domglas Inc. in 1989.  It seems that all of these factories are shut down now.

'Blue Cornflower': Sugar Shaker (side flap), Cruet (plastic lid), Juice Jug (lid not shown), Sugar Shaker (top flap), Creamer.

Dominion Glass produced practical kitchen and table accessories in white opal glass, and three notable decorations are look-alikes of Corning Ware patterns: Blue Cornflower, Spice O' Life, Wildflower.  The product line was relatively slim and can be summed up as: Salt & Pepper Shakers, Creamers, Sugar Shakers, Cruets.  These items were available in all three patterns.  It seems that cruets were sold singly, presumably just for vinegar, rather than in pairs as an oil & vinegar set.         
               
Salt & pepper sets resembling Country Festival were made by the St. Clair division of Dominion Glass.  These shakers are clear glass with solid yellow tops.  It is unknown whether there are cruets or cream & sugar sets with this design, but there are matching glasses.

(Photo: Clear glass salt & pepper set imitating Country Festival.)

There are additional opal glass items that seem to exist only in 'Blue Cornflower'.  A Juice Jug holds a bit more than 1 Qt, and originally it came with a white plastic lid with a snap-top spout.  There is also a three piece set of Nesting Bowls, with capacities of 1½ cups, 2½ cups, 1 Quart. 

Nesting bowls with Blue Cornflower look-alike decoration.

(Photo right: Juice jug complete with plastic lid)

Tops for salt & pepper sets and cream & sugar sets generally are chromed plastic, but more modern tops are white plastic.  Black plastic tops also exist, but there is a chance that these had been chromed originally, and the finish has simply washed off or been removed.

The majority of salt & pepper shakers have slanted tops, but the earliest ones have flat tops.  Older cruets have stainless steel lids, while the tops on newer ones are chromed plastic.  Sugar shakers come with different types of flip-open lids: one type has a large flap on a slanted top, another has a small flap on the side of a flat top.  Creamers have open tops with no cover at all, unlike those of Gemco and Dispensers Inc.
 

Backstamps can be faint sometimes and difficult to spot.  There are three known markings on these products:  a large capital "D", a smaller capital "D" inside a diamond, and newer items can be marked "Van Pak Canada".  Van Pak Ltd. is a Canadian housewares wholesaler; its connection to Dominion Glass is not yet clear, but it was evidently a close association.

The original label on the back of a 'Blue Cornflower' cruet suggests that Dominion's own pattern name was 'Coronado'.  The Van Pak logo is also depicted here.  Official names for the other two patterns are not yet known.

'Spice O' Life': Salt & Pepper, Sugar Shaker, Cruet (stainless steel top), Creamer.

Dominion's design for Spice O' Life also can be found on Federal Glass mugs and McCoy Pottery.  The McCoy pieces are named Spice Delight.  The connection between these other manufacturers and Dominion Glass is not clear.

'Wildflower': Sugar Shaker, Salt/Pepper and two Creamers.  There is a cruet with this pattern as well.

Dominion Glass also made glassware with Spice O' Life, Country Festival and Old Orchard patterns.  The latter matches the original Pyrex pattern particularly well.

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Compare Corning Ware & Dominion Glass 
Pedestal Mugs 
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Wildflower Corelle
Spice O' Life Corelle
Blue Cornflower Corelle
Compare Country Festival & Friendship