Pedestal Mugs

Also known as Footed or Continental Cups, there are two styles of opal glass Pedestal Mugs which have considerable relevance to Corning and Corelle patterns.  They are, without a doubt, look-alike products and the mugs themselves were made by Federal Glass; they are not Pyrex, and are not made by Corning or even licensed by the company.

The first type stands about 4½ inches and has a ‘B' shaped handle.  This one can be found decorated with imitations of Snowflake Blue, Butterfly Gold, Spring Blossom Green, Old Town Blue, Indian Summer, Blue Heather and Spice O' Life.  They were sold by James Bradley Associates under their Glassmates brand.  Some of them may have the Federal logo on the bottom, but it seems many have no maker's mark at all.  These mugs might have been purchased undecorated from Federal, and the patterns applied by JBA.  It is the Glassmates name which dominates the original packaging, not Federal Glass. 

Federal Glass pedestal mugs.  B-handle at left; taller style at right.

The second type stands 5½ inches on a taller pedestal, and has a more ordinary handle which is angled slightly upwards.  There are plenty of these mugs about with a Spice O' Life type pattern.  There is no indication yet that another company was involved in producing this fake Spice pattern, perhaps Federal Glass marketed it themselves.  It would appear that all of these mugs are unmarked, but a reference book has identified them as Federal.

Both types of pedestal mugs have been observed with a wide range of non-Corning/Corelle designs.  There are a great many decorated along the lines of company advertising and tourist souvenirs.  Many seem to be fairly trivial enterprises and it is doubtful that Federal was taking orders like this.  For example, there are a few mugs which commemorate high school reunions; this doesn't seem like a job large enough for a major glass producer to bother with.  On the whole, it looks like Federal Glass sold the mugs blank and local third party printing companies used them for the ‘your name here' kind of custom designs.  This is very likely to be how James Bradley Associates comes into this scenario.

James Bradley Assoc. Butterfly Gold version on B-handle pedestal mug.

These two styles of pedestal mugs were also produced with attractive patterns of more widespread appeal.  These are more likely to be decorated by Federal and sold at the retail level with their brand name on the packaging.  Maybe this is where the fake Spice 5½ inch mugs fit in.  There are also many 5½ inch mugs in solid colours of white, blue and red, either smooth or with a textured exterior.  These appear to be gas station premiums from the 1970s.

Federal also had a third type of pedestal mug which was a more elegant style than the first two. It has been seen with many types of decoration, but one in particular was reminiscent of Corning's Blue Cornflower.