Libbey, Inc., (formerly Libbey Glass Company and New England Glass Company) is a

glass production Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass. Glass container ...

company headquartered in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. It was originally founded in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

as the ''New England Glass Company'' in 1818'','' before relocating to Ohio in 1888 and renaming to ''Libbey Glass Co''. After it was purchased in 1935, it operated as part of the

Libbey-Owens-Ford The Libbey-Owens-Ford Company (LOF) was a producer of flat glass for the automotive and building products industries both for original equipment manufacturers and for replacement use. The company's headquarters and main factories were located in T ...

company and as a division of the Owens-Illinois glass company until 1993, when it was separated back into an independent company. The company manufactures a number of

glassware upTypical drinkware The list of glassware includes drinking vessels (drinkware) and tableware used to set a table for eating a meal, general glass items such as vases, and glasses used in the catering industry. It does not include laboratory glas ...

products, primarily

tableware Tableware is any dish or dishware used for setting a table, serving food, and dining. It includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes, and other items for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variety and number of o ...

, drinkware and

stemware Stemware is drinkware that stands on stems above a base. It is usually made from glass, but may be made from ceramics or metals. The stem allows the drinker to hold the glass without affecting the temperature of the drink. Stemware includes: * ...

. Historically, it was also involved in producing other types of glass products, such as automotive glass, glass drinking bottles, and light bulbs.

History

New England Glass Company (1818–1892)

The New England Glass Company was originally founded in

by Amos Binney, Edmund Munroe, Daniel Hastings, and Deming Jarves on February 16, 1818. The company produced both blown and pressed glass objects in a variety of colors, which had

engraved Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

cut Cut may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely-directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** Cut (ea ...

, etched, and gilded decorations. The firm was one of the first glass companies to use a steam engine to operate its cutting machines, and it built the only oven in the country that could manufacture

red lead Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

, a key ingredient in the making of so-called

flint glass Flint glass is optical glass that has relatively high refractive index and low Abbe number (high dispersion). Flint glasses are arbitrarily defined as having an Abbe number of 50 to 55 or less. The currently known flint glasses have refractiv ...

. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the New England Glass Company was considered one of the leading glasshouses in the United States, best known for its cut and engraved glass. At its start, the company occupied a disused East Cambridge warehouse erected by the recently failed Boston Porcelain and Glass Company. It was fitted with two flint furnaces, 24 steam-operated glass-cutting mills, and a red-lead furnace, which in combination could produce many types of plain, molded, and cut glass. The company charter permitted it to manufacture "

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

and crown glass of all kinds in the towns of Boston and Cambridge." At that time, about 40 glass factories existed in the United States, though most had few employees. Deming Jarves held one key advantage over his competitors in the glass manufacturing business; he held the American monopoly on

(lithage), which was essential for the production of fine lead glass. In 1826, however, Jarves left to found the

Boston and Sandwich Glass Company The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company was incorporated in 1826 to hold the glass factory built a year earlier in Sandwich, Massachusetts, by Deming Jarves. The factory was closed in 1888 amid disputes with a newly formed glassmakers' labor union ...

. Through the 1820s, the company exhibited at the

American Institute Fair The American Institute Fair was held annually from 1829 until at least 1897 in New York City by the American Institute. The American Institute was founded in 1829 "for the encouragement of agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and the arts." The ...

, won a

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memori ...

award for "skill and ingenuity," and established agencies in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The company took full advantage of the introduction of

pressed glass Pressed glass (or pattern glass)
is a form of

paperweights.Laura Cotton. The fancy paperweights of the New England Glass Company. The Magazine Antiques, 1 Oct 2006. Vol.170, Iss.4 The company flourished as one of America's leading glass manufacturers through the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, but the development of inexpensive soda-lime glass in West Virginia brought a deep decline in sales, which dropped from about $500,000 in 1865 to $232,304 in 1876, when the workforce had been reduced to only 200 laborers. In 1877, the company's directors withdrew from active participation, leasing the property to William Libbey, their agent since 1870. William L. Libbey took over the company in 1878 and renamed it the New England Glass Works, Wm. L. Libbey & Sons Props. In 1888, William's son,

Edward Drummond Libbey Edward Drummond Libbey (April 17, 1854 – November 13, 1925) is regarded as the father of the glass industry in Toledo, Ohio, where he opened the Libbey Glass Company (later Libbey, Inc.) in 1888. Biography Libbey was born April 17, 1854, in C ...

, moved the company to

Libbey Glass Company (1892–1935)

The company's name was changed to The Libbey Glass Company in 1892, and it became part of

for a number of years. During this time the company was involved in the production of automotive glass in its partnership with

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

. The other part of the partnership — between Edward Libbey and inventor

Michael Joseph Owens Michael Joseph Owens (January 1, 1859 – December 27, 1923) was an inventor of machines to automate the production of glass bottles. Biography He was born in Mason County, West Virginia on January 1, 1859. He left school at the age of 10 t ...

of the Owens Bottle Machine Company — proved valuable, as Owens developed the first automatic manufacturing methods for light bulbs, which, after adapted to manufacture Libbey's glass products, greatly increased the company's production output. Owens' contributions to the automation methods in the glass and bottling industries spread throughout the United States as the popularity of bottled drinks (and glass products as a whole) became more popular and cheaper to produce in the coming decades.

Libbey Glass Division, Owens-Illinois (1935–1993)

Libbey Glass Company was acquired by Owens-Illinois Glass Company in 1935, but in 1993 it was spun off as an independent company.

Libbey Inc. (1993–present)

In April 1993, Owens-Illinois announced that it would sell the Libbey Glass division for an estimated $225 million. The sale was viewed as a negative sign for the industry, as earlier that year the Libbey-Owens-Ford Co. had considered (but ultimately decided against) moving its headquarters to

Monroe, Michigan Monroe is the largest city and county seat of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Monroe had a population of 20,462 in the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but the two are administered auton ...

, while Toledo was still struggling to maintain its status as a significant glass exporter. Libbey would be spun off as an independent company, and would make its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

in June 1993. The company marked its 200th anniversary in 2018. In April that year, the

Toledo Museum of Art The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...

featured a variety of glass artwork from its collection, all produced by Libbey over several decades. The company also hosted an invitation-only event in May that included performances from the

Toledo Symphony Orchestra The Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts was created in 2019 when the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the Toledo Ballet merged. Based in Toledo, Ohio, it operated with a $13.2 million budget in its fiscal year 2020 and maintains the two brand n ...

, as well as a public event at the museum. In March 2019, Libbey announced that it had hired Mike Bauer, the former president of Master Lock Company, to replace Bill Foley as Chief Executive Officer. Foley would retire, but remain as a board chairman. In June 2020, Libbey announced plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as the result of negative financial effects caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Prior to the announcement, Libbey had awarded a total of over $3 million in bonuses to its executive staff in an attempt to dissuade them from leaving the company, after having temporarily decreased their pay by 20-25%. This was done in addition to furloughing approximately 50% of its North American workforce and suspending 401(k) matching, among other cost-saving measures. In October 2020, Libbey emerged from Chapter 11. In December 2020, Libbey closed its Shreveport plant putting 450 employees out of work.

Galleries

New England Glass Company

File:NEGC glassblowing department.jpg, The glassblowing department of the New England Glass Company, c.1855. File:NEGC cutting room.jpg, Glass-cutting room of the New England Glass Company, c. 1855. File:NEGC showroom.jpg, Showroom of the New England Glass Company, c. 1855. File:Glassware (New England Glass Company, Main building), by Centennial Photographic Co. 2.jpg, Display of New England Glass Co., 1876

Products

File:Sugar bowl MET 2000.509.1;.2a,b.jpg, Sugar bowl and cream pitcher, free-blown glass with applied decoration, 1815–1835 File:Cream pitcher MET DP207360.jpg, Cream pitcher, pressed glass, 1827–35 File:Oil Lamp MET 224272.jpg, Oil Lamp, pressed and free-blown white opaque glass, 1830–1840 File:Ewer LACMA 56.35.182.jpg, New England Glass Company ewer, 1840–1860 File:Kerosene Table Lamp LACMA M.85.32.jpg, Kerosene Table Lamp, ca. 1850 File:Girandole MET ADA5241.jpg,

Girandole A girandole (; from French, in turn from Italian ''girandola'') is an ornamental branched candlestick or light fixture consisting of several lights, often resembling a small chandelier. Girandoles came into use about the second half of the 17th ce ...

, cased and cut blown and engraved glass, 1850–1860 File:Seal MET ADA5419.jpg, Seal, 1850–1870 File:Vase with witch ball MET DP208393.jpg, Vase with witch ball, blown glass, 1850–1875 File:Wine Glass MET ADA5501.jpg, Wine glass, blown glass, 1850–80 File:Compote MET DP341291.jpg, Compote, red-cut-to-clear-glass, 1855–70 File:Hat stand MET ADA4988.jpg, Hat stand, free-blown silvered glass, 1855–1875 File:Perfume decanter MET DP704308.jpg, Perfume decanter, green cased over colorless lead glass, 1866–70 File:"Wild Rose" Lily vase MET DP704300.jpg, "Wild Rose" Lily vase, blown glass, ca. 1886 File:Covered jar MET DP208395.jpg, Covered jar, blown

Amberina ''Amberina'' is a type of two-toned glassware, which was originally made from 1883 to about 1900. Amberina was patented by Joseph Locke of the New England Glass Company Libbey, Inc., (formerly Libbey Glass Company and New England Glass Company) i ...

glass, 1883–1888

References

{{Authority control 1818 establishments in Massachusetts Companies formerly listed on NYSE American Glassmaking companies of the United States History of Cambridge, Massachusetts Companies based in Toledo, Ohio Manufacturing companies based in Ohio Manufacturing companies established in 1818 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020