Vintage Tiki Glassware
The mid-century American glass houses—Indiana Glass, Federal Glass, Hoosier Glass, Anchor Hocking, Hazel-Atlas—produced the tiki and exotic-cocktail glassware that actual 1950s–70s Polynesian Pop bars used. Most are out of business; their output lives on through eBay, estate sales, and dedicated collectors. The vintage option for a period-correct home bar.
Where the original glasses live now.
This profile covers a category rather than a single brand. The mid-century glass industry in the American Midwest—Indiana Glass (Dunkirk, Indiana), Federal Glass (Columbus, Ohio), Hoosier Glass (Indiana), Hazel-Atlas (Wheeling, West Virginia), and the older Anchor Hocking and Libbey output—produced thousands of patterns of cocktail glassware between roughly 1945 and 1975. Most of the companies merged, went bankrupt, or shut down during the 1970s and 1980s. Their output lives on through the vintage market.
For a home bar that wants period-correct glassware—the actual glasses an actual 1958 Polynesian Pop bar might have served from—the vintage market is the only source.
What to look for
- Hurricane glasses with hand-painted Polynesian motifs (palm trees, tikis, outrigger canoes). Indiana Glass and Hazel-Atlas both produced these in the 1960s. Singles run $15–30; matched sets of four run $40–80.
- Tiki-themed swizzle sets—glass with matching swizzle sticks, often hand-painted. Federal Glass made notable ones in the 1950s.
- Hoosier Tropicana glasses—curved highballs with hand-painted floral patterns. Iconic 1960s tiki bar glasses.
- Mid-century Atomic pattern barware—not specifically tiki but tonally adjacent, suited to the Polynesian Pop bar aesthetic.
Where to find
- Mid-Century Cocktail Glassware Collection on eBay — the curated landing for this category. eBay’s dealer ecosystem is the deepest single market for vintage cocktail glassware; the Collection surfaces currently-available hand-painted Hurricanes, Tropicana highballs, Indiana Glass and Hazel-Atlas patterns.
- Replacements, Ltd. (replacements.com) specializes in discontinued and vintage glassware patterns; useful for finding specific patterns or completing sets.
- Local estate sales and antique malls in the Midwest specifically (the manufacturing-belt cities—Toledo, Lancaster, Wheeling, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh) reliably have decent vintage tiki and barware glass.
- Etsy for restored or curated pieces, usually at higher markup than direct estate-sale buying.
A note on condition: hand-painted patterns from this era are prone to wear—dishwashers and decades have stripped many. Look for sharp paint edges and confirm with the seller before buying.
For a home tiki bar, mixing one or two vintage statement pieces (a hand-painted Hurricane, a Tropicana highball) with everyday Libbey/Anchor Hocking workhorses is the right balance.
To go deeper
- Related entries Libbey, Anchor Hocking, Vintage & Out-of-Print via eBay, Vintage Orchids of Hawaii.