Borrowings (ABL Credit Agreement Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended											3 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2013 ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Subsidiaries, Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member] entity	Dec. 31, 2012 Subsidiaries, Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Subsidiaries, Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Letter of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Subsidiary, Libbey Glass [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Subsidiary, Libbey Glass [Member] Line of Credit, Swingline [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Subsidiaries, Present and Future Direct and Indirect Domestic Subsidiaries of Libbey Glass [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Subsidiaries, First-tier Present and Future Foreign Subsidiaries of Libbey Glass [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Subsidiary, Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Subsidiary, Libbey Europe [Member] Line of Credit, Swingline [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Subsidiaries, Dutch Subsidiaries of Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 CB Floating Rate [Member] Line of Credit, Swingline [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Netherlands Swing Line Rate [Member] Line of Credit, Swingline [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Line of Credit [Member] Subsidiaries, Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Line of Credit [Member] Subsidiaries, Libbey Glass and Libbey Europe [Member] ABL Facility [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Maximum [Member] Subsidiaries, First-Tier Subsidiaries of Libbey Europe and its Dutch Subsidiaries [Member] ABL Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Number of financial institutions participating					4
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity					$ 100,000,000		$ 30,000,000		$ 15,000,000				$ 7,500,000
Security, percent of entity stock								100.00%		100.00%		100.00%		100.00%					100.00%
Security, percent of entity stock, non-voting											100.00%
Security, percent of entity stock, voting											65.00%
Applicable rates															0.50%	1.50%
Commitment fee percentage				0.375%
Covenant terms, conditional minimum fixed charge coverage ratio	1
Covenant, fixed charge coverage ratio, unused borrowing capacity below which covenant is applicable					10,000,000
Additional available borrowing capacity					25,000,000
Total borrowings	423,001,000		466,059,000														0	0
Interest period, minimum																	1 month
Interest period, maximum																	6 months
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding							8,700,000
Borrowing base, component of sum, % of eligible accounts receivable					85.00%
Borrowing base, alternative component of sum, % of NOLV of eligible inventory					85.00%
Borrowing base, alternative component of sum, % of eligible inventory					65.00%
Borrowing base, alternative component of sum, amount					75,000,000
Borrowing base, amount of rent reserves offset					700,000
Borrowing base, amount of natrual gas reserves offset					200,000
Line of credit facility, remaining borrowing capacity					82,900,000	68,600,000
Write-off of finance fee & discounts on senior notes and ABL	$ 1,168,000	$ 10,975,000