Fenton Art Glass

Within a year, John had left the company to establish his own firm, Millersburg Glass Company in Ohio. Simultaneously, Fenton went into full production on a variety of Iridill styles. As with the designs of Steuben and Tiffany that Fenton emulated, most of Fenton’s patterns drew from nature. There are bowls lined with acorns amid oak or grape leaves—pitchers are often adorned with blueberry vines or the fruit-laden branches of apple trees.

Animals made their appearances on Fenton pieces, too. Dragons paired with flowering lotus blossoms were common to Fenton bowls, though the plates bearing these patterns are rare. Butterflies on vases and beakers were also a favorite motif. And then there are the pair of panthers that stalked the insides of footed Fenton bowls in a variety of colors—today these pieces, especially the red ones, are among the most collectible antique Fentons available.

Into the 1920s, the market for Fenton glass was strong, with new designs such as Coin Dot, a precursor to some of the work that would follow in the 1940s and 1950s. But by the Depression, there were so many imitators of Iridill and competitors of Fenton that eventually this type of glass became cheap enough to be given away as prizes at carnivals, which is how it came to be known as carnival glass in the 1950s.

To diversify its product line and cope with the dire economic times, Fenton made household items such as plates and mixing bowls and took commissions from lighting manufacturers such as Lightolier. Like Lalique, the company also contracted to make perfume bottles, in Fenton’s case for a company called Wrisley.

Fenton’s work for both Lightolier and Wrisley used a style of glass called Hobnail that had been out of fashion since the Victorian era. The technique was to blow or press glass into a mold to create a grid of knobs, resembling the hobnails on the bottom of a boot, on the glass’s surface. By the end of the 1930s, Fenton would begin producing its own Hobnail pieces, which by the 1950s were produced in a milk glass version that proved more popular than even Iridill.

Other designs produced during the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s include the ruffled-edge Crest pieces, the twisting Spiral Optics, and Diamond Lace, which combined the bumpy of surface of the Hobnails with the optical qualities of the Spiral Optics.

By the 1950s, many Fenton bowls were adorned with handles to turn them into baskets. Up until that decade, no Fenton piece had carried its maker’s mark, but now Fenton decided that the work of the handler (the gaffer who takes a band of molten glass and with a few deft moves fashions it into a handle) should be recognized. This helps collectors of vintage Fenton to identify the date and pedigree of pieces from 1953 to the present.

About our sources | Got something to add?