by Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson
Scripps Howard News Service
Dear Helaine and Joe: Could you please give me some information on this piece of Fenton glass? My son bought it for me at a thrift store when he was a child. I have seen a lot of Fenton, but not this heavy or with this square shape.
--D.S., Palm Desert, Calif.
Dear D.S.:The Fenton Art Glass Company, which made this hexagonal glass planter, or six-sided bowl, is still very much in business.
It started out in 1905 in Martin's Ferry, Ohio, as a glass decorating shop and bought "blanks" from companies that made the glass. By 1907, however, the Fenton brothers had built a plant across the Ohio River in Williamstown, W.V., to make their own glass. Since then, the company has made an incredibly wide variety of glass, but it is perhaps most famous for the carnival glass it made in a large number of patterns and colors.
The piece belonging to D.S. was made from the company's original formula for carnival glass, first made between 1907 and about 1920. At initial glance, this type of glass appears to be blue-green, but in reality has an amethyst glass base that is visible when the object is held to a strong light.
This type of glass reportedly was reintroduced in 1970 and made at least until 1983. D.S.'s bowl falls into this later period of production because it is signed with the word "Fenton" in an oval, which was not done until 1970.
Now here is where the story becomes a little bit complicated, because the design of this particular bowl did not originate with the Fenton Art Glass Company. Instead, it was made from a mold that was created by Verlys, a concern that can trace its origins to France in the early 1930s.
The history of this company is not entirely clear, but Verlys is said to have started in France in 1931 as part of the Society Anyone Holophane Les Andelys. This company made high-quality pressed glass that was somewhat reminiscent of the work of Rene Lalique. In 1935, the Holophane Lighting Company of Newark, Ohio, established a company called "Verlys of America" to make this molded glass on this side of the Atlantic.
Verlys of America is said to have stopped production in 1951. And about 1955 it leased its molds to the A.H. Heisey Company (also of Newark, Ohio), which made Verlys glass for a short time. In 1966, Fenton acquired the molds, and for a time in the late 1960s and throughout most of the 1970s produced glass in these molds.
The hexagonal bowl in today's question was made between 1970 and 1973, and examples can be found in a number of colors other than the shade found on D.S.'s bowl. Even though this is relatively recent Fenton glass, it is considered collectible. But its insurance replacement value is less than $125 at this time.
(Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of Treasures in Your Attic . Questions can by mailed to them at P.O. Box 12208, Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.)
Resources Treasures In Your Attic
by Joe L. Rosson, Helaine Fendelman (ISBN: 0060198273)
Subtitled: An entertaining, informative, down-to-earth guide to a wide range of collectibles and antiques from the hosts of the popular television show seen on PBS stations.
(Harper Resource, April 2001)
Order this
title.
Treasures In Your Attic
c/o WSJK/WKOP-TV
1611 E. Magnolia Ave.
Knoxville, TN 37917
Phone: 865-595-0220
Fax: 865-595-0300
Email:
elaine_tomber@wsjk.pbs.org
URL:
www.treasuresinyourattic.org
)
