History

• Brothers Frank L. and John W. Fenton founded the Fenton Art Glass Co. in 1905, using an old glass factory building in Martins Ferry, Ohio. Fenton remained at the forefront of the handmade art glass industry due to Franks desire to innovate with color. The company began as a glass decorating firm, but the brothers soon decided to build a glass factory in Williamstown, West Virginia. The brothers made their first glass there Jan. 2, 1907. The Fenton's glass designs were influenced by Tiffany and Steuben artists up to the 1920s. The Depression and World War II shortages led Fenton to make practical items, such as mixing bowls and tableware, during the 1930s and 1940s.
  
  

Feton Carnival Glass

• Fenton introduced its iridescent glass in late 1907. Now known as "carnival" glass, it is highly popular among antique glassware collectors. The factory manager, glass chemist Jacob Rosenthal, and company co-founder Frank Fenton created this type of glass, called Iridill. Rosenthal's chocolate or caramel-and-golden agate glass pieces are sought-after collector's items.
  
  

Characteristics

• Since Fenton's development of Iridill, there have been many manufacturers of carnival glass, so called because it was often given away as a promotion at carnivals, movies and grocery stores from about 1907 to 1925, according to Collectors Weekly.com. The iridescent effect is achieved by spraying the glass with metallic solutions. There are many different designs of Fenton carnival glass. For example, their distinctive edges may be smooth with gentle undulations or appear crimped, ruffled or like the teeth of a saw, among other designs, says Collector Weekly.com.
  
  

Hobnail Glass

• Fenton's carnival glass lines were dropped during the hard times of the Depression, according to Collectors Weekly.com. What rescued the company was the development of Hobnail glass, a Victorian-style glass with a uniformly bumpy surface that resembles the bottoms of hobnail boots. One pattern of Hobnail glass, Diamond Lace, added the qualities of Spiral Optics. The most popular type of Hobnail glass, however, was milk glass Hobnail. This style not only became the company's flagship in the 1950s, but also contributed to a resurgence of interest in the retro glassware form, which uses opaque white glass.
  
  

Present

• As of 2010, the Fenton Art Glass Co. consists of eight family members and more than 100 employees. Fenton has found audiences for its 1970s Iridill reissues and its first lines of 1970s Burmese glassware, with creamy pink opaque surfaces that are often hand-painted. The collector's clubs--Fenton Art Glass Collectors of America, the National Fenton Glass Society and the Pacific Northwest Fenton Association--hold annual conventions.