A Brief History of the Fenton Glass Company

Fenton Glass is a highly collectible brand of decorative glassware that is manufactured in Williamstown, West Virginia. Founded in the early 1900's by Frank and John Fenton, in Martins Ferry, Ohio. The Fenton company is considered to be the largest producer of handmade colored glass in the United States today. The Fenton family has maintained the origional company mission of being innovative in their design as well as their color choices almost since inception. Today, Fenton Glass is as well known for their hand painted decorative touches as they are for their stunning handblown glass art.

The Fenton brothers started the family operated business by hand painting decorative touches on glass that was purchased from other manufacturers. The brothers quickly ran into problems with obtaining the needed glass blanks and began manufacturing their own glass. The first run of true Fenton Glass was produced on January 2, 1907. In the early days of production, the Fenton line of glassware was modeled after the famous glass works of the Tiffany and Stuben style glass art. In 1907, Fenton introduced colored glass, that would later be coined carnival glass. This colorful iridescent glass is highly collectible today and was originated by Fenton Glass.

During the great depression, most of the Fenton collection concentrated on practical items such as table settings and other kitchen necessities but the company quickly returned to their decorative glass background after WWII. Today, Fenton Glass is still family owned and operated with nine Fenton family members at the helm and over 400 employees in their Williamstown, West Virginia factory. Fenton Glass is typically sold in higher end department stores and gift shops as well as through the ever popular television based retailer QVC.

Fenton Glass was first introduced on QVC in 1987. The Fenton Birthstone Bears were chosen by QVC as the first piece to offer but since that time, over 1,400 different pieces of Fenton Glass have sold to loyal QVC viewers. QVC receives most of the credit for keeping existing Fenton Glass collectors up to date as well as introducing new collectors to the Fenton Glass line of collectibles. During the Fenton Glass Centennial Celebration, QVC did a live broadcast of the celebration from the fair grounds located near the Fenton Glass plant in Williamstown, West Virginia. Collectors came from all over the world to attend this special celebration in hopes of meeting their favorite Fenton Artist or acquiring a piece of Fenton that was only available to attendees of the celebration.

If you are a fan of Fenton Glass, you can visit their manufacturing facility in Williamstown, West Virginia and take a factory tour to see the glass being made. Fenton Glass keeps collectors interested with their impressive hand painted decorations as well as their classic gold accents. Because of the hand painted art that is added toFenton Glass, no two pieces of Fenton Glass are ever the same. Today the Fenton Glass collection is geared towards the collector, typically offering hand painted pieces that are often numbered with limited quantities being produced.

For more information on Fenton Glass, you can visit their company website at http://www.fentonartglass.com