eBay Guides - Fenton Art Glass Closes It's Doors Nov 2007

Update: Thankfully Fenton has reorganized & remains open. When word reached the Fenton Collectors, the reaction was tremendous. Their orders gave Fenton the opportunity to restructure remain open. They now have two divisions, the U.S.A. division, still hand made in West Virginia and the International division, made in China, affordable, though I'm sure less collectable. I hope you find the information in the guide below helpful.

Fenton Art Glass Set To Close Nov. 2007 -

Initial plans called for the plant to close this month, but a wave of last-minute orders will keep workers producing and decorating glass through November 2007. A gift shop and museum, which are housed in the plant but operated by a separate company, will stay open until the contents are sold. I like many of you Fenton Collectors out there am very sad to see it close after 102 years of magnificant production. Fenton Art Glass Company started with $284.85 of pooled money back in 1905. Family owned and operated for all of its 102 years. It has succumbed to the pressures of cheap foreign imports. There was a time when nearly every home in America held a Fenton plate, basket, candy dish, punch bowl, fluted vase or other fancy piece pulled out only for special occasions. But the fervor of Fenton collectors and tourists who made the plant one of West Virginia's most popular stops has not been enough to shore up one of the last bastians of the industry.

Fenton Art Glass survived previous economic downturns by producing a wide variety of innovative colors, shapes, figures and animals that appealed to a broad base of buyers. Among its most famous lines were the luminous red pieces known as Cranberry and the knob-covered, opaque white hobnail milk glass that debuted and caught on at the end of the Great Depression. Along with it's coveted Burmese line, produced by using gold and uranium.

But despite months of efforts to restructure its finances, the company no longer can withstand combined blows: Competition from lower-priced foreign imports, economic conditions that have taxed the wallets of its longtime customers, and rising costs of natural gas used to melt sand for glass-making.

Fenton Art Glass founders Frank L. and John Fenton were grandchildren of Irish immigrant John Fenton, who in the 1880s settled in Westmoreland County, PA. Family members worked in glass companies in Indiana, Pa., and around the region, prompting brothers Frank and John to try running their own company.

They initially rented a building in Martins Ferry, Ohio, where workers painted and decorated glass purchased elsewhere. But when the Fentons encountered supply problems, they built their own factory in 1907 in Williamstown, WV.

Their first piece: a crystal pitcher in the now-famous Water Lily and Cattails pattern. Over the next century, the Fenton family would develop signature lines known for distinctive finishes and hues produced by the addition of gold or other substances to glass formulas.

Because of Fentons wide variety of products and price points, there is a broad base of collectors worldwide, who scour gift shops and flea markets, and Ebay, looking for a coveted piece to add to their collection. If you are among these collectors or someone who appreciates works of art produced by hand, you have a small window of opportunity to visit Fenton Art Glass before it closes. Williamstown WV is a small town of 3000 people in western W.V. Across the Ohio River from Marietta Ohio. Lodging is inexpensive & it is right off Interstate 77, very easy to find. I highly recommend you take a tour before it is gone forever.

For those of you who cannot travel to Fenton, I have posted some photo's below.