Vaseline Glass - Stretch Glass Vase - Fenton Stretch Glass - Topaz Stretch Glass - Ring Optic Vase

Fenton's Vaseline Glass:
Topaz stretch glass vases of 1917 - 1929

A rare Fenton Ring Optic vase
in  "Topaz" vaseline stretch glass, circa 1927.
This vase sold for $579 on E-Bay in 2007.

photo by 5hills

Introduction

           The purpose of this guide is to furnish information on Fenton vaseline glass made before 1930, and to provide photographs of rare and notable early Fenton vaseline glass pieces that appeared on E-Bay in 2007-2008.  Part I of this guide focuses on Fenton's early "canary opalescent" glass.  Part II  centers on Fenton's vaseline carnival glass.  This section, Part III, provides information on Fenton's vaseline stretch glass, with a focus on vases.  These guides have been made possible by the E-Bayers who have contributed photographs to them.  Please leave feedback by clicking on the button at the bottom of this page.

Introduction:  Stretch Glass

          Stretch glass was manufactured in the United States between 1916 and the early 1930's, by nine companies:  Central, Diamond Glass-Ware, Fenton, Imperial, Jeannette, Lancaster, Northwood, U.S. Glass and Vineland Flint.  Fenton first produced stretch glass in 1917.  According to Margaret and Kenn Whitmyer's Fenton Art Glass 1907-1939 ( p.119),  public interest in carnival glass began to decline in the early 1920's, and Fenton thus focused its resources on producing a different style of iridescent glass.  Heralded as "poor man's Tiffany," Fenton's stretch glass was accepted with such enthusiasm by buyers that the company continued to issue stretchware "in vast quantities" until the end of the 1920's.           

          Unlike carnival glass, stretch glass tends to have no mold-pressed decorations on its surface, and is usually shaped into a very simple pattern. The iridescence of stretch glass is also distinctive;  David Doty describes it as "usually a soft lustrous type, sometimes with an onion skin effect" (ddoty.com/stretch.html):

Detail of onion-skin surface of stretch glass (left)
with detail of Tiffany Favrile glass (right)
photos by lan5 and *treasurehunter*

           Stretch glass resembles iridescent art glass such as Tiffany's Favrile and Steuben's Aurene -- in fact, unscrulpulous dealers have been known to forge Tiffany signatures and Steuben marks on stretch glass in an effort to pass it off as expensive art glass.  Stretch glass, however, is generally distinguishable, because Aurene and Favrile are forms of hand-blown glass that show a tell-tale "pontil mark" or circular depression underneath; this mark is left by the iron pontil rod used by glassblowers to hold hot blown-glass pieces.  Hand-blown art glass pieces may be one-of-a-kind, while each pattern and shape of stretch glass was issued in a quantity of pieces. 

           To produce stretch glass, the glassmaker pressed or blew glass into a mold; next, the glass was removed and, while still hot, sprayed with metallic salts to give it surface iridescence; the glass was then reheated and "worked" a little like pie dough -- it was crimped or flared out or cupped inward.  Working the glass stretched the iridescent surface, creating the onion-skin effect.  This process was distinct from that used in Favrile and Aurene, whose iridescence was achieved by mixing metallic salts into molten glass; as the glass cooled, the salts rose to the surface.  Informative photographs showing how stretch glass was made can be found at the website of The Stretch Glass Society (stretchglasssociety.org/About Stretch Glass.html).

Fenton's Early Topaz Stretch Glass Vases (1917 - 1929)

            On June 28, 1917, the trade journal known as The Pottery, Brass & Glassware Salesman announced that the Fenton Art Glass Company of Williamstown, West Virginia, had issued "a beautiful line of iridescent glassware... in a dainty silvery iridescence.  The line has been correctly named 'Silver Sun' and is shown in a number of iridescent colorings."   The journal described Fenton's stretch glass, a new kind of iridescent glassware whose shimmery surface was similar to that of Tiffany's Favrile ware and Steuben's Aurene glass.

            Although Fenton introduced its stretch glass under the name "Silver Sun" by 1921, the glass was referred to in many advertisements as "Fenton Florentine".  Fenton issued stretch glass in a broad variety of shapes, including but not limited to vases, bowls, plates, compotes, candleholders, pitchers, tumblers, covered jars and colognes.  If you are seeking to identify a specific Fenton piece not shown here, we recommend that you consult  American Iridescent Stretch Glass by John Madeley & Dave Shetlar, which provides countless photographs of Fenton's stretch-glass pieces.  The Shetlars also maintain a website that documents examples of stretch glass made by Fenton and several other glassworks (shetlarglass.com/).  

             According to American Iridescent Stretch Glass (p. 14), Fenton produced stretch glass in a multitude of colors, among them a yellow vaseline variety that Fenton christened "Topaz stretch glass".  Fenton's Topaz stretch glass, like Fenton's canary opalescent and carnival vaseline glass, contains uranium dioxide as a colorant.  The glass thus glows brilliant green under ultraviolet light:

 

Fenton's Topaz Melon Rib wide fan vase, circa 1921
in daylight (left) and fluorescing under ultraviolet light (right)
photos by yesteryrol

           Among Fenton's most striking early Topaz stretch glass pieces were its vases.  Margaret and Kenn Whitmyer write in Fenton Art Glass 1907-1939 (p.143-145) that Fenton produced a limited number of vaseline stretch glass vases.  These included simple footed bud vases, fan vases and flared and crimped vases, usually issued in simple numbered patterns.  Some stretch-glass vase patterns are now avidly sought and have been assigned names by collectors, among them Melon Rib, Double Dolphin, Rib Optic, Concave Diamonds and Cornucopia. 

          Many of these show an elegant simplicity of design that reflects the nascent Art Deco movement's preference for streamlined and symmetrical trapezoidal shapes.  An example is the Melon Rib fan vase shown above.  Fenton's Melon Rib vases (also called Fenton #847) are fan-shaped, with smoothly rounded triangular panels.  The vases were formed from bowl molds and all have eight interior ribs and a 3 1/4" base.  The above vase  is 9" high and 10 1/2" wide.  Fenton's Melon Rib vases are now widely collected; the Shetlar website shows an impressive collection of Melon Rib stretch glass vases in a broad variety of colors and shapes (shetlarglass.com/stretchglass/SGCompanies/Fenton/Fenton05.htm).

Topaz stretch glass Double Dolphins and Rib Optic and fan vases, circa 1920's
photos by janfrancisco4750 (left) and curculiosglass

          According to a September 24, 1925 advertisement placed in the Crockery and Glass Journal, Fenton's fan vases were designed "in just the shape to hold dainty violets" and were referred to as "violet vases".  Fenton's Topaz Double Dolphin stretch-glass fan vases (above left) feature a flattened-goblet shape with handles in the form of stylized dolphins.  These handsome vases are also widely collected.  The above vase is 5 1/2" tall and 6 1/4" wide, with a base diameter of 3 1/8".  Double Dolphin stretch glass vases also appear in ice blue, Tangerine, Florentine green and a pink shade called Velva Rose (see www.ddoty.com/).  Double Dolphin fan vases were reissued by Fenton in the 1970's, but contemporary re-issues should bear the Fenton logo.

          The elegant simplicity that characterizes stretch glass is most evident in Fenton's Rib Optic fan vases (above right), issued between 1921 and 1929 (see Heacock's Fenton Glass:  The First Twenty-five Years, pp.  88,92).  As shown in Part I of this guide, in opalescent glass, Rib Optic pieces are striped with white.  On Fenton's stretch glass fan vases, however, the ribbed pattern is subtler, appearing as a series of elusively-defined ribs that extend from the vase mouth to the stem, producing a faceted effect that sets off the iridescence well.  The Rib Optic fan vase shown above (also known as Fenton #572) is approximately 8 3/4" tall and 6 1/4" wide with a 3 3/4" base.  Fenton issued Rib Optic Fan vases in several heights and widths, in Topaz, Florentine green and a purple shade called "Wistaria" (sic).  

               As yet undocumented Fenton Topaz stretch-glass vase patterns continue to surface.  In December, 2007, the sole known example of a Topaz stretch glass vase in Fenton's Ring Optic pattern appeared on E-Bay; photographs of this vase appear at page top and immediately below.  This extraordinary find was unearthed by E-Bayer 5hills and sold for $579:

A rare Fenton Ring Optic vase
in  "Topaz" vaseline stretch glass, circa 1927
photos by 5hills

Before surfacing on E-Bay, this vase had been undocumented in vaseline.   According to William Heacock's Fenton Glass:  The First Twenty-Five Years, p. 63, Ring Optic vases were issued in stretch glass in 1927.  Margaret & Kenn Whitmyer's Fenton Art Glass 1907-1939, 2nd ed. (pp. 172-173), records that Fenton's Ring Optic stretch vases were produced in the twenties in Celeste Blue, Persian Pearl (white) and Tangerine stretch glass.  David Doty notes that stretch glass Ring Optic vases were produced, in addition, in Grecian Gold (marigold) (ddoty.com/ringopticvase.html).

Fenton's Victoria Topaz Stretch Glass

            In addition to producing "Topaz" stretch glass, Fenton made an unusual vaseline opalescent stretch glass called "Victoria Topaz".  This glass combined opalescence with an iridescent surface effect produced through the same method as Fenton's other stretch glass.  Like Fenton's Topaz, Victoria Topaz stretch glass contains uranium and fluoresces bright green under ultraviolet light. 

          Victoria Topaz ware appeared in 1921, and was used principally to make lemonade, ice tea and water sets in Fenton's striped Rib Optic and Curtain Optic (Drapery) patterns.  Many Victoria Topaz pitchers, vases and tumblers were decorated with applied cobalt-glass handles or trim: 

   

Fenton's Curtain Optic 9" stretch vase in "Victoria Topaz,"
with cobalt-glass trim and handles 
photo courtesy of curculio's glass

Fenton's Victoria Topaz stretch glass lines in Curtain Optic and Rib Optic have been well-documented in William Heacock's Fenton Glass:  The First Twenty-Five Years, p. 92, as well as in Margaret & Kenn Whitmyer's.  Fenton Art Glass 1907-1939, p. 145.  Victoria Topaz opalescent 9" vases with cobalt handles, such as that shown above, are valued in the Whitmyers' book (published in 2003) in the $650-$750 range.   According to the Whitmyers, "all pieces" in both Victoria Topaz patterns are difficult to find. 

Vaseline Glass Guides:

Part I:    Fenton's Canary Opalescent Glass
Part II:    Fenton's Vaseline Carnival Glass
Part III: Fenton's Topaz Stretch Glass Vases

   General Guide to Vaseline Glass 

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           Many thanks to E-Bayers  5hills,  janfrancisco4750,  lan5,  *treasurehunter* and yesteryrol,  for their photographs of vaseline-glass finds.  Rights to all photos belong to the photographers, and pictures should not be used without their permission.  Text is (c) 2008 curculiosglass, all rights reserved.  To locate any E-Bayer whose name is mentioned here, or to visit his or her store, simply click on "SITE MAP" on the bottom of your screen, and then click on "Feedback Forum" on the right top corner of the screen that next appears.  Type or copy the E-Bayer's name into the search blank.  To see our other guides on glass, click on GUIDE INDEX.   Please leave feedback on this guide by clicking the button below.