Vaseline Glass - Stretch Glass - Fenton Stretch Glass - Fenton Vaseline Glass - Topaz Stretch Glass

Fenton's "Topaz"
Vaseline stretch glass 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 unusual 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  provides information on Fenton's vaseline carnival glass.  This section, Part III, focuses on Fenton's vaseline stretch glass.  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.

Fenton's Topaz Stretch Glass

          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.

          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*

           As noted above,  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; this mark is left by the iron pontil rod used by glassblowers to hold hot blown-glass pieces.  Hand-blown art glass pieces tend to be one-of-a-kind, while each pattern and shape of stretch glass was issued in a large number 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.  (Informative photographs showing how stretch glass was made can be found at the website of The Stretch Glass Society at stretchglasssociety.org/About%20Stretch%20Glass.html).  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.

            Fenton issued stretch glass in a broad variety of shapes, including by not limited to vases, bowls, plates, compotes, candleholders, pitchers, tumblers, covered jars and colognes.  American Iridescent Stretch Glass by John Madeley & Dave Shetlar provides photographs of  such Fenton pieces for collectors seeking to identify specific stretch patterns.  The Shetlars also maintain a website that displays countless examples of stretch glass made by Fenton and several other glassworks  (shetlarglass.com/).  According to American Iridescent Stretch Glass, p. 14, Fenton introduced its stretch glass in 1917 under the name "Silver Sun," but by 1921, the glass was referred to in many advertisements as "Fenton Florentine". 

             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
fluorescing under ultraviolet light
photo by yesteryrol

          Among Fenton's most striking Topaz stretch glass pieces were its vases.  According to Margaret and Kenn Whitmyer's Fenton Art Glass 1907-1939, p.143-145, 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.  A sampling of these is shown here.

          Just as the plain iridescent surfacing of stretch glass showed a departure from the elaborate designs of carnival glass, many of Fenton's vaseline stretch glass vase patterns show an elegant simplicity of design.  Fenton's 1921 Topaz Melon Rib vases, for example, seem to reflect the nascent Art Deco movement's preference for streamlined and symmetrical trapezoidal shapes: 

 

Fenton's Melon Rib wide fan vase, circa 1921 (left)
with a 1935 Art Deco vase made by the German glassworks, Walther & Sonhe
photos by yesteryrol (left) and majorglass

Shown above is Fenton's exquisite Topaz Melon Rib wide fan vase (also called Fenton #847).   According to a September 24, 1925 advertisement placed in the Crockery and Glass Journal, such fan vases were designed "in just the shape to hold dainty violets" and were referred to as "violet vases".  Melon Rib vases were formed from bowl molds and all have eight interior ribs and a 3 1/4" base.  The vase shown above is 9" high and 10 1/2" wide; it sold on E-Bay in March, 2008 for $118. The Shetlar website shows an impressive collection of Melon Rib stretch glass pieces in a broad variety of colors and shapes (shetlarglass.com/stretchglass/SGCompanies/Fenton/Fenton05.htm).

          Fenton also issued stunning vaseline stretch-glass fan vases in its Double Dolphin pattern:

 

A Topaz Double Dolphin fan vase
photo by curculiosglass

The vase shown above is 5 1/2" tall and 6 1/4" wide, with a base diameter of 3 1/8".  An identical vase sold on E-Bay in February, 2008 for $102.  These vases are widely collected, and 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.

          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).

          Also notable among Fenton's vaseline "Topaz" stretch glass patterns are its striking pieces with cobalt handles, issued in 1921.  An example is the tumbler shown below:

A Rib Optic lemonade tumbler with cobalt handle, circa 1921
photo courtesy of joescout1

The Rib Optic tumbler shown above (also known as Fenton tumbler #220) is 4" inches tall with a 2" base; it was issued as part of a lemonade set with four handled tumblers and a lidded pitcher.  Fenton produced such vaseline-and-cobalt stretch-glass pieces in a limited number of shapes, including pitchers, tumblers, creamers, sugars and vases.  Photographs of additional vaseline-and-cobalt pieces can be viewed at the Shetlar website (shetlarglass.com/stretchglass/SGCompanies/Fenton/Fenton11.htmn); additional information on vaseline-and-cobalt stretch glass can be found in the Whitmyers' Fenton Art Glass 1907-1939, 2nd ed. (pp. 142-144), and in Heacock's Fenton Glass:  The First Twenty-Five Years, p. 67.  Tumblers such as the one depicted above tend to sell in the $50-$90 range; accompanying lidded pitchers are valued in the Whitmyers' book (published in 2003) in the $250-$350 range. 

"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 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 by 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

   General Guide to Vaseline Glass 

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           Many thanks to E-Bayers 5hills,  joescout1,  lan5,  majorglass,  *treasurehunter* and yesteryrol,  for generously contributing photographs of their vaseline-glass finds to this guide.  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.