Collecting 101: Fenton Glass! The History, Popularity, Hot Trends and Value! Episode 1

Hey guys welcome to our new series called Collecting 101 and today we're going to highlight Fenton Glass. Now we're going to tell you guys about the history, the popularity throughout the years, the value, and what you guys want to be looking for when you're going to be out there purchasing this Fenton Glass. So let's start off today with history. Fenton Glass was founded in 1905 by John and Frank Fenton out of Martins Ferry, Ohio. Now when they started their business they were known as glass decorators. It wasn't until 1907 when the demand for their product rose so much that they had to start producing their own glass and turned into the Fenton Glass company that we know today. Now their products are highly inspired by Tiffany. Now Tiffany is a high-end company that catered to the rich and super rich just like they do today really. And so they wanted to offer high quality products like Tiffany but at a more affordable prices for your everyday family and that's exactly what they did. And they started that off with iridescent glass or what you guys know as carnival glass. Now as you guys can see in these pictures these were absolutely gorgeous pieces of glass that helped skyrocket their sales right from the get-go. But they never rested on their laurels. The 1920s they hired four European artists to come in and write or draw dramatic art onto the glass for a unique one-of-a-kind piece that people got to enjoy in their home that nobody else had. But along the way they always they had troubles as well. Just like everybody else the Great Depression and World War II took a big hit on the Fenton company. But they were so smart. They literally changed their whole business perspective from these art decorative glasses to more essential pieces like bowls, tableware, juice reamers and that literally saved the company. Because they were one of the only glass companies to survive out of World War II. Now after World War II was over and things started to get back to normal they did go back into the decorative glass. And they came out with what was now still considered the bread and butter which is the white milk glass hobnail. Now I'm going to touch on more styles colors and patterns when I get into the popularity section. But that hobnail and all these other colors sustained them for a good 40 years from the 60s all the way through into the 90s. Now once the 90s hit Fenton started to take a little bit of hit on their sales and their products. But by then they've already produced over 130 patterns. So as they were sitting there taking all this in and going they decided to started to scale back on their products. And as they started to do that as you guys all know when you start trying to take something away people want it even more. So sky or sales were skyrocketing. So they stayed in business even longer and it kept going at the normal pace because the sales were going so well. But then it dropped off again and that's when he put the letter out that they were starting to seize or starting to scale back operations. And in 2011 is when they seized production of all glass products. But they all glass products that you because they still are alive today guys. They're still you know 2011 on they're still alive as a glass bead jewelry company. So they still produce really beautiful pieces just not the same Fenton pieces you guys know with the candy dishes or the bowls. So they are still out there and they're also able to go you know go shop their products. So so yeah from 1905 on guys an amazing amazing product that they had and from oh 115 years of being out there I mean they lasted a long time and the beauty still goes on. So all right let's go on popularity. When I talk about Fenton's popularity throughout the years I can break it down into decades. This company was amazing at getting new styles, new colors, and new patterns out to their customers as much as possible. So I'm going to start in 1907 and go all the way through the 1980s. Now in 1907 is when they came out with the iridescent glass or the carnival glass like we spoke about earlier. It was a great jump start for this company and produced massive sales right from the get-go. Now in the 1920s is when they brought in the four Europeans to start painting that dramatic art on their pieces. Again it was creating unique one-of-a-kind pieces that continued Fenton's popularity rise throughout the years. Now in the 1930s is when they introduced the baskets, cranberry glass, and the crested pattern. Again three very sought-after items still in the collector's market today especially the cranberry glass. Always be on the lookout for those. Now in the 1940s is when they had a World War II and the world was obviously in a transition, but they still brought out the diamond crested pattern which is a very gorgeous pattern that you guys would love to see. As you guys can see here is a beautiful pattern. Now in the 1950s they got back on board and they brought out what Frank Fenton calls today their flagship pattern which is their white milk glass hobnail. And that along with the opalescent colors of green, blue, pink, and red were just absolutely hot sellers for Fenton during this time. It was coming out of the war and people were looking to spend money and they did. This was beautiful pieces that everybody could afford and they were just hot sellers for this company. Now in the 1960s that's when they brought out the transparent colors, the blues, the pinks, the reds, the greens, the ambers. All these colors were great. They look really good in cabinets with light shine behind it. They were just so gorgeous. Absolute pieces that everybody wanted to have and it continued Fenton's popularity. You guys are noticing here that every time they hit a stagnant point or a point where they might be a little stale they always created something new to gain that popularity. They never went down from the beginning all the way through the 80s. Now in 1970 is when they actually reintroduced carnival glass. Now they reintroduced it but they put a logo on the bottom of it so you can identify the newer carnival glass from the older carnival glass. So you always knew that if you wanted the older stuff you didn't want nothing with the logo on it. So when they reintroduced that it was a great help to certain collectors out there as well. Now at the end of here in the 1980s they lived off the milk glass, the roseline, and the Bernese colors. As much as all these other patterns they made those were the three hottest sellers during the time and just continued their rise of popularity. Now at the very end I already talked about the 90s and 2000s but the very end there they ended up producing over 130 styles of Fenton glass. I mean the popularity this stuff had was so amazing. It was a sought-after collectible that was always going high whenever at auctions or sales always a high item. So Fenton's popularity super high then it's gone down in value now. Now is a great time to be a buyer because Fenton glass will come back trust me. So all right guys we're going to move on to how to identify your Fenton. Now the first thing you want to do is you're going to want a reference book for your pre-1970s Fenton because all they usually had on them were stickers and the stickers never usually survived. Sometimes they did not always but a reference book is always going to be a good handy thing to have with you so you know you're getting a legit piece of Fenton and nothing that's a repo or a knockoff. Now anything from the 1970 to 1974 they did start adding a logo to the bottom and then 1974 on they actually have a raised glass logo that's either going to have the words Fenton or an F and then once you get into the year so a 1980s piece of Fenton below that raised glass Fenton there's going to be a number eight. It's going to show you it's from the 1980s. 1990s you're going to have a number nine below the n in Fenton and then the 2000s you're going to have a zero below the n in Fenton. So that is going to be how you guys are going to identify your Fenton. Now my suggestion in my opinion you're going to want a reference book. I'm telling you as much as you think the internet's going to help and it does having a little reference book with you is going to make collecting Fenton so much easier for you guys. So go out and you can get one on ebay here's a couple of a couple of ones I can show you on here that have sold for this price and they're not that hard to come across and even your local antique store should have them as well. So that is how you identify your Fenton. Now we're going to talk about the value and what you want to buy with your Fenton. Right now the glass market is dramatically down. So that tells me it's a buyer's market to get into the Fenton business. So if you want to start collecting or you want to add to your collection right now is the time to do it because pieces that were going for 30 to 40 dollars you could get for five to 15 bucks. Right now is the time to get into this market because this market will come back. Trust me this stuff is too beautiful it's too unique to stay down forever. So buy this stuff up if you can and if you're looking to start a collection I highly recommend getting into Fenton glass because you won't find anything else like it. Trust me. All right guys let's talk about what to buy and what to pass on. I'm going to talk about Fenton glass. Now this is a segment that's going to come up every time we do this but I'm telling you this one's so easy because it's all personal preference. If you love the cranberry glass collect every cranberry glass with every style and every pattern that's perfect. Always start with what you love because this is what we live by it's memories over money and guys if you live by that in your collecting world I'm telling you you won't go wrong. Anytime you can make memories with your collections from passing it down to your kids to your grandkids it means way more than that extra ten dollars twenty dollars you're going to get for your money. All right guys that is the end of episode one of collecting 101 on Fenton glass. If you guys want to give this video a thumbs up and then comment below if you guys have any questions on collecting Fenton glass. Now I'm sure we couldn't touch on everything so I'm sure there could be a couple questions out there. Let us know I love Fenton glass and it's something that I don't collect but I love seeing so I'm sure I can answer any questions you guys have. And of course subscribe to the channel we're over 18,000 subscribers it means the world to us we love making these videos. And of course we got episode two coming next Tuesday when it's going to be on VHS tapes something we're all very familiar with from the 80s and 90s. So all right guys thank you all so much for watching and of course it's not going to be in our antique fix on m66 this one's going to be ended with collections are all about memories over money. Always remember that guys the memories mean more than the money. All right guys see you later talk to you soon.