Fenton Antique Blue/Green Opalescent Ribbed or Feather Vase (c. 1910)

This remarkable large Fenton opalescent Ribbed or Feathered Vase has survived most of the past century in a quiet box at the Spurrier Estate. A bit of its history is as follows, from the Fenton Internet Site:

In 1905, John and Frank Fenton of Ohio opened the Fenton Glass Company. Initially they focused on painting “blank” glassware. But eventually, they moved to West Virginia, which had the raw materials needed for glass production, and began producing their own glassware–with great success.

Fenton entered the glass market in 1908 with the introduction of what later became known as “carnival” glass. Using Tiffany and Steuben iridescent glass as inspiration, Fenton ultimately produced over 130 patterns of what some have called “poor man’s Tiffany.”

During their 100+ years of business producing high quality glass distributed world-wide, they developed numerous types of glass, including carnival and Bohemian, as well as glass in a myriad of other beautiful colors. Using gold, manganese, and cobalt, fresh new colors arrived on the market, making Fenton a “truly American product collected worldwide” (*source: fentonartglass.com).

It was a sad day in 2011 when the company closed its doors.

This beauty is opalescent and tends to more blue than green, but it changes color in subtle ways. The ribbing (or feathering) is beautifully executed and flawless.
It is about 10 inches high and 3.5 inches wide at its base and perhaps 4 inches wide at its fluted top. It weighs about 2 lbs.