Fenton Art Glass Company looks back on iridescent ware

In mid-1907, Fenton workers were unloading a railway boxcar filled with straw used in packing glass.

As one worker slowly slid the boxcar's door open, he found a disreputable-looking man fast asleep on the floor inside.

With his face covered by a slouch hat, the fellow quickly awoke, scrambled to his feet, and brushed away the wisps of straw that clung to him. “I'm gonna show ya how to make a new kinda glass.”

Glass chemist and manager Jacob Rosenthal worked closely with the gentleman (we think he was John Gordon) to perfect the spraying of metallic salts on hot glass. This process created vivid iridescent hues, much like the look of oil on water.

In late 1907, Fenton Art Glass went into the marketplace with its new “iridescent ware.” These were highly-patterned pressed glass articles, and they soon caught the public's fancy. Collectors prize them today as “Carnival glass,” a phrase born in the 1950s when authors began to write about the decades of the past.

For more than two decades, Fenton stationery proudly carried this phrase: “Originators of Iridescent Ware.” And to think it all began with a fellow who looked like a bum in a boxcar!

To see Fenton Marigold Carnival.../To see Fenton Amethyst Carnival and Red Carnival...

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