Early 20th Century Fenton, Marigold "Peacock Tail" Pattern Bowl

Offered for sale is a small "carnival glass" bowl by The Fenton Art Glass Company in the Peacock Tail pattern and Marigold colour. The company was incorporated in 1905 by brothers Frank L. and John W. Fenton at Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, a town on the Ohio River across from Wheeling, West Virginia. During the first year or two, Fenton Glass sold hand-decorated glassware that was actually manufactured elsewhere by other glass companies. In 1907 the operation moved to another location on the Ohio River, Williamstown, West Virginia, located in Wood County, where Fenton started making their own glass, and continued to do so for over a century. Fenton specialised in handmade art glass produced by “old style” traditional methods. Throughout much of Fenton’s earlier years they produced large quantities of hand-blown “irridised” glassware, commonly called Carnival Glass, in many colors, shapes, and styles. Over 150 different patterns are known in carnival glass that are attributed to Fenton. Most U.S. carnival glass was made before the mid-1920s, with production rapidly declining thereafter. Some significant production continued outside the Us through the depression years of the early 1930s, tapering off to very little by the 1940s.