Fenton Art Glass Company Contemporary Carnival
The Fenton Art Glass Company was founded in 1905 in Martins Ferry, Ohio by brothers Frank and John Fenton. Initially, the company bought "blanks" from other manufacturers and then decorated them. In 1906, the company moved to Williamstown, West Virginia where a factory was built. Fenton was the first glass maker to introduce Carnival Glass, about 1907. They had been in production continuously since then until 2011 when their traditional glass making ceased. In 2017, the Fenton factory was razed to make way for a new school.

In the 1950s and 1960s people began collecting Classic Era Carnival and in 1970 the Fenton catalog featured new contemporary carnival glass in amethyst. Fenton reissued a number of their older patterns but also added more patterns. When Fenton began reissuing their Carnival Glass in the 1970s, there were a few patterns that got out before they started marking them with the familiar Fenton ovals. They are thought to be all amethyst and include: Leaf Chain bowls, Leaf Tiers berry bowls, Persian Medallion plates, Cherry Chain bowls and Fenton's Flowers rosebowls.

Fenton used molds that it had always owned, purchased molds from companies such as Mckee and Verlys and had new molds made and used them all to make contemporary carnival glass. Fenton continued to issue contemporary carnival glass up to their closing in 2011. Fenton often made certain patterns in a given year and then "retiring" those molds so that they could make more patterns the next year. Fenton made carnival in several colors and also made glass for distributors, wholesalers and carnival glass clubs. Thus there are many different carnival glass patterns, variations and colors for the collector to find today.

Above is Fenton's water set called Fenton Founders and its markings on the bottom commemorating the founding of Fenton Art Glass Company in 1905. The tag sold with the set is below.

For more information on Fenton Art Glass Company,

See Lloyd Reichel's books entitled:
"Modern Carnival Glass Collectors Book I".
"Modern Carnival Glass Collectors Book II".

Fenton issued annual catalogs containing carnival glass from 1970 til 2007 when they first announced they might be closing. From 2008 til 2011 they issued smaller seasonal catalogs. See them all here:

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

2000 through 2002

2003 through 2007

2008 through 2011

The below photos show tags that were attached to Fenton carnival and stretch pieces made in the contemporary times. Using a string these tags we attached to handles, stems etc. In each row, the photo on the left is the cover, the photo in the center is the inside of the tag and the photo on the right is the back.