Glen & Stephen Thistlewood
Carnival Glass Worldwide
  • Home
  • Patterns, Colours, Shapes
  • Carnival Gallery
  • Books, e-books

Fenton Light Amethyst Carnival Glass


Fenton introduced this wonderful Light Amethyst Contemporary Carnival Glass as a Limited Edition offer in 1991 - colour code " DT ". The company said that it was the first time they had made this light amethyst colour since their production of original Classic Carnival.

​
The Fenton catalogue images are shown courtesy of the Fenton Family and Fenton Art Glass Company.
Fenton Light Amethyst

Fenton Light Amethyst
The items shown in the above catalogue pages.

It is very interesting to see just how many of these items were from moulds and/or using patterns that were previously used by other glassmakers.
​
​​Fruit, aka Paneled Fruit #4609 (Pitcher), #4645 (Tumbler), #4646 (Basket). A McKee Innovation pattern.
Regency Butter #8680. McKee Plytec pattern.
Innovation #4603 (Lamp), #4643 (3-toed cuspidor), #4617 (3-Toed basket). A McKee Innovation pattern.
Good Luck Plate with Panelled Grape exterior #4611, and Bowl #4619. Panelled Grape was Westmoreland's #1881 pattern. The Good Luck and Panelled Grape moulds used for this piece were owned by Gary Levi.
Owl Figurine #5254. Westmoreland #1 “Pound Owl” pattern.
Oval Bowl #4618. A McKee Innovation pattern.
​Panelled Grape #4601 (Punch Bowl), #4642 (Punch Cup). Westmoreland Paneled Gape pattern.
Eagle Covered Box #4679. Westmoreland "Mother Eagle" on basket weave and braided rope base – in itself, this was a Westmoreland version of Challinor-Taylor’s "Mother Eagle and Baby Chicks".
Sables Arch Bell #9065
Fenton Dealer Logo #9799
Diamond and Panel Toothpick #4644. Westmoreland #60 pattern.

​Fenton acquired a large number of moulds from other factories. Many remained unused in Fenton's massive stock of moulds, but many of them also found their way into production - sometimes unchanged from their previous use, but also, they were adapted in Fenton's mould shop to suit their production methods. Fenton's mould stock was auctioned off when the factory closed and, with permission from the Fenton Family and Fenton Art Glass Co., we are able to use pictures and information from the sale, for glass educational purposes.

The auction list showed that Fenton's stock included some 1500 moulds from McKee, of which almost 400 were listed as being McKee's "Innovation" range. McKee had various different "Innovation" patterns, identified by an additional pattern number or name. The innovative part was because the patterns were a combination of a pressed pattern which was subsequently enhanced with wheel-cutting. At some point in time, the moulds were adapted to be used for press moulded patterns only (as presumably, the additional process of individual wheel-cutting became too expensive, or too time consuming). The pictures of the moulds that we have seen from Fenton's mould shop show they were intended for press moulding.

Let's have a more detailed look at some of these pieces:

​​​Fruit, aka Paneled Fruit (Fenton)
McKee's Innovation No. 411 pattern
Innovation #411
The image above is from McKee's General Catalogue No. G23, c.1923
(Source: Corning Museum of Glass)

​Fenton's Innovation Lamp #4603
Fenton Innovation Lamp
Fenton Innovation Lamp
The moulds used by Fenton - both sections were pressed upside-down

Fenton's Good Luck 12" plate (courtesy Seeck Auctions)
Good Luck
The exterior on the Good Luck plate is Panelled Grape (Westmoreland's #1881). The Good Luck and Panelled Grape moulds used for this piece were owned by Gary Levi.
Fenton's Owl Figurine #5254
Owl Figurine
O​riginally Westmoreland's #1 "Pound Owl" from the late 1920s, so called because it was said to weigh one pound. ​This Fenton version actually weighs 1¼ pounds.
Fenton's Regency Butter #8680
Regency Butter
The mould used by Fenton for this butter was originally McKee's Plytec pattern. Here is the butter top (it was pressed upside-down).

Fenton's Diamond and Panel Toothpick #4644
Diamond and Panel Toothpick
​This toothpick was originally Westmoreland #60 pattern. The one pictured on the left (courtesy Seeck Auctions) was actually custom iridised, post-production by Hansen (so it may well have been a Westmoreland piece, but is included here because it clearly shows the pattern.
Fenton's Eagle Covered Box #4679 (courtesy of Burns Auctions)
Eagle Covered Box
The original design for this was Challinor-Taylor’s "Mother Eagle and Baby Chicks". Later, Westmoreland made their "Mother Eagle" on both a braided rope base and basket weave base (the one here, in the Fenton version.

​See more of Fenton's Contemporary Carnival Catalogues - click on an image below.
Fenton Amethyst
Amethyst Carnival
Fenton 2005
Fenton 2005 Collection
Fenton Catalog Exclusives
Fenton Catalog Exclusives
Fenton Supplement
Fenton Centenary Supplement 2007
Fenton 1972
Contemporary Carnival, 1972
Olde Virginia Glass
Olde Virginia Glass
Orange Carnival
Orange (marigold) Carnival
Contemporary Red
Red Carnival in catalogues 1976-2010
Shell Pink
Shell Pink Carnival
Spruce Green
Spruce Green Carnival
Sunset Stretch
Sunset Stretch
Teal Marigold
Teal Marigold Carnival
Copyright © 2023 by G&S Thistlewood and the individual authors and contributors where named. Protected under all applicable international laws and all rights are reserved. No image, text, or any part thereof may be copied, shared or transmitted to others without permission from the Copyright holders. Information herein may not be posted or made available, in whole or in part, on any website, social media site, FTP site, electronic bulletin board, newsgroup, or their equivalent.