Featured Fenton Cranberry Hobnail Vase ?

I was walking passed a pile of things that someone had left out to be picked up by the trash collectors and spotted this little vase (4 3/4 inches high) on the top of some old teapots. I picked the vase up out of curiosity because it had two colors and a ruffled edge. I couldn't scratch off the color, so I took it home to look at it more closely. It appears that the white glass has been layered on top the cranberry glass. The bottom is smooth and slightly indented, but the edge was not polished. I started to look for white and pink hobnail vases and up popped several that were attributed to Fenton, and that looked similar to the one I found. There seems to be many variations though. (I'll put some I found at the bottom of this post for comparison.) So the question is did I happen upon a Fenton Cranberry Hobnail Vase or some wannabe look alike?



For comparison, here are some that have been called Fenton Cranberry Hobnail Vases

 

Looks like it -- nice find! Sometimes the oval shaped Fenton marks on the bottoms of pieces are very faint.

 

I'll look more carefully. Thanks.

 

Fenton didn't mark everything and often the mark is difficult to read.
since this was made for many years it's not possible to really know for sure without finding a mark.

this one was sold as late as 2001 as 3649 CR in the 2001 catalog page 30

http://www.fentonfan.com/catalog/2001january/2001january.swf

also shows up in the 1950 catalog as 389 vase on page 8

http://www.fentonfan.com/catalog/1950january/1950january.swf

 

Cranberry Opalescent Hobnail, the white is not a layer of glass, they reheated the piece after it was made and parts of the glass went white

 

I have Fenton, that all it has is the sticker with serial number on it.

 

Wow. Thanks so much for sharing your catalogs. You don't know how much I appreciate your confirming this vase as Fenton and taking the time to look up the citations. I realize as I look at the pages, that I have been seeing some Fenton over the years and didn't know what it was. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

 

Marie. What a fascinating piece of information. I was wondering how they got the white color so nicely on top. I just assumed they overlaid it somehow. I had seen the word "Opalescent" during my research but I just ascribed this to exuberant marketing by some sellers. This is so exciting. Thank you for sharing these bits of knowledge. I'm always eager to learn and now you have given me more tools. Kiko

 

Opalescence is made possible by adding bone ash to the glass. Some chemical in that , when the glass, fresh from the mold, subject to a blast of cold air condenses out of solution and turns white. If the glass is red, it shows a pink, if the glass is blue, blue, green, green, etc. Amber glass turns muddy so it isn't often done. It was successful in Indiana (National) Tumbler and Goblet's Holly Amber.

 

So this may be a case of a sticker lost long ago. Thank you. I looked more carefully this morning based on @Joe2007's comment, but there are some residual mineral deposits on the inside (we have very hard water here), so I couldn't see anything yet. I read one post from the net, where the seller said there piece was from the 50's and was therefore, not marked. Thank you.

 

Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! I had to look at some examples of this Indiana piece. I can see how they must have gotten the right formula to make their amber glass work, while other did not. I take it this is true for all these kinds of transformations in this type of glass?

 

It looks like a crack on the bottom. That may be why it was trashed. Even if so, it makes a nice display piece. If you enjoy it, the crack would not matter.

 

No crack. Just a line. It holds water fine. It was quite dirty when I found it, and I cleaned it up a little before I asked about it. I will have to work on it some more now that it is a keeper.

 

Very nice. I have a similar one in blue.
Great find for free.

 

That's a good part, I agree. The learning part is always the best for me. I take nothing for granted that I get from the Internet, and since it has no mark or sticker, I will have to clean it up and study the Fenton Marks. I think I see a small oval, but that could be my imagination.

 

Mine has no mark on it. Back on the ebay boards someone confirmed it was Fenton. But mine is a slightly different shape and color--mine is light blue.
It has some shmutz inside the bottom that I could not get off.
I keep on my vanity since my bedroom is blue.

 

Thank you for this. When the color didn't come off as I scraped it (in my field test ) I figured it was at least not a cheap knockoff). From what I gather there are variations in the shapes, sizes and colors probably because it is hand made. I think blue would be lovely in this. I'll tell you if I get the shmutz off.

 

Hi,
Fenton started making ovals on the bottom in 1972. They were stamped with a 7 for 1970s 8 for 1980s and 9 for 1990s etc.
greg

 

These may have been made in a mold, but the were hand finished, no two exactly alike.

 

Thanks so much for this information. Here's what's in my oval (I think) Does it look like the 8 you would expect. I can try again with more light if not