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Fenton Finders of Greater Kansas City

The next meeting of the Fenton Finders of Greater Kansas City will be SATURDAY, JUNE 11TH, 2016 at the RAYTOWN CITY HALL, E 59TH, Raytown Missouri. The meeting will start at 7:00PM.

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We send our condolences to Joy Livengood and family on the death of Joy’s mother last month. Our thoughts and prayers go to Joy and her family at this sad time. We had a fun as well as an educational meeting in May and we even managed to get some work done. We voted to accept the new bylaws that the board members have been working on for the last three months with lots of help by our club’s lawyer, Amanda Herman. If not for her help in updating the bylaws the board might still be working on them. Many times she had to explain to us just what the old bylaws meant and how to word them better so that the bylaws not only functioned better for our club as we are now but they would comply with both state and federal laws. She also made sure that all the changes that we made were in the best interest of the club. Thank you Amanda. We are so grateful for the help. Our program for May was Fenton Flowers and as you can see we had lots of Fenton Flowers at our meeting. Including one of our favorites a Black Rose Hurricane Lamp. These beauties can be hard to find in Hob Nail but well worth the hunt. Dave and Rose McDaniel joined us for the first time since they joined FFOGKC. We hope that they had a good time and we were very glad to meet them. We think that they may have as Rose won the door prize, an embossed rose pattern slipper with hand painted roses. Who else could have won this prize? Jason Herman will join us again this month and has chosen to write about florescent glass. This type of glass has always attracted a large number of collectors and has demanded high prices because of that attraction. Whenever we think of florescent glassware we think first of Vaseline or, as collectors of Fenton Glass know it, Topaz. However, that is not the only kind of glass that has will fluoresce under a black light as Jason will explain.

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Glass that Glows Uranium Glass, Vaseline Glass, Topaz...Oftentimes, these terms are used interchangeably to describe yellow or yellow-green glass that glows in the dark. However, they aren’t always the same thing or at least, not mutually exclusive. For example, Vaseline glass is uranium glass, but not all uranium glass is Vaseline. Fenton’s Topaz and Topaz Opalescent pieces qualify as Vaseline glass because they are a transparent yellow by day but fluoresce bright green under a black light and contain at least 2% uranium dioxide. The Horse Head piece made by Fenton for Pascal is a great example of this. But, Topaz isn’t the only Fenton color that glows. In fact, Green Opalescent and Lime Green Opalescent as well as opaque colors like Custard and Burmese all fluoresce under a black light. These color treatments all contain some amount of uranium in the glass allowing for them to glow, but we would never think to call them Vaseline. Did you know that uranium isn’t the only element that will make glass fluoresce? Try putting a piece of Amberina under a black light. If you’ve never done it, you’re in for a pleasant surprise! The Amberina pieces glow a magnificent day-glo orange. Pictured are the daytime and black light versions of an Amberina Turtle Ring Tree. The element manganese is responsible for this beautiful reaction. Manganese is often used to clarify glass and is found in most crystal pieces and when oxidized will add purple or amethyst hues. When heated to very high temperatures though it adds the yellowish-brown color we all recognize as amber and creates the orange fluorescence. The manganese present in some other minerals can also glow a faint green color. So, don’t assume that a piece contains uranium just because it glows, it could be manganese. If you like to display fluorescent glass, you have plenty of Fenton options to choose from!

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The pictures on page four and five show some of the very nice glass that our members brought in for show and tell. From the great old Tangerine Stretch glass and a wonderful Imperial hanging heart vase there was something for everyone. The Alley Cats were examples of the new Cats that are being sold by the Fenton Gift Shop. The glass was made by Moser and hand painted by Fenton artists. The hand painting on this glass is wonderful you can see the attention to detail and the quality of the painting is very high. The cats are very limited and also very expensive. The cats have become a canvas for the artist to display their talent and imagination in ways that they could not have done when Fenton was mass producing the Alley Cats. We can understand why so many wait for each new Cat to be listed for sale. The last two pictures on page five features two more small display tables from last year’s Gala (are you planning a table for this year’s Gala?) The first one features some of the many wonderful miniatures that Fenton has made through the years. One of the miniature water sets was a Louise Piper design, Elizabeth’s Victorian Motif created for Doris Lechler in the 1980’s. Doris Lechler had many miniatures created for the collectable market by Fenton. These miniature water sets, baskets, and guest sets hard to find but well worth the time spent to find them. As you can tell from the picture there were miniature water sets that Fenton produced for NFTS as well. These little beauties made a beautiful table. The last picture shows some of the wonderful Chessie Cat candy boxes that Fenton has produced over the years. The first one, a dark carnival glass, was first made for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad as gifts for their employees in 1970. It has the date and “Chessie by Fenton” on the bottom. As you can see this proved to be more popular than anyone could have thought and many a Fenton collector has gone through many a mall and sat through many an auction in order to complete their sets. If you have not sent your list of glass that features the work of your favorite designer to Richard Speaight as yet please do, he will be putting the big display together for the Gala soon and will need a list of glass that he will have available. Thanks. Janet Wilke has sent out the Gala packets and everyone should have received them by now. If you have not received yours please check out our web site, fentonfinderskc.net where you should be able to download your registration form or contact Janet Wilke or Jackie Oglesby so that we can send you one. Contact information is in our roster, please update your roster with Jackie’s

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telephone to 816-888-3129. Please make sure that you indicate on your registration form that you are bringing glass for sale. It is not too early to think about making your room reservation. The sooner the better if you are going to sell glass. Jason Herman is going to work with the hotel to assign rooms this year and as always he will try to get everyone who is selling glass on the second floor. He may not be able to get you the exact room that you want but he will do the best he can. Please make sure that you indicate on your registration form that you are bringing glass for sale. As always it will be first come first serve. The hotel’s number is 816-891-7788. Don’t forget to ask for the Gala rate. Connie Duncan sent us an update on the Fenton Factory. Michael Erb reported in The Times that a company is taking core samples around Fenton’s lot and will then dig 5 wells on the Fenton property to collect water and take samples from each of those wells for Wood County Schools to see whether the lot can be used for a new elementary school. Mike Fling, assistant superintendent for the Schools said that this is just the second step to determine if Fenton can be used for the school. The first step was to review historical data and Environmental Protection Agency data on the Fenton plant. Only after all the information is gathered and can be review will the state School Building Authority look at the results and decide if the site will be acceptable to build the school. It sounds like there is still a lot of work to do before the school board can make a decision on the new school’s location but it does look like Fenton has a chance of being chosen for the school if the test results show that the area is safe. The program for our next meeting will be an individual program on Ginger Jars given by Jackie Oglesby. Claudia and Dan Hegwald will bring the treats. So if you are interested in learning a bit more about Fenton Ginger Jars come to our June meeting and don’t forget to bring your glass for show and tell. Take care and see you soon Jackie Oglesby Secretary fentonfinderskc.net