Fenton Glass shutting down main furnace

[Hubert Flottz]

By The Associated Press(so I can't post the content)

http://wvgazette.com/News/201107060631

Fenton Art Glass, Parkersburg WV has been operating for over a hundred years and providing jobs in the state and around the country to it's Fenton dealers. My wife and I have been collecting and enjoying our Fenton treasures for half a lifetime and this makes us very sad. America and West Virginia won't be the same without Fenton Glass.

[Coyote_Bandit]

1. Glass Artists and Retailers

across the nation are shutting down. All glass media - stained glass, warm glass, blown glass.

[Mimosa]

2. CHINA took all the glass making

China is making pretty much every damn nick knack, decorative and functional ceramic and glass item.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Almost all the glass makers in West Virginia are long gone...

We were one of the top glass producing states in the US. The globalists are out to ruin every manufacturing company in America. The middle class is becoming another endangered species.

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. 99cent store and discount stores. Every glass, mug, plate is cheap & ugly

thing for China. Every spoon, towel, knickknack. Amazing!

[emilyg]

4. I've been collecting their

cat glass slippers. Sad.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Really sad. I'm a Depression Glass collector and just think about all that glass made here in the

USA in dozens of plants.

[Hubert Flottz]

6. If America got into a war with China they'd have to go barefoot,

eat off paper plates and wear fig leaves.

[femrap]

7. No straws, toothpicks, nor lightbulbs as well.

I've been hoarding candles.

[Hubert Flottz]

8. There's still Jabo Marbles in Reno Ohio and Marble King in...

Paden City WV. At least the troops can still play with American marbles. I don't know for how long.

[femrap]

9. I've never heard of these....

but I guess I'm not much of a marble buyer.

[Hubert Flottz]

10. Jabo Jokers are beautiful things.

Check them out on Ebay. Even more beautiful when you can look them over up close in the sunlight. No two are exactly alike. You can become a Jabo collector for a few dollars. The kids REALLY like them too.

Edit to add... (Jabo Joker Images)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1G1ACEW_ENUS388&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=VAcWTumfGurn0QGRpr1I&ved=0CDUQBSgA&q=Jabo+Joker+images&spell=1&biw=1280&bih=776

[femrap]

11. Wow....they're beautiful.

Do they make them in a size bigger than a marble....they'd make cool paperweights. Well, if they had a flat bottom and were about the size of an apricot.

And they're in Ohio? I live in OH and haven't heard of them.

[Hubert Flottz]

15. They make marbles from 1/2 " to 1" mostly.

The Classics are Jabo's standard size marbles 1/2" or pee-wees to 5/8" or "players" and the Jokers are mostly 3/4" to 1" or "shooters". The smaller ones are almost as pretty as the large ones. I haven't seen any bigger ones than the one inch, but they may make a few bigger ones. Jabo was on the America's dirtiest jobs show a while back.

[jmowreader]

17. They'd have to fight only in the winter, anyway

There are American combat boot factories and at least one textile mill making cloth for Army uniforms.

The problem is, they wouldn't have any dye to color their uniforms because THAT is all made in China.

We only have a chemical industry in the United States because most of the world's dyeworks were in Europe at the outbreak of World War I, and most of them were in Germany.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. All forms of art are shutting down.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra went into bankruptcy.

I think the Artcrawl in Houston either stopped or is greatly reduced in size.

[Hubert Flottz]

13. It's coming down to Art or Eat for a lot of Americans.

And that makes it even harder for the artists to eat too.

[WinkyDink]

19. I think it's Art or War, regarding financial support from govt entities.

[blue neen]

14. Oh No!

That is terrible news! I thought they had averted their financial troubles.

Fenton Art Glass--it truly is Art.

I am heartbroken. :(

[Hubert Flottz]

16. They made it through a tough spell a couple of years ago...

but this time it don't look good.

[blue neen]

18. The factory tour...

The glassware was just so beautiful, and the craftsmanship was amazing.

I'm so sorry to see it go.

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. I think I saw a documentary about this place. Sorry to hear they are shutting down

[Hubert Flottz]

22. Fenton created a lot of jobs in the Parkersburg area and employed

some excellent craftspeople. I'm sad to see them laying off some of the last great artists in the American glass industry. We still have the Blenko Glass Company here in Milton WV, but they too are fighting tooth and nail to keep their operation up and running. I'm afraid that soon the only remnant of the once booming WV glass industry that will remain in operation, will be the Museum of American Glass located in Weston WV.

The Museum of American Glass is a must see for glass lovers and collectors passing through the state on I-79 or on US 50. You might even find yourself an antique treasure in their gift shop, or in their massive library of old glass company catalouges and sales publications from the glass makers of old. The Museum of American Glass is admission free and is a labor of love made possible by some great artisans, researchers and kind folks who have donated collections of glass, research materials and even some glass making equipment. I have spent hours there looking at the hundreds of items I'd only seen in books or on Ebay before. I give the Museum of American Glass a plug here to give the folks involved with the museum a hand in their quest to keep the history of once thriving American glass making industry alive.

The Museum of American Glass

http://www.magwv.com/

[mrmpa]

23. I went to their annual tent sale today..............I learned from

some locals, that the reason for the glass company shutting down, was because Fenton owes a lot of back taxes. How does this happen?

[Hubert Flottz]

24. I have no idea how that happened.

I just wish it didn't have to be.