Moments & Memories

The nickname "Vaseline" comes from the resemblance of some pieces to the hue of Vaseline petroleum jelly, which is light yellow in color. The yellow color of a piece of Vaseline glass can actually vary to the naked eye under different light sources. But to purists, it must fluoresce bright green under a blacklight or it doesn't qualify. 

Vaseline glass is also called "uranium glass," at times, and for good reason. Like all types of colored glass, minerals are added to the molten mixture during production to achieve the color. The type of mineral added to vaseline glass is actually what makes it glow.

Carnival glass has a dual personality. It's at once luminescent and solid, molded with shimmering colors into crisp shapes. These pressed-glass objects were originally made to be affordable, functional, and attractive.

Replete with grapes, peacocks, and other symbols of abundance and luxury, these bowls, plates, compotes and tumblers looked old-fashioned even when new in the early 20th century.

Iridescent sprays create rainbow reflections that seem to foreshadow the improvisational action painting of the 1940s and '50s, as well as the psychedelia of the '60s.

Milk Glass is an opaque white glass(as opposed to white, or clear, glass) that was originally made in Venice before 1500 and in Florence between 1575 and 1587, where it was intended to simulate porcelain. In northern Europe it was made only to a very limited extent, with rare 17th-century examples coming from Germany or Bohemia. In the 18th century, milk glass became a substitute for the Chinese porcelain that was admired in Europe but that had proved difficult to reproduce. This milk glass was produced in England, Germany, and especially in Venice.

Founded in 1905 by brothers Frank L. and John W. Fenton, the Fenton Art Glass Company ranks among the world's foremost producers of handmade art glass. Fenton is the largest manufacturer of handmade colored glass in the United States, and the company is renowned for innovative glass colors as well as handpainted decorations on pressed and blown glassware.

For more than a century, Fenton has developed new colors and patterns, including items enhanced with hand-painted floral decorations and 22k gold accents. Fenton glass appeals to all types of customers, and, over the years, this appeal has led to the company's success.