Fenton's Youngest Collector? - by John Gager

  While most other little girls dream of dolls made of plastic and cloth, Madelyn Kuhns dreams of dolls made of strange ingredients such as sand, potash, and soda. You see, Maddi is like many of the rest of us, a Fenton collector, and specifically the very collectible Bridesmaid figurines.
  Maddi's collection began shortly after her first birthday when her mother, Debra Beyer, realized her daughter didn't yet have any heirlooms that could be passed to her later in life.
   So Debbie started looking at collectibles. First it was the little "Cinderella Slippers" she found at the flea market, and at the same time, discovered Fenton Art Glass through a catalog at the shop. As she was looking through the catalog, she spotted one of the Bridesmaid dolls and thought it would just the heirloom that Maddi should have.
   Debbie then found a dealer from her searches on the Internet, where she bought Maddi's first doll, the 1999 "Violets" on Rosalene.   
   Not happy with the selection her first dealer provided, Deb went back to the dealer with the slippers asking if he had any of the dolls. She soon discovered a gold mine when the nice gentlemen, Bob Gladfelter, replied "Geez, I bet I have thirty of them in my basement!".
   Deb bought all of them and was the big push in Maddi's collection. It wasn't long until Deb found other Fenton dealers through the Internet, like Sharon Bragg. Sharon was willing to help Deb find other dolls for Maddi's collection, and set up a contact with Donna Elits, another Fenton doll collector who was a big help with Deb's research and acquiring a hard to find slag doll.
  After only 8 months of collection, Deb has managed to find over 90 Bridesmaid dolls in various glass treatments, some of them one-of-a-kinds and other rare selections. Even though Deb has done all the footwork, research, and searching, they are Maddi's dolls. "She does know these dolls are hers. She has to hold some every day, and since she has had them at such a young age, she is really careful with them and knows what "gentle" means. This is what a doll is to her. Not Barbie and such."