LG Wright Glass Co. Molds Scattered
Across Country and Orient
by Johanna Billings
Reprinted with permission - Copyright © 1999 Fenton Fanatics
                                        and Johanna Billings

   NEW MARTINSVILLE, WV -- On Thursday, May 27, 1999, Frank M. Fenton was a kid again. The 84-year-old former chairman of the board of the Fenton Art Glass Company of Williamstown, W. Va., spent the day with other family members buying glass molds from the LG Wright Glass Company, a New Martinsville firm which closed its doors. Capitol City Auctions of Little Rock, Ark. sold equipment and inventory over Memorial Day weekend.
    “George did all the bidding,” Fenton said of his nephew who now serves as company president. “I was there to make sure he didn’t go to sleep.”
    Whatever his purpose for being at the auction, Fenton was described as being “like a kid in a candy store,” by Carolyn Grable, great-granddaughter of his Uncle James. It’s no wonder, since he has been involved in the family business practically all his life. Having the chance to buy molds, some of which were said to be authentic Northwood and Dugan, was cause for excitement.
    But the sale of the molds is serious business for collectors, who will now have to contend with the possibility that dozens of Wright patterns may be reproduced. Since Wright actually copied a number of late Victorian patterns, the sale and dispersal of Wright molds has the potential to add significantly to the number of reproductions on the secondary market.
    The threat to collectors will not come from Fenton, however, even though the company purchased about 200 molds and has plans to put them into production. “Anything we have will have an F in an oval circle on it,” Fenton said. The company began marking its glass in the early 1970s to aid collectors trying to distinguish old from new. Since then, the company has adopted a number of different marks to help collectors date the newer pieces.
    On the other hand, most collectors do feel threatened by AA Importing of St. Louis, MO and Castle Antiques & Reproductions of Hawley, Pa., who shared a bidding number to purchase 147 out of 721 mold lots. The reproduction wholesalers spent about $40,000 total with individual prices ranging from $1 for a Cherry tumbler mold to $10,000 for a lot described as “Peacock plunger, Holly plunger, 5 shells, Holly.”
    Company representatives declined to be interviewed or comment on which molds they bought. Since we were unable to be there Thursday to watch for ourselves, Sean and I stood on the loading dock Friday morning and made a list of lot numbers as Castle representatives loaded their purchases onto a marked truck.
    Glass dealers and other authors were there Thursday and kept track of mold prices and corresponding bidder numbers. Working together, we were able to determine Castle and AA’s bidder number and make a list of their purchases. (See accompanying list.)