Fenton hobnail glass: how to identify it (and tell it from other hobnail)

What is hobnail glass?

Hobnail is a pattern of evenly spaced, rounded knobs covering the outside of a piece, named after the studs on old hobnailed boots. It's older than Fenton. The Victorian version, sometimes called Dew Drop, is credited to Hobbs, Brockunier & Co. of West Virginia in 1886, and it was popular in colored glass for lemonade sets and the like.

When did Fenton make hobnail?

Fenton's hobnail story starts in the late 1930s, when it made opalescent hobnail perfume bottles for the Wrisley company. By 1940 Fenton was selling its own Hobnail line in French Opalescent, Green Opalescent and Cranberry Opalescent, and it became one of the company's best sellers, helping carry Fenton through World War II.

Milk glass hobnail followed around 1950 and became one of Fenton's most successful lines ever. Fenton kept making hobnail, in many colors and treatments, until it wound down traditional glassmaking in 2011.

What colors did Fenton make hobnail in?

• French Opalescent: clear glass with milky white hobs and edges.
• Cranberry Opalescent: pink-red glass with white opalescent hobs. A collector favorite.
• Blue and Green Opalescent, and other opalescent colors: colored glass with the same milky white highlights.
• Topaz Opalescent: a yellow uranium glass that glows green under UV. Fenton made it in a few separate runs (Fenton histories list 1940 to 1944, 1959 to 1962 and 1980), and Hobnail was one of the patterns made in it.
• Milk glass: opaque white hobnail, the most plentiful Fenton hobnail you'll find.
• Later colors and treatments: Fenton made hobnail in many other colors over the decades, including carnival and hand-painted pieces.

How to identify Fenton hobnail

Start with the base, then work outward:

• The mark: an oval logo with Fenton in script. Fenton began molding it into glass in 1970 and had it on nearly everything by the mid-1970s.
• The decade number: a small 8 under the logo means the 1980s, 9 the 1990s, 0 the 2000s and 1 the 2010s. No number generally means the 1970s.
• No mark? Earlier Fenton is usually unmarked and wore a paper label that's long gone, so look harder at the rest of the piece.
• Opalescence: on opalescent hobnail, the hobs and the rim turn milky white while the body stays clearer. That's the heat-sensitive opalescent glass reacting when it's reheated during shaping.
• Shape: crimped and ruffled rims, baskets with applied handles, fairy lamps, cruets and vases are classic Fenton hobnail forms. Match the shape and color against Fenton catalogs and reference books.

How is Fenton hobnail different from other hobnail?

Fenton wasn't the only maker. Westmoreland and Kemple made hobnail too, several British companies did, and newer hobnail is still imported from Asia. Jeannette's 1950s Dewdrop pattern is a different design altogether: vertical panels of tiny hobs alternating with clear panels.

For an unmarked piece, the best tests are color and opalescence that match Fenton's known colors, a shape you can find in a Fenton catalog, and weight and finish that feel like marked Fenton you trust. When it doesn't add up, we call it hobnail, not Fenton.

Is Fenton hobnail worth anything?

Milk glass hobnail is plentiful, which makes it an affordable place to start. Opalescent colors, especially cranberry and the glowing Topaz Opalescent, less common shapes like lamps, fairy lamps and epergnes, and anything in excellent condition tend to bring more. For current values, check recently sold listings for the same color, shape and condition.

What to check before you buy Fenton hobnail

Hobs stick out, so they take the knocks. Before you buy:

• Run a fingertip over the hobs, especially around the widest part of the piece.
• Check crimped and ruffled rims, feet and handle joins for chips and cracks.
• Look inside cruets, vases and pitchers for cloudiness that won't wash out.
• Make sure cruet stoppers and lids are the right size, color and fit.

Fenton hobnail on our shows

When Fenton hobnail comes up on our Whatnot shows, we flip it over on camera to show the base and the mark (or the lack of one), check the hobs and rim up close, and put anything yellow-green under the UV light. Flaws get called out before the timer starts.

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