Fenton Update

By Debbie and Randy Coe

On December 4^th, George Fenton spoke to all the Fenton employees at the factory and made the announcement that Fenton would be able to continue for now. Progress has been made towards resolving financial hurdles with many thanks to all the dealers, collector groups and collectors that have ordered from Fenton in the last couple of months. During the VIP night on November 10, there was a large attendance and many sales were made. The following day, the special Fenton auction also generated additional sales. The combination of all these events has generated a substantial amount of cash to pay on Fenton’s financial responsibilities.

Fenton will now be able to offer a new Spring line for 2008. The company has decided to eliminate the cost of producing a catalog and only have pieces to view on their web site. All the pieces will only be offered for a short period of time and then once production capacity is reached, ordering will end. Fenton will now essentially only make on demand thus making them more efficient with their resources. With the better planning of their production schedule, Fenton can avoid having to shut down the factory. The Fenton line will be much smaller than it has been in the past. The first open order period was from December 3 to tentatively December 24. All orders are being handled online, so if there is something you want, please contact your local Fenton dealer so they so they can order the item for you. The spring offering is available online at:

www.fentonartglass.com/spring2008

According to George Fenton, “We still can’t say we are of the woods but we are making good progress. As you may know by now, we have sold out our capacity on the Spring offering. We expect to have another offering in late January if other financial progress continues. At this point, I don’t believe the Glass Messenger will continue. Our time and resources need to be focused on the minimum business needs.”

The number of Fenton dealers across the United States was reduced by over 60% to hopefully make the Fenton products more salable. According to Scott Fenton, “As we move forward, we will be selling Fenton products under two names: Fenton USA and Fenton International. Fenton USA will be glass made in Williamstown while Fenton International could include glass and non glass items that will be imported. The two brands will be clearly marked so everyone will know the source of the product. We are excited, optimistic and hopeful about the future of Fenton USA. The hard work and dedication of our staff in Williamstown and the support of our network of reps, customers and collectors across the country since August 9^th was vital to us making it to this point. I hope you are excited as we are to work towards the next chapter in Fenton history”.

Fenton is also looking at having a new QVC show in the spring if plans can get worked out. Three additional auctions are being planned for 2008 with glass coming from storage areas around the factory. In each auction will be about 250 items that will include various sample items from decorators and colors that didn’t make into the Fenton line. Randy Clark will again run these special auctions like he did in November. Check out his web site at randyclarkauctions.com prior to the dates for an exact listing of the pieces to be offered. Planned dates are: February 17 (this is also during the annual Fenton Gift Shop sale); May 25 and August 4.

As you can see Fenton is having all sorts of ways to generate sales to assist them in meeting their financial responsibilities in 2008. We hope all of collectors will continue to support us and Fenton in the coming year.

All of us at PNWFA will continue to provide an accurate update on Fenton for all of you collectors. We are the only group constantly keeping all of you informed about the status of Fenton. In between newsletters, if there is anything else new that comes up, we will post it on the web site. Please help all of us by portraying Fenton in a positive light.