Millersburg (Millersburg, Ohio) 

Short-lived and still shrouded in shreds of mystery, Millersburg was the brain-child of John Fenton (the brother of Frank L. Fenton). Founded in 1908, the Millersburg Glass Company went against the trend of locating in the Ohio Valley. Picture instead, low rolling hills and beautiful pastoral countryside in the centre of the Amish heartland of scenic Holmes County. In this idyllic spot, John Fenton’s crusade to produce fabulous glassware began – and ended just four years later.

The company filed for bankruptcy in 1911 and closed the following year. The short period of production and the difficulties of the latter years have combined to make Millersburg’s Carnival somewhat scarce.

Typical of their glass was a shiny yet multi-coloured, mirror-like iridescence known as “Radium”. Millersburg also produced a sought-after satin effect that sometimes also has stretch iridescence. Three colours were in general production; marigold, amethyst and green, while blue and vaseline were rarely used and are subsequently highly prized. Bowls and water sets are the shapes most often seen. Plates are rare and it is fair to say that Millersburg’s vases are the truly high dollar pieces.

Millersburg’s Peoples Vase has achieved some sort of notoriety because of its exceptionally high value.

Only a handful of these vases are known and consequently they have been well documented. The first record of a Peoples Vase being sold on the collector market was in 1959 with two specifics in the 1960s. A blue example sold at a 1963 Antique Show in Tulsa, Oklahoma for $75 while a green one sold in 1965 in an art glass shop in Chicago (apparently it was filled with artificial flowers) for $75. The latter vase changed hands eight years later for $7,100.

Currently there are approx. ten Peoples Vases known; in 2006 a blue example sold for $100,000 at public auction.

Visit the Millersburg picture gallery