Fenton Artist Robert Barber - Where Are They Now

Through the years eggs have been a fascinating collectible for people of all ages. While hunting for Easter eggs fascinates children, eggs are also seen as a symbol of life in Christianity. Collectible eggs are made of all types of materials from tin to gold and from plastic to art glass. Some collectors are on a never ending egg hunt for the difficult to find Fenton Art Glass Barber Eggs. One may even ask the question, "What came first, the Barber eggs or the high demand to obtain them?"

The size of these elusive treasures ranges from 4" to 5" tall and about 3" across. Even though there were 6 colors listed in their production line, the color combinations are very unique to each egg. They are a true testimony of no two pieces of handmade glass being the same. Some of the designs will have a very definite spiral swirl while others may have a splashed on effect. While mixing the basic glass colors used in their production, the finished product of each egg ended up being a variety of colors. Clear glass was layered on the outside of the egg which adds to their weight of about 1 pound.

One interesting fact stated by Mr. Fenton is that Robert Barber never made any of these eggs. Barber was the man with the design for them, however, all of these lovely eggs were made by only two men - Delmer Stowasser and Dave Fetty. Here are the production numbers and colors used to identify the Barber eggs provided by Frank Fenton, with the predominate color used for identification being the first:

As you may or may not have noticed, there are a couple of numbers missing in the series, 5003EG and 5006EG. As Frank Fenton explained it, "No. 5003EG was brown, but didn't make it to the line. No. 5006EG was Ruby, and was recorded as being in the line but was not illustrated or on the price list". He also notes that many different "One-of-a-kind" Barber eggs are floating around or in someone's treasured collection, noted as "Lunch Box" specials that were made but too expensive to use for the regular line. The egg shown on the left is a good example, and confirms it is a Robert Barber piece as it's very similar in color and style to his No. 0009 Labyrinth vase. Other exclusive eggs seen by Joyce Stein include one in purple and pink, green and red, dark blue and white (no other color), and a fabulous Vasa Murrhina Barber egg in Adventurine Green.