Ohio Valley glass enthusiasts hold convention this weekend

Dec 26, 2023

Jun 10, 2023

WHEELING ­– Glass enthusiasts from all over the country will gather to grow their collections at three glass conventions taking place across three different Ohio Valley communities this weekend.

The Society of Moon & Star Patterns Glass Club will convene in Wheeling, the Imperial Glass Society will host its 47th annual meeting in Bellaire, and the Fostoria Glass Society of America will gather in Moundsville for the 42nd annual Glass Show & Sale.

"If you’ve ever ridden in an airplane, got gas at a gas station, or stopped at a traffic light, you’ve used glass made by local manufacturers," John Weishar, owner of Weishar Enterprises, tells visitors on tours of Weishar Glass Museum and Island Mould and Machine Co. in Wheeling.

Wanting to carry on their father's craft of glassmaking, brothers John and Tom Weishar founded Weishar Enterprises in 1989. At their factory, Island Mould, employees create glass molds for original pieces, with their father's signature etched onto the inside of each one.

What draws collectors to their creations is the signature Moon & Star design, which is molded onto a variety of items, from candy jars to ornaments.

Members of the Society of Moon & Star Patterns Glass Club will congregate this weekend in Wheeling to celebrate their 25th anniversary. The weekend's activities will include a members-only tour of Oglebay's Glass Museum and an ice cream social, along with a silent auction featuring glass pieces made all over the country.

Open to the public, the silent auction will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Alphonsus Parish Hall. The society will also host a public tour of the Weishar Glass Museum and Island Mould from 8:30-11 a.m. Friday.

To commemorate the society's 25th anniversary, Weishar has created a special sundae dish that members will use at the ice cream social and then take home.

Weishar is particularly excited for this year's celebration, not only for the anniversary, but because of the expected large turnout for the event. Over 70 members have signed up to attend the ice cream social and banquet, with over 100 members and non-society glass collectors expected at the silent auction.

"We’ve never had that many attendees," said Weishar. "I don't know if we have room for all of them."

Weishar believes the popularity of this year's convention has been driven by the proliferation of glass-collecting groups in online communities. The Society of Moon & Star Pattern Glass Club has grown greatly in the past three years, even when the group could no longer meet in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Weishar prides himself on meeting trends in glass collecting, as he constantly brainstorms new ideas for glass molds. When a customer asked for a mid-century modern cigarette lighter from their museum that was not for sale, Weishar decided to create "smoke sets." These pieces glow under black light due to the uranium within the glass. Weishar noted that this glowing glass, nicknamed "Vaseline glass," has been extremely popular among young customers.

"We always try to do something different," Weishar said of the molds they create. "We shipped more glass last year than we probably have in the last 10 years together."

The Society of Moon and Star Glass Club is not the only gathering of glass enthusiasts taking place this weekend, with both the Fostoria Glass Society of America and the Imperial Glass Society holding conventions in Moundsville and Bellaire, respectively.

The Imperial Glass Society is hosting its 47th Annual Collectors’ Society meeting in Bellaire, including a special celebration of the 20th anniversary of the opening of the National Imperial Glass Museum. To commemorate the anniversary, the Imperial Glass Museum will auction off a specially made clock with pins that replicate the stickers placed on original Imperial Glass pieces.

A silent auction featuring rare Imperial Glass works opened at 11 a.m. Wednesday and will close at 4 p.m. Friday. Proceeds from the auction, which is open to the public, support the operation of the Imperial Glass Museum.

In addition to the silent auction, the grand reopening of the Imperial Glass Museum will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday. The Glass Fest will take place at the Imperial Glass Museum at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Seeing collectors from all over the country get together and connect with each other is what Kathy Turner, president of Imperial Glass Collectors, is looking forward to the most.

"There's always surprises," Turner said. "There's something new we learn about a piece or someone brings in a piece of Imperial manufactured glass we’ve never seen before."

The Fostoria Glass Society of America will host its 42nd annual Glass Show & Sale this weekend in Moundsville. A public auction will take place at the Moundsville Center at 5 p.m. Saturday. The money generated from the auction will fund the daily operations of the Fostoria Glass Museum in Moundsville.

In addition to the auction, the society will host a "First Timers Orientation" for newcomers to the Fostoria Glass Society and glass collecting in general at 10:30 a.m. Friday on the second floor of the Fostoria Glass Museum. The society will also hold a glass show at The Moundsville Center from 4-7 p.m. on Friday. The show will continue from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Cassie Clark, assistant curator of the Fostoria Glass Society of America, has volunteered for the museum for 19 years and is hard at work preparing for the convention. Clark "doesn't get a nickel" for her work, but instead sees the reward in helping carry on a tradition of glassmaking in the Ohio Valley that began in the 1800s.

"We are a nonprofit organization open to the public that preserves history," Clark said. "We want to keep this afloat because it's important to so many."

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

BRIDGEPORT — The Bridgeport Alumni Association will honor three alumni of Bridgeport High School during an ...

All A'sFreshman—Roselyne Anderson, Isabella Bush, Kaydee Dillingham, Ben Eberhart, AJ Empeno, Maleah ...

COLUMBUS — More than 450 graduating seniors from more than 70 counties across the state recently received their ...

BYESVILLE, Ohio — Caithness Energy cut the ribbon on its newly completed 1,875-megawatt combined-cycle natural ...

BRIDGEPORT — Bridgeport's annual alumni weekend will welcome Bulldogs of all ages on June 23-24. The events ...

WHEELING ­— Glass enthusiasts from all over the country will gather to grow their collections at three glass ...