Reproduction wholesalers buy molds of LG Wright Glass

Special report for ACRN by Johanna & Sean Billings

Two reproduction wholesalers, AA Importing, St. Louis, Missouri and Castle Antiques and Reproductions, Hawley, Pennsylvania were prominent buyers of L.G. Wright Glass Company molds auctioned May 27, 1999.

By matching the bidding number to list of lot prices realized provided by the auctioneer, the two firms spent approximately $40,000 to purchase 147 of the 700 molds offered. The companies purchased additional molds after the auction from a scrap metal dealer. AA and Castle paid $20 each for any complete mold the scrap dealer could match up from his pile of parts.

Other companies buying molds followed by the number of pieces they purchased were: Fenton Glass-202; Mosser Glass-124; Weishar Enterprises-53; Aladdin Mantle Lamp Co.-31; Gibson Glass-29; Wholesale Glass-11; Fuhrman Glass Studios-8; Wilkerson Glass-8.

The molds were part of the final sale of remaining materials and inventory of Wright Glass held at the factory site in New Martinsville, WV.

Wright's copies of antique patterns has caused confusion since the 1930s-40s. Wright's copies were made both from original old molds and new molds Wright had custom made to resemble old patterns. Wright's Three Face and Westward Ho, for example, are all from new molds. Many of Wright's shapes from new molds were never made in the original lines.

The Wright company owned all its molds but never mixed glass or pressed any glass itself. The molds were jobbed out to a variety of glass factories for the actual working.