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Author Topic: Sherdley Jug (split from Pressed glass (mint) sauce boats)  (Read 9763 times)

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Offline Anne

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Sherdley Jug (split from Pressed glass (mint) sauce boats)
« on: April 13, 2007, 11:10:19 AM »
I looked through the other ads you put up on the GG and managed to confirm some jugs that I suspected were by Sherdley.  Thanks for that, too!
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-2949
BTW, one of my jugs in this stepped pattern is cut with a trailing vine.  Do you know whether Sherdley may have produced and sold cut glass at all, or is it more likely that a third party used their blanks?

Chris, I don't know who decorated the blanks (Heidi is doing some digging into this currently so may be able to add more) but I've seen examples of this design (called Bamboo, by the way) with various types of decoration including an etched or engraved (not sure which) RAF logo which Ray here on the board had (see copy of image attached), and the Matthey Crinkles coloured finishes as in the advert here: http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-2593. Re the Bamboo ad, it's one David uploaded and comes (I think) from the Pottery Gazette (he'll correct me if I've got that wrong)  and he says it dates from c.1950. According to the Design Council Archive the jug was displayed at the Britain Can Make It Exhibition in 1946, so it was current production then.

Re my advert for the sauce boat, no it's not readable on my copy either (it's one someone sent me ages ago and it's quite a small one.)

I've not been to Pontefract Museum either - it's on my list of places to go at some point when I have the time to do so!  ::) ;D
Cheers! Anne, da tekniqual wizzerd
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Offline Chris Harrison

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Sherdley Jug (split from Pressed glass (mint) sauce boats)
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2007, 01:05:44 PM »
Hi Anne,

Sorry to doubt you, but are you sure of the Bamboo name for the Sherdley stepped pattern jug?

Lesley Jackson's 20th C Factory Glass p 163, talks about "Bamboo" as pattern for tumblers, being an AHW design from 1958.  I have one of the 4" versions, though I think there's a larger one, too.  they were apparently made until the 1970s.  I remember there being loads in my grandparents' house in the 60s and 70s, probably acquired from work...

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-6640

I went to the St Helens World of Glass a couple of weeks ago.  A nice enough place, with some fascinating archaeology, some lovely pieces of ancient and medieval glass, a few Georgian to modern stunners, and absolutely no St Helens Sherdley/Ravenhead glass whatsoever.  Would you believe it?!

Hmmm, maybe this needs a different thread....


Offline Anne

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Sherdley Jug (split from Pressed glass (mint) sauce boats)
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2007, 03:46:45 PM »
I'm going to wait for Heidi to comment on this as it was she who told me the pattern name. (Cop-out... moi? ;D)

Edited to add:

1. Topic split as suggested

2. I wonder if there was Sherdley Bamboo and a Ravenhead Bamboo range?  The Sherdley range seems to date from the 1930s rather than AHW's 1958 pattern.

3. World of Glass started out as Pilkington's own visitor center didn't it? Maybe that's why they don't have UGB/Sherdley/Ravenhead (the competition!) stuff (thinking aloud here really.)
Cheers! Anne, da tekniqual wizzerd
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Offline Heidimin

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Re: Sherdley Jug (split from Pressed glass (mint) sauce boats)
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2007, 09:00:07 PM »
Hmmm... I've been wondering about this too... This posting has prompted me to look back through my early sources and, in the grand tradition of buck-passing, I seem to have got the name from David.

However, I'm attracted by Anne's theory of two different designs with the same name, produced at different stages of the Sherdley/ Ravenhead history. Bamboo seems right for the shape of the stepped pattern, and the two bamboo canes in the advert seem to confirm the association. (The date I have for the advert is 1948, but it may well have been run more than once.)

Anne, David and I have been wondering about whether Sherdley sold this range as blanks rather than decorating them in-house - all the adverts I've seen for Sherdley's pressed glass ranges have been undecorated. As well as etched/ engraved and crinkle verisons Anne mentions, I'm also awaiting delivery of a set with ?painted floral decoration: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260105306987. There's a picture of a crinkly jug at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110096456855. Would love to see a picture of your one with the trailing vine, Chris.

The 1958 tumblers are definitely called Bamboo - I have a copy of an advert from this year with both sizes pictured. Text reads:

Quote
‘Bamboo’ tumblers
They’re new!
Designed by A. H. Williamson A.R.C.A.
Now available from your Sherdley wholesaler. 5 oz. tumbler retails at 5 1/2d, 10 oz. at 7d each in the U.K.
A new tumbler for parties and everyday use. 5 oz., ideal for bottled fruit juices, 10 oz. for squashed. Children grip them easily – grown-ups too!
SHERDLEY GLASS TUMBLERS
MADE AT ST. HELENS LANCS.

So they started out as a Sherdley pattern, but may well have been produced by Ravenhead after production of pressed glass and machine-blown tumblers moved to the Ravenhead factory in 1964. (The only references I've come across so far to Ravenhead tableware production prior to 1964 have all been to stemware - but that's very far from a definitive statement of historical fact.)

BTW, Chris, you may be interested in another jug we've been discussing recently, which looks very likely to be Sherdley: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,13285.0.html. In the end I bought the one listed on e-bay and, for what it's worth, the colour, weight, quality etc feel "right" by comparison with other Sherdley jugs of the period.

Most disappointing about St Helens World of Glass. Perhaps when I finish my research on Sherdley/ Ravenhead, I'll donate my accumulated haul to them! (It would be nice to get my study back...)
Heidi

Offline Heidimin

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Re: Sherdley Jug (split from Pressed glass (mint) sauce boats)
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2007, 09:29:16 PM »
Maybe we're being a little unfair on St Helens World of Glass...

I double-checked and there are some United Glass/ Sherdley/ Ravenhead items in their on-line collection at http://www.worldofglass.com/museumonline.asp - search under Maker/ Artist for United Glass Bottle Manufacturers Ltd. and Ravenhead. Lots and lots of UGB bottles and jars, but also a collection of trade samples of United Glass tableware (ie Sherdley) produced in 1935, and some Ravenhead items (mainly promotional and commemorative ware) from the 70s/ 80s, donated following closure of Nuttall Street manufacturing plant in March 2001. Alas, no pictures.

Shame none of it's on display, though...  >:(
Heidi

Offline Heidimin

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Re: Sherdley Jug (split from Pressed glass (mint) sauce boats)
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2007, 07:03:17 AM »
Quote
I remember there being loads in my grandparents' house in the 60s and 70s, probably acquired from work...

Just read your post again, Chris. Do I gather that one of your grandparents worked for Sherdley/ Ravenhead?
Heidi

Offline Chris Harrison

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Re: Sherdley Jug (split from Pressed glass (mint) sauce boats)
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2007, 11:28:35 AM »
Ah, I've just been checking things over with family, and it's my misunderstanding.  My grandfather worked for Pilkingtons (Pilks) at their Ravenhead plate glass works, as well as at the Cowley Hill float glass works and Triplex.  A number of other rellies worked at the Sherdley plant, so they were probably the source of the tableware.  I do recall that my grandfather had to spend time on lighter duties after an accident, and he was certainly involved in making domestic glassware of some description for that period.  I wonder what Pilks were making in that line in St Helens in the 1960s.  Any ideas?  I know that Chance was a wholly owned Pilkington subsidiary by that time, but I didn't think they had any production plants in the NW.

Googling, I see that the equipment from the Ravenhead glassware factory was shipped to China when it closed down in 2003.  I imagine that's where this Ripple (formerly Bamboo) product comes from
http://www.giftware-solutions.co.uk/index.php?cat=Wine_Glasses

I note it doesn't say which Continent!  Unless it's an item that Rayware took on.  Or was it Rayware that shifted production to China?

Here's a pic of my engraved version of the Bamboo jug.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-6665
You can't see from this pic, but each of the five tendrils at the bottom has a single "berry" on it.  Either the jug is old or it has had a lot of use!

I also found this chevron jug packed away in a box.  I seem to remember thinking it was Sowerby at the time, but I suspect this might be a Sherdley item, too.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-6664

Offline Heidimin

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Re: Sherdley Jug (split from Pressed glass (mint) sauce boats)
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2007, 09:58:20 PM »
From what I remember, the Rayware site is pretty coy about where their Ravenhead-branded glass is produced. Certainly not the Nuttall Street factory (which closed in 2001) - when Rayware bought it in 2003, they said they were planning to use it for warehousing. It isn't clear from the press reports whether the Chinese factory products are being made for Rayware/ Ravenhead or somebody else.

The modern Ripple wine glasses are interesting - they do look very similar to the Sherdley/ Ravenhead 1958 Bamboo tumblers. (And another example of an old Sherdley pattern name being recycled for a completely different design!)

Is the chevron jug another family heirloom?
Heidi

Offline Chris Harrison

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Re: Sherdley Jug (split from Pressed glass (mint) sauce boats)
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2007, 11:32:44 AM »
Sorry, can't remember where the jug is from.  Probably a 5p buy from a car booter!  It was a while back, that's for sure.

Offline Anne

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Re: Sherdley Jug (split from Pressed glass (mint) sauce boats)
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2007, 06:37:55 PM »
Oddly enough I saw the same jug in a charity shop in Kendal today so picked it up and had a feel/look. My feeling is it's not the same maker as the "Bamboo" Sherdley jug which seem to be well-made (at least those I've owned/handed have been.) The glass didn't look as good and the finishing was poorer. My feeling is it wasn't Sherdley.  No idea who it is though.  Chris, you have both - how would you compare the glass quality of them?
Cheers! Anne, da tekniqual wizzerd
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