Can't say what it is, can't say what it's not, but here's a bit of a story ...
I have
three vases in opal iridescent which, by comparison of how they are made, appear to be from the same maker, whoever it may be. As seen in the picture, they have no trailing, but ...
The pair of thinner ones look to be identical to one shown in Manley's
Decorative Victorian Glass, page 54, Item 16. Manley said of this, "A cased vase, iridescent crystal over opal. Made at Richardson's, the first of a series ..." He also showed four other vases (items 17 thru 20) and said that these followed on in that series. Some had a moulded allover "indented pattern" and one had trailed drops. Item 18 in the book shows green trailing
in the same style as Lynne's vase.
The trailing in both Lynne's and the Manley item is mostly horizontal, with the upper and lower trails seeming to be perfect "rims" to the decoration. This makes me think it is not the work of Palme-Konig, which, in the (admittedly few) examples I have seen, seems to always show much more movement in the trails and often has almost vertical crossovers as well.
Manley made another comment, which these days may be regarded as "mistaken". He said, for Item 19 with the drops over "indented pattern" body, "A somewhat similar item was made on the Continent but ... has no punty mark, no drops, is not crystal cased and is only half the weight".
At this point,
here's an image of the base of my larger vase, and
here's one of the thinner one. The colours are false, but this is deliberate to highlight the finish. Note the smooth pontil area, with partial evidence of a "snap-off recess" in the larger vase. These bases look quite similar to that on Lynne's vase. If Manley was right about the base finishes, then mine and Lynne's would seem to be "not Continental".
Turning now to the Truitts'
Collectible Bohemian Glass 1880-1940, page 79, a selection of Kralik vases is shown, with two certainly having the allover "indented pattern" and one, with a plain surface, having drops in a style reasonably similar to that shown by Manley. What is clear, though, is that none have the cased iridescent form which Manley said was Richardson's.
Ok, does Gulliver's
Victorian Decorative Glass - British Designs, 1850-1914 help out? Fascinating stuff ... I can find no examples in this book that show anything like Lynne's, mine, or the Manley items. Does this mean that Gulliver believed these type of wares were simply not British, or does it mean that he had not seen any like it???
Is there
anybody out there who can confidently say that Manley was wrong and that these are all "Continental", or is there anyone who can confirm that they are British, and perhaps Richardson's, as Manley suggested?