Topic: William Fritsche? Ended ebay auction $1700 for damaged decanter

[krsilber]

I don't know how much y'all know about William Fritsche, a master engraver for Webb, but I suspect this is his work.  I bid a tenth of what it ended up going for, and that was rich for my blood!  I had a feeling I'd be outbid, but gee, was I ever.  Does anyone else think this might be Fritsche's work?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310038816076

[Bernard C]

Kristi — The stoppered claret jug by Fritsche at Plate 10 of Ian Wolfenden's English Rock Crystal Glass 1878–1925 is stylistically a close match, with several matching elements of the engraving.   There's not a close match illustrated in Hajdamach's chapter on Rock Crystal.   How did you come to the conclusion that it was by Fritsche?

I'm surprised it didn't go for more!

Bernard C. 

[krsilber]

There's a book on English Rock Crystal?!  Cool!  Does it talk at all about how it was made (i.e. molds used to make pillars/bosses)?

I've seen several examples of Fritsche's work.  Nothing like this really, but I have a bit of a feel for the style.  Engraved glass is my thing, doncha know.  It was just a guess.

With better photos and listed properly it might have gone for more.

[Bernard C]

There's a book on English Rock Crystal?! ...

Yes, Kristi, actually an exhibition catalogue from 1976, held at Dudley Art Gallery before Broadfield House Glass Museum opened, and curated by Charles Hajdamach.   CMoG lent the Fritsche ewer for this exhibition.   It's one of the most important books in my collection.

... Does it talk at all about how it was made (i.e. molds used to make pillars/bosses)? ...

Yes, and no moulds were used.   All those pillars, bosses, and gadroons were cut by hand from a thick blank.  Something like half of the glass was cut away during manufacture.    Designer and engraver names include Fritsche, Northwood, Kny, Orchard, and Woodall.   Most was made by Webb and S&W, but some output came from Webb Corbett, Stuart, Walsh (not mentioned by Wolfenden), and possibly others.

Bernard C. 

[krsilber]

I found the book you're talking about and will probably buy it, though the seller's in the UK.

Just for the halibut, here's a close-up of the Fritsche Ewer I took at CMOG.  The pillars don't protrude as much on this as the bosses on some of the American examples I posted in the other thread.

(Huh!  I only now realized that you don't necessarily see the whole photo if you simply click on the thumbnail, you have to click on the filename.  I wonder what I've been missing when I viewed others' photos!)

[Anne]

Kristi, if you click the thumbnail you should see the whole of the image at full-size.  If you're not then your browser is doing something odd with the images!

[krsilber]

I don't know what happened last time I opened it, but now it seems to be back to "normal" - I can scroll to see the whole thing.  It won't open the window large enough to see the whole thing full size at once, though.  That's frustrating, but I open the file with an editor if I really want to see it full size.

[Anne]

It does in Firefox. (she said smugly.)