Topic: Mystery EAPG water tray

[savannahmusique]

I am hoping for ID help with this EAPG water tray.  The design features eight clear spoke-like panels and eight panels in the Cane design.  The lip is raised around the edge and the tray sits flat with no feet.  The clear panels are rounded off at their widest point near the edge of the tray.  The glass glows under black light and has bubbles.  There is a faint circular impression line about the size of a half-dollar at the center on the top of the tray.  I can't find it in any guides and almost wonder if its a fake, perhaps?  Any info would be wonderful. 
As a newbie I must say how wonderful this forum is!  Member Tutu helped me ID my SVL Luxval John vase earlier this week, and you all seem so supportive of each other...

[Ivo]

It sure is pressed glass but I don't think it is EAPG - it could have been made recently in Germany or Italy or further afield. You mention it may be a fake (an imitation with intent to deceive) - but that cannot be if there is no clear picture of what it is trying to imitate. We see these and similar items regularly over here and tend to think it is by US Glass, from the 20s or 30s - or failing that it must be German.  I must admit, that is where my curiosity stops.

[Lustrousstone]

I think fake is most definitely not the word to use in this case. A fake is a copy of something or in the style of something produced with intent to deceive, which this is not. Pressed glass has been made round the world in 100s of factories for over 150 years. Many factories have produced hobnail based designs; many factories produced similar designs to each other. A fair few designs were plagiarised. Many designs were produced over long periods.

FWIW, I think your tray is mid 20th C or older because it glows under UV, which indicates the use of manganese as a decolorant (its use was superseded by cheaper decolorants and easier access to supplies of better quality sand). And I would say it's probably not European because it's not the sort of shape that we seem to see here, but I could be wrong. I think perhaps what I'm trying to say is that perhaps you have to widen your horizons from EAPG; it could be APG, just not E; it could be EPG but not A  , IYSWIM

The circular mark seems to be an artefact of some pressing machines; I have seen it too.

[Sid]

Hello:

Actually, it is EAPG.  This is the water tray in McKee's Rainbow pattern introduced circa 1898. Reference page 356 of "The Complete Book of McKee Glass" by Stout

Sid

[Ivo]

Bravo for a credible attribution. It just makes me wonder where the cut-off date for EAPG is. Anything 19th century counts as early? Or pre-WW1?

[Sid]

Ivo:

There are various opinions about the beginning and ending dates, but the generally accepted definition of the Early American Pattern Glass (EAPG) period is 1850 to 1910.

Sid

[savannahmusique]

Thank you Sid!  I have looked at McKee's Rainbow in my pattern book before but as it shows a vase and not the tray I did not recognize it (isn't that so frustrating?).  Now this website has in the space of a week helped me to ID two pieces that I've been attempting to ID by myself for months!  What a great glass forum.  Again my thanks to you Sid.