Topic: Duncan Wallet & Co. London - glass

[Angela B]

Can anyone help me identify this jade green ashtray?
It is inscribed on the bottom Duncan Wallet & Co. London
and on the side it has a flag and the initials "NZSCo" which I take to be New Zealand Shipping Company (that's a guess).
http://www.glassnewsletter.com/glassarchives/jade/jadeash1.jpg
http://www.glassnewsletter.com/glassarchives/jade/jadeash4closeb.jpg
http://www.glassnewsletter.com/glassarchives/jade/jadeash3.jpg
Who were Duncan Wallet?
Many thanks
Angela

[ChrisStewart]

Hi Angela,

My father many many years ago had a similar ashtray in amber glass. I have seen ashtrays like this at fairs, but never in jade and always unmarked. A few have gone through Ebay in the last couple of years. Didn't Bagley make an ashtray in this shape?

Duncan Wallet does not ring any bells. I have done a lot of work with the Pottery Gazette and Glass Trade Review and have never come across that name as a maker or distributor of glass.

Regards

Chris

[Angela B]

Many thanks, Chris,
I've been doing some searching, and my conclusion is that they were something like ships chandlers. They supplied silver-plated holloware to the SS Canberra, and in 1955 Photonews showed a picture of a Bedford van with Duncan Wallet & Co. on the side.
I don't know who made the glass for them, though. Bagley's certainly did make a shape similar to this, but put next to the other pieces in the Bagley set (the cigarette box and candlesticks) its clearly a different kind of glass - slightly more opaque.
My sincere thanks for your help,
Angela

[Sue C]

This is just a snippet of info for Angela, i was'nt sure where to put it, anyway, Clive Latham Baillieu 1st Baron of Sefton and Parkwood, mentions Duncan Wallet and Co in his diary, which is on pdf file in the univercity of Melbourn archives, i hope this work's if not can a mod help?

http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/archives/pdfs/baillieu.pdf

mod: link altered (thanks to Sid)

[Sue C]

Thankyou sooo much Sid 

[Sklounion]

Hi Angela,
It might be worth talking to Peninsular and Orient, as they have/had a decent archive, and the archivist was Stephen Rabson.
Also possibly try Veronica Sekules at UEA. If Duncan Wallet supplied the Canberra, then they would have been answering to Sir Donald Forsyth Anderson, at P&O, and his design chief for interiors, Sir Hugh Casson. DFA was the younger brother of Sir Colin Anderson, of Anderson Green, who revolutionised ship-board design from the 1930s onwards, with the assistance of the very talented New Zealander Brian O'Rorke.
If DFA followed his brother, then the glass would have been made by medium to top quality UK manufacturers, and info should be available in P&O's archives.
Regards,
Marcus

[davidlang]

Hi
Duncan Wallet were a ships chandlers based in Greengate St in London E13.  They occupied a building that was previously a YMCA. In the early 70s I worked for a rubber & plastics company in London E16 and Duncan wallet were a customer, we often delivered goods for them to the Royal Victoria docks to be loaded onto ships.
I'm guessing they had the ashtrays made as a publicity thing.

[Angela B]

Hi DavidLang
Thank you so much for that information. I guess there was a glassworks somewhere doing the same thing as your employer at that time - making items for delivery to ships.
I've started a folder for Duncan Wallet now I know a bit more about them.
I need to sort out the links in my original post on this thread - they don't work for me.

Oh, and Welcome to the Glass Message Board.

Angela