Topic: Victorian Glass Dumps. Mantle shelf ornaments...................................

[traditionaljazz]

Dear Everyone at the Glass Message Board, These Victorian Glass Dumps. I have a large one with the usual tin foil flowers. Quite a few books and other sources refer to these as door stops. At the time that these where made every household had a fire place with burning wood or coal fire. This fire place whould have some sort of mantle self. These glass dumps seem to date from circa 1830s to about 1900??. There are some with clay figures of Disrali, Gladstone or Florance Nightingale. Well the Florance Nightingale one whould probably date from about the Crimean war period 1856-1859 till about the mid 1860s. During this period there was the staffordshire figures of Pair of Dogs, Personalities etc etc. Which whould be found place on these mantle shelfs. So prusumly these glass dumps where place on the mantle shelf as well. There is somewhere that mentioned the Victorian passion of flowers. So i imagined as the fashion for everything with flowers come out of fashion or that Victorian taste come out of fashion. That these glass dumps where regaleted to being used as door stops. Regards Traditional Jazz.

[traditionaljazz]

Dear Everyone at The Glass Message Board, Thank you for viewing my posting. I have seen this book recently Starting To Collect Glass John Sandon. Where the author says that there are period photographs of these Glass Dumps on Mantle Shelfs. I wonder if anybody knows of the original name for these Glass Dumps. The name that these where called in the Victorian Period. Regards TraditionalJazz.

[Anne]

I wonder if you might have a better response to this in Paperweights as they are effectively the same as, just a lot bigger. I'll move this over for you in the hope someone will respond there.

[alexander]

These were made from around 1830 at a variety of glassworks, using glass left over from the day's production.
They come in many different sizes, with silver looking flowers, colored flower petals, airbubbles, clay dolls, busts, clay pipe heads, etc etc.
They range from small in size to quite large. The big ones were likely used for door stops while the smaller ones
fall into the paperweight/ornamental catergory - after all - a 3" by 1,5" tall glass piece won't hold a door back

It is, with a few exceptions, hard to attribute these to a specific maker as they are all very similar and seldom marked,
the exception being the maker John Kilner in Wakefield who stamped the bottoms of the paperweights with "J.Kilner Wakefield"

For more detailed information I recommend the book Old English Paperweights by Robert G. Hall, ISBN-0-7643-0539-5
Most of the information above was gleaned from that book.

There are usually a few listed on eBay at any given time.

 

[tropdevin]

Hi

The late Bill Gaskill wrote 3 very good articles on green glass dumps and related items in the Paperweight Collectors Association Inc., Anuual Bulletins for 2002, 2003 and 2005.  He had an extensive collection of them, and knew a lot about them.  He sometimes called them 'English bottle glass paperweights', an apt description as they were made in bottle factories from glass that would otherwise be dumped at the end of the day - hence the colloquial name 'green glass dump'. I suspect the smaller ones were made as ornaments, but that the larger ones were indeed intended as doorstops.

As well as the Kilner signatures it is possible to find Redfearn signatures, but both are rare, as are the ones with coloured foil petals or coloured centres to the flowers.  I have one with most of the Kilner signature stamp, 3 blue centred and one red centred flower - they tend to cost in the £300 - £500 region, but a simple bubble filled dump may be only £50 or so.

Alan

[traditionaljazz]

I wonder if you might have a better response to this in Paperweights as they are effectively the same as, just a lot bigger. I'll move this over for you in the hope someone will respond there.

Dear Ann, Thank you for your reply and for moving my posting. These Green Glass Dumps are so far removed from the times when they first appeared. Regards TraditionalJazz.

[cfosterk]

From memory there was a very helpful article on these items in Cambridge PC pamphlet/brochure.

They have a classical simplicity - foil flowers tend to be in the mid range of the collectable end of these beasts!! Simple bubble decorations, followed by chalk-type flowers, then foil versions, next up the food chain are suphides, followed by the signed and coloured pieces.

I've often thought of specialising in this field, especially as the are locally manufactured in the Castleford/Wakefield/Pontefract area of West Yorkshire....

[traditionaljazz]

These were made from around 1830 at a variety of glassworks, using glass left over from the day's production.
They come in many different sizes, with silver looking flowers, colored flower petals, airbubbles, clay dolls, busts, clay pipe heads, etc etc.
They range from small in size to quite large. The big ones were likely used for door stops while the smaller ones
fall into the paperweight/ornamental catergory - after all - a 3" by 1,5" tall glass piece won't hold a door back

It is, with a few exceptions, hard to attribute these to a specific maker as they are all very similar and seldom marked,
the exception being the maker John Kilner in Wakefield who stamped the bottoms of the paperweights with "J.Kilner Wakefield"

For more detailed information I recommend the book Old English Paperweights by Robert G. Hall, ISBN-0-7643-0539-5
Most of the information above was gleaned from that book.

There are usually a few listed on eBay at any given time.

Dear Alexander, Thank you for your reply and information about these Glass Dumps. Which i already know about. Did not know that these Glass Dumps had coloured flowers!!!!. Regards TraditionalJazz.
 

[traditionaljazz]

Hi

The late Bill Gaskill wrote 3 very good articles on green glass dumps and related items in the Paperweight Collectors Association Inc., Anuual Bulletins for 2002, 2003 and 2005.  He had an extensive collection of them, and knew a lot about them.  He sometimes called them 'English bottle glass paperweights', an apt description as they were made in bottle factories from glass that would otherwise be dumped at the end of the day - hence the colloquial name 'green glass dump'. I suspect the smaller ones were made as ornaments, but that the larger ones were indeed intended as doorstops.

As well as the Kilner signatures it is possible to find Redfearn signatures, but both are rare, as are the ones with coloured foil petals or coloured centres to the flowers.  I have one with most of the Kilner signature stamp, 3 blue centred and one red centred flower - they tend to cost in the £300 - £500 region, but a simple bubble filled dump may be only £50 or so.

Alan

Dear Tropdevin, Thank you for your reply and information. Have not heard of Redfern before or even coloured flowers!!!!!. But still think that the large ones where used as mantle shelf ornaments as in my first posting. Regards TraditionalJazz.

[traditionaljazz]

From memory there was a very helpful article on these items in Cambridge PC pamphlet/brochure.

They have a classical simplicity - foil flowers tend to be in the mid range of the collectable end of these beasts!! Simple bubble decorations, followed by chalk-type flowers, then foil versions, next up the food chain are suphides, followed by the signed and coloured pieces.

I've often thought of specialising in this field, especially as the are locally manufactured in the Castleford/Wakefield/Pontefract area of West Yorkshire....

Dear cfosterk, Thank you for your reply and information and comments. Regards TraditionalJazz.