Hi Paul,
In brief, there was a large haul of glass that was in the ownership of one of Major Elwell's granddaughters. Elwell was the wholesaler, originally based in Bermondsey, London and later in Harlow, Essex who handled much of Nazeing's production. It came to light about 3 years ago. There is information elsewhere on the board about this, but briefly the granddaughter many years ago had inherited the residue of her grandfathers business stock after the company had closed. It had been kept in the original wooden crates that it had been packed in at that time and had not been opened for an estimated 45 to 50 years. There were pieces that evidentally had come from Nazeing, but had no written proof, there were definate Nazeing pieces from pre and post, there was Czech glass, and glass from a number of other sources. We now refer to this as the Elwell haul, or find.
In Geoff Timberlake's book there is a passage that refers to Elwell having designed glass that was made by Nazeing, but there is no evidence of what these pieces look like. It is now believed that the pieces that are not as well made as the documented pre and post war Nazeing production, but which have certain characteristics and references to their work are indeed the Elwell designs.
It is believed that the evidence that we had been seeking for years that would have conclusively tied the probable Elwell designs with Nazeing had been destroyed on a bonfire. Certainly the/a day-book which would have linked Elwell with its suppliers and customers went on the fire (because it was mouldy and in very bad condition), and we were told that a trunk of documents went on the fire. We will never know whether or not these were relevant to Nazeing's history, or whether they were mainly Elwell family history, but prime faci it was the former.
I was invited to go and see the mass of glass which was only partly sorted, but it was fully evident that it was far too large an amount for any glass dealer to manage, particularly because of the quantity of multiple duplicates. Having selected a few pieces that would help with my own research into Nazeing Glass, I and the person who had introduced me to the owner both suggested that she contacted Stephen Pollock-Hill (the owner of the Nazeing Glass Works and member of the GMB amongst a number of interests). He bought the whole collection, so it is largely still all together and as yet, I believe still to be sorted though. It understand that much will eventually end up being added to the Nazeing Museum of British Domestic Glass that Stephen opened a few years ago.
The piece shown is Elwell (in all probability made by Nazeing) rather than what we know as Nazeing, and came from the Elwell find.
Nigel
Topic: Questions about Nazeing / other similar British glass (Read 3942 times)
