Topic: Dates on studio glass

[brewster]

I wonder about the marking of studio glass with the date.

Although other works of art and studio craft are sometimes dated, it seems to me the practice has been more common with glass than, say, pottery. Am I right? I wonder why? One possibility is that pottery is more frequently marked with a stamp, either into the wet clay or in ink on a flat surface, whereas it is little extra effort to add the date when engraving a maker's name onto glass. But even then when pots are incised by hand to show the maker they are infrequently marked with the date.

It also seems the practice of date marking of studio glass is less common now than in the 1970s and 1980s. Am I right? I was told by one artist that he stopped applying the date because people were resistant to buying work from a year or two earlier because it seemed "old". Is that a common experience?

I am intrigued by the precision in some cases. The year is most common, but occasionally the month or even the day has been marked. Michael Rayner (founder of Island Glass and Alum Bay Glass) seems to have been a practitioner, at least in early times. The example below carries only the month, but there are instances on this Board where items of his are reportedly inscribed "3RD JULY 1974" and "24th October 1977". Marking a special occasion is one possible explanation for attaching a day date, but it becomes less plausible with each occurrence (and with the absence of examples to the contrary).

Any insights?

Trevor

[Frank]

Amused but not surprised if people react to dates like that, I love exact dates, makes something so much more personal.

[aa]

I was told by one artist that he stopped applying the date because people were resistant to buying work from a year or two earlier because it seemed "old".

Where does it say that you have to sell work the day after you made it? :-)

[aa]

When mentoring, I usually point out that "old" art tends to increase in value as does old wine ;-)

[aa]

For years I have been signing and dating my work.
Glass lasts a long time and future collectors and historians need all the help that they can get.
:-)

Also less likely for people to pass it off as something else, by adding a signature at a later date, as has been discussed in the past on this board.

[brewster]

Yes, Aaron. The artist who made that comment would mostly agree with you. He said it in a spirit of commiseration and regret. He recognised that it made things harder for collectors like me who have an eye to history. On the other hand, he has to make a living in a tough marketplace.

Trevor

[NMott]

Maybe it's because it takes longer to make a piece of glass than a piece of pottery. Some studio potters churn out hundreds of pieces a week so it's easier to simply use a potters stamp. Some do add a date letter or mark or dots, eg, Aldermaston Pottery.

As a collector, if I saw an inscribed potter's initials and date on a piece I'd think it was by a student, for the simple reason that that's usually how students mark their work.

With glass, though, I like to see a date; the older the better.