Topic: A tiny shot glass. Please help with an ID

[donaldf]

Hi All. I have what I think is a real 'shot glass' to hold quills. Any idea who the maker is. It is small, with the rim diameter at 60mm, 40mm depth and millefiori base is only 25mm

Thanks

Don

[tropdevin]

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Hi Don

Now I know who won that auction lot!  I am fairly sure it is an Arculus / Walsh Walsh piece. We have a dozen similar size shot glasses from these sources in our collection, but none have the 'top hat' style edge of yours.

Alan

[donaldf]

Good evening Alan, I was only after the St Mande... I never looked at the other bits that closely, but now they have arrived, the little shot glass has intrigued me. Are they from the classic period too?
Don

[Nick77]

That top hat shape does rather remind me of the liners found in silver inkwells?

Nick

[tropdevin]

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Hi Don

I think the date is probably nearer 1900 to 1930.

Alan

[Tony G]

Hi,  I think Nick has made a good point. That shape would be difficult and/or uncomfortable to drink from, so his idea of a liner for e.g. an ink well or a salt seems possible.

Tony

[tropdevin]

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Hi all.  I'm not so sure about the inkwell liner theory - why make a nice millefiori base that will be permanently hidden by the opaque ink you put in it?

Alan

[Nick77]

Hi Alan

But then is not the case with millefiori based  ink bottles too  or if a shot glass full of port etc?

Nick

[Nick77]

Hi Again,

I have wondered before about these, as by definition shot glasses as such did not seem to exist until the 1940's. Drinking glasses aren't something I know much about  but in theory there should be plain glasses of the same size and shape as these millefiori ones, and I can't say that I've seen any? And as Tony says this one would be difficult to drink from.

Glass liners were also used in glass inkwells like here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Victorian-Art-Nouveau-Sterling-Silver-Cut-Glass-Inkwell-Hallmarked-1899-/141109468018 (scroll to the bottom for the liner) so as before would this when filled with ink be so much different from the base of a millefiori bottle apart from the stopper?

Just wondering

Nick

[tropdevin]

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Hi Nick

There is confusion over terminology here: the Victorian 'shot glass' was a receptacle for lead shot, in which you stored your quill pen by pushing it down into the shot.  It was not a drinking vessel, unlike the modern shot glass.  Much of the millefiori would have been obscured by the shot...

Regarding the large bottles that people call inklwells or perfume bottles, I doubt they were often used for either of those purposes.  But if you put ink into an Old English bottle, you can still see the millefiori design, because you normally view it obliquely rather than from directly above.

Alan