Topic: English early Victorian sugar basin ? Hollow stem

[brucebanner]

Hello there this is my second post can anyone help me date this piece of crystal, i'm thinking it's an 1850's hollow stem, tazza sugar or sweatmeat dish, very sharp cuts and heavy wear to the base.

[Paul S.]

Hi - may we ask Bruce that when posting pix of clear glass that, if possible, you can take these using a dark uniform background  -  also a shot of the base can often tell a lot about glass .............   some people say that feet can tell you more about the item than any other part of the glass.

[brucebanner]

Hello there will do in future but the up load would only let me send one picture at 0.3m pixels, i'm not sure how to add more.

[Paul S.]

hi  -  not sure which method you're using to re-size, but you can download the free programme IrfanView which simple to use.          When posting, if you make the first dimension maximum 700 then you should be able to load up to four separate pictures  -  have a go and see how you get on.            We do have sections on the Board to assist with just this sort of issue, and am sure one of the Mods will be happy to help.

Feel sure your piece is a cut sugar basin  -  not too unlike a comport, but deeper  -  these things come in a profusion of designs/patterns with an equally varied array of stems and feet.               Not easy to date these pieces, but possibly not quite as old as you're suggesting, and might even be into the C20, just.           
If you get the chance to look in Silber & Fleming's C19 catalogues you see what I mean.    This book can be found occaionally in second hand shops and I see there are currently some copies for sale on Abe Books for around £10.   A very useful source book for C19 china and glass patterns and designs, and of all manner of household goods. 

Best of luck with IrfanView.

[Lustrousstone]

What you should be doing is resizing a high-res pic though so we don't end up with a fuzzy blob

[neilh]

It's a sugar basin and I would go for a pattern dating to 1860s. There are a number of pressed diamond patterns that proliferate around the dates of late 1860s to early 1870s.

I also have the Molineaux Webb cut glass pattern book to hand which has many examples of basins from 1830s to early 1870s. The diamond pattern starts to come in during the 1850s but was more widespread during the 1860s. The particular design here is not in the pattern book, but it is close to several examples - in fact were it not for the vertical segments on the bowl it would be very close indeed to a particular basin pattern that I would date to 1865-1870.

[Paul S.]

I wouldn't consider Bruce's current picture was at all bad  -  quite sharp  -  but a dark background would certainly add contrast and enable detail to be seen better.

[Lustrousstone]

I wasn't saying his photo wasn't sharp, rather I was commenting on the fact that he seemed to be starting from a low res one.

[brucebanner]

Thanks guys, at last a bunch of people with a common interest and love for glass, i do have an addiction to the stuff i will try for the next listing to put up four good pics thanks for all your help, i'm just lucky that where i live in Stourbridge these pieces are still available for next to nothing, regards and thanks again.