Topic: Nouveau Glass ewer

[tabo1961]

I have a glass with silver overlay ewer. I think it is Art Nouveau but not sure. It has an unusual hallmark. An elongated S and I. The S looks like an SS. the S is made up of three line s's and the I is made up of three lll. It is about 9 inches tall. the spout, handle, top decoration of Freesia flowers and the base appear to be sterling, but there is no sterling mark. It polishes very easily like sterling. The base is of blown glass which is iridescent ambers, tans and greens with many air bubbles in it. I have searched for the mark in the silver encyclopedia to no avail. Unlike most Art Nouveau silver overlay this piece has a strong 3D effect of the Freesia's. not just a flat design. Any help would be appreciated.

[Paul S.]

hello and welcome to the GMB           Do appreciate that you have gone to some lengths to provide a worded description, but think it necessary for you to also supply some pix to help members to try and assist.                  If possible a picture of the mark would also be helpful  -  although marks are often small, these can be photographed and the image enlarged successfully, by placing a lens/loup between the camera and the piece of glass - obviously moving both to get the optimum sharp focus.

We have many contributors from the Continent of Europe, and I might suggest that drawing parallels with specific military symbols and references to their origins might be seen as inappropriate, particularly by Continental members.                    I very much hope you won't mis-understand my comments, but I'm aware that similar matters have caused problems before.

Look forward to seeing your pix.

[chopin-liszt]

While the marks may be relevant to the silver, sadly they are not neccessarily related to the glass part of it, either by date or by maker.

[Paul S.]

thanks - I should have pointed that out.

[chopin-liszt]

Team-work, Paul. 

[tabo1961]

Thank you all. I now have pictures.

[tabo1961]

Thank you all. I now have pictures. Here is pic 1.

[ahremck]

Don't forget that the silver may be SI (as shown) or equally IS when you are trying to research it.  Does the silver part have any other hallmarks discretely hidden that you have missed?  That would be significant.

http://www.925-1000.com/enyc_Overview.html   gives a huge range of hallmarks - maybe one will lead you to the maker of the silvered part.

Ross

[Paul S.]

yes, thanks for the extra pix.                  Looking at the underside of the foot, am I right in thinking there doesn't appear to be a typical 'ring' of wear that might be expected on the foot of something that you're suggesting is possibly over 100 years old.          I'd have thought that wear in that area would have been more noticeable.

Appreciate that it's asking a possibly obvious question, but can you confirm that when using a silver polish, this does then produce a black mark on the cloth.

[tabo1961]

Hi, Yes the silver was completely black when I got it. It polished up fairly well. You can still see how black the silver is inside the flowers and along the edges of the curls, but I'm not even sure it is nouveau. It has a nouveau feel to me but the hallmark is more deco/modern and the silver is much more pronounced in having the 3D effect than most nouveau I've seen.  Also the glass itself is not typical of nouveau, at least not the nouveau I've been exposed to. It is more like the glass used in stained glass. Mottled colors in greens, ambers, oranges and tans. It has a light iridescent sheen to it that gives off blue hues in the sunlight and the glass is filled with air bubbles of different sizes, not uniform sized bubbles. It is also very light. Thank you for your help!