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Author Topic: Thomas Lane & Son inkstand combination, RD 289894 of 13 March 1875.  (Read 3592 times)

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Offline Ivo

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Can anyone identify this inkwell?  Pressed glass, no markings and definitely british.

Offline Paul S.

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Re: inkwell
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2014, 07:30:46 PM »
just in case you thought we were all ignoring you Ivo ;)         I've tried the National Archive pictures, books etc., and drawn a blank.
Designs for ink wells and pen trays that do occur in the British Board of Trade Registrations seem to have peaked around the 1860 - 70 period - but judging by the absence of pix in modern books on pressed glass, it seems there has been little interest in these pieces  -  and we don't have many on the Board's search.
This one may well be much later of course.

What is it that makes you so certain this is British?? 

Offline Ivo

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Re: inkwell
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2014, 08:51:49 PM »
I bought it in a local charity shop on the isle of Mull last week so German or French is unlikely. Thank you for looking, I really appreciate it :-) :-)

Offline flying free

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Re: inkwell
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2014, 11:23:44 PM »
the bobbles and ridges remind me of my bridge thingy and the curved ridges remind me of a sugar and creamer I have that is marked somewhere.
I'll have a search to see if I can find the maker again (Joseph someone or Edward something springs to mind).
However, I know nothing about pressed glass so it's possible those design elements are common to many makers of course  :-[
edited
Might it be worth investigating Joseph Webb or Edward Moore perhaps? It sort of has that look about it.  Just a thought though possibly entirely wrong :-[
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,44114.msg245604.html#msg245604
m

Offline Paul S.

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Re: inkwell
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2014, 07:20:33 AM »
It did occur to me that the rounded pillar type of design around the base looked similar to the moulding found on some British made piano insulators  -  am thinking of one particular design attributed to Percival Vickers.
This is a shape sometimes referred to as a 'jelly mould pattern' - I think Lustrousstone has one in uranium.
But of course this similarity of a design feature doesn't necessarily mean a connection in reality :)

Offline agincourt17

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Thomas Lane & Son inkstand combination, RD 289894 of 13 March 1875.
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2015, 11:27:03 AM »
A rare Victorian opaque black glass combined inkstand, pen tray & taper tray bearing the registry date lozenge for 13 March 1875 – Parcel 5, which corresponds to registered design number 289894, the registrant being Thomas Lane & Son of Birmingham, Warwickshire. It measures approximately 11cms long x 10.75cms wide x 5.5 high and weighs 380 grams.

(Permission for the re-use of these images on the GMB granted by Kevin Collins).

Roy shows a ‘2 bottle’ variant of the same design in clear glass at reply #11 of
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,21284.10.html

Thomas Lane & Son had previously registered a design (number 288295, registered on 7 January 1875 – Parcel 8) for a glass ‘four bottle inkstand, water dish and pen tray’. Does anyone have a photos of such an inkstand to show, please?

In 1865, Thomas Lane started a glass works in Hampton Street, Birmingham. He had been involved in the glass industry as a glass mixer since at least 1837. Thomas was assisted in the business by his two sons,  Josiah (born 1837), and younger son, William, and in 1869 Josiah formally joined his father as a partner in the Company. In 1875, Thomas Lane retired, the partnership was dissolved, and the company was carried on by Josiah Lane. Thomas Lane died in 1877, and by 1881 Josiah and his family had moved to the pleasant suburbs of Handsworth. Josiah's son, Josiah Jnr., was now manager of the glass works.

Josiah Lane then provides an interesting link to the Dudley glass trade, because in 1888 Josiah decided to start up another works at Eve Hill in Dudley and immediately brought his son into the new business – Josiah Lane and Son. The move was possibly due to the fact that the Hampton Street factory was in a dilapidated condition, but more likely because coal was cheaper to buy in Dudley. It would appear that the glassworks were already in existence when Josiah Jnr. settled in Dudley, but nothing is known of its early history. The glassworks under the control of the Lane family stood close to what is now the roundabout at St. James's Church, Eve Hill. The business became a limited company in 1897. Some of the decoration on plain glass was carried out at the Birmingham works which had been kept open. By 1905 the firm employed 65 people. The main production concentrated on lamp glasses and globes, fancy lamp shades, confectionery glass and stationer’s equipment. A company advertisement placed in 1912 (see Hajdamach, British Glass 1800-1914,  page 76), indicates a wide range of colour and decoration on lampshades, including satin finish, opalescent patterns, and cutting. By 1920 the works only operated a one pot furnace as business had declined and three years later it was running at a loss. Josiah Jnr., by then a Dudley Councillor and J.P. in the town, informed his work force that the audited accounts for 1922 and 1923 showed an average loss of £25 per week. Somehow though Josiah kept the works going until it finally closed in December 1932, three months after his death. In the years that followed the factory remained unattended for quite some time, but was eventually used as a builder's yard by a Mr Darby in the late 1950s, and also housed a small engineering company and a motor repair yard for a short while. But time eventually took its toll on the building and Dudley council had the site cleared and made safe in the 1990s. So the final vestige of the Lane Glass Dynasty was extinguished, and, being the last glass works in Dudley, so ended a centuries old tradition of glass making in the town.

Fred.

Offline mhgcgolfclub

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Re: inkwell
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2017, 08:01:37 PM »
Hi Ivo

Give me a few days and I may be able to solve who made this inkwell. I can confirm that it is British . I have the same inkwell which has the 2nd date lozenge 1868-83.

The lozenge looks quite clear but on a curved part of inkwell difficult to be sure. It looks like 15th March and parcel 5, not sure of the year.

I with Paul on Percival Vickers , that would be my best guess. I will have another look in better light tomorrow

Roy

Offline Paul S.

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Re: inkwell
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2017, 09:35:37 PM »
it would be the year, if you can possibly decipher, that would clinch it for me regarding he Archive details.        Obviously, it seems I have looked through the Kew data previously without success, so no further forward at the moment.               Of course, this may be an example of a design being Registered, originally, on a completely different shape, which might explain why I can't find it so far.

Offline mhgcgolfclub

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Re: inkwell
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2017, 10:44:36 PM »
I Have added some pictures. The year looks like 15, but could work for 13. The month looks to be W. The parcels looks like 5 but have not ruled out 9. The year letter is the most difficult and could be almost any letter as its on the curve.

Offline KevinH

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Re: inkwell
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2017, 11:52:22 PM »
From the pics it looks to me to be: Day = 13, Month = W, Year = S, parcel = 5 ... and no other combinations seem to work under Glass.

This comes up in Glass as: Thomas Lane & Son, Birmingham, 13 March 1875.
KevinH

 

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