Topic: Help please with maker of this glass fish- Czech? ID = Wedgwood

[vidrioguapo]

This fish is 8.25 inches long and has a pontil mark on the underside ( see photos) I hope someone can recognise it.  Thanks in advance.

[Paul S.]

Wedgwood possibly  -  certainly one of their colours (darker than topaz)  -  and would originally have had a label.    Not all of their animals were backstamped, unfortunately.

[Lustrousstone]

Wedgwood and likely a second or from the shop

[vidrioguapo]

Do you suggest it is a second because of the Pontil mark Christine? Or something else?

[Lustrousstone]

No idea. It could be that the pontil mark is too deep, but firsts are usually marked

[vidrioguapo]

OK thanks, both of you.

[Paul S.]

According to Susan Tobin these things are dolphins, so a mammal and not a fish - but Tobin's listing of these 'animals' lacks sizes and dates, and doesn't make it very clear which book description tallies with which model, although I would have assumed that the posture of this one suggested it was leaping, but perhaps not.        I have three examples and they all look to have the leaping shape.

Like most of Wedgwood's animals, these come in several sizes and colours  ..........Code SG 417 is simply called 'Dolphin' and was made in assorted colours   ...   Code SG 442 is described as 'Leaping Dolphin', and according to the book was supplied in lead crystal only.         
Then again there was Code L5002 - the L standing presumably for the Lilliput range (the smallest size in the various ranges).

I still don't think this one is Topaz - to me it looks too dark when compared to known Topaz pieces int the book, but the book doesn't appear to list a brown dolphin.

I'd have thought at 8.25" this one was the largest, but only guessing, and most animals appear to have been made in a variety of sizes, with the smallest being called Lilliput.

To substantiate Christine's comments about seconds, the following is a comment from Susan Tobin's book:

""Friggers were never sold by the company, but seconds were available from the factory shops and through retail outlets particularly during the end of season sales.      More than a decade after they were produced, seconds still packed in and probably never removed from their original boxes give clear evidence of the use of the label only"".

I have only one dolphin with a backstamp  -  applied by sand etching/blasting and not by acid  -  and this is simply WEDGWOOD over ENGLAND forming an oval shape.

[rosieposie]

I'm quite certain this is a Wedgwood Dolphin, the pontil mark is normal, and often has the oval Wedgwood England mark within it, and Pauls observations from Susan Tobin's book tally well. 
There is a topaz and an amber colour, but it is late and I cannot for the life of me remember which was slightly darker, I think it was Amber that was the slightly lighter of the two I will try to get my head around it for you tomorrow....oh, it is tomorrow!  Well, later on then.

PS, I don't think yours is a second Emmi.

[Paul S.]

on the face of it topaz is a far more delicate pale shade of ginger-brown, and there are examples of topaz dolphins in Tobin's book Rosie - and they look lighter in colour than this one.         
There are also animals with a decidedly more brownish look, so presumably they are amber - not a colour that crossed over to the stem ware or commemorative sections (I don't think), so presumably seen in animals only.

If you look at the various animals the colouring appears to be variable with these two shades, but I don't see this one as topaz.

What in particular makes you suggest this one isn't a second Rosie?

[vidrioguapo]

Thanks Paul for your very detailed comments and also to you Rosie.  My eyesight is not too bad, but I am not really familiar with the subtle differences of the Wedgwood colours ( as I am with Whitefriars), so cannot be certain what it is.   It is not Amber as I know it from my Whitefriars collecting, but much deeper.  However, no hint of what I would call brown. And if anything, more the brownish/rusty coloured Amber associated with the Webb colourings, if that makes sense?