Topic: Sowerby Green Malachite and minor errors in Cottle

[Bernard C]

Click image for GlassGallery entry with click image to enlarge feature.

My first ever Sowerby Green Malachite, and, just like London buses, three arrive together!  They aren't at all common, hence my posting them here for anyone who has not seen Green Malachite before.

Details:

Top: length exactly 4˝" (11.4cm), Pat. No. 1231, T.M. on base, circa mid 1877.   Near the bottom of Cottle p.99 you will see a reference to "1231".   This appears to be an error, so I have pencilled "1230?" next to it.   If you have access to a 1230 (similar style hexagonal vase), please would you check my suggested correction and report back.

Left: Pat. No. 1297 Closed, T.M. and Regn Lozenge on base, Rd. 20 March 1878.

Right: Pat. No. 1315, T.M. and Regn Lozenge inside, Rd. 20 February 1878.   Cottle p.100 has these February 1878 registrations incorrectly listed as "January", so a pencilled correction is in order.   They are correctly shown in Thompson.

Bernard C. 

[agincourt17]

Cottle's error in ascribing the Sowerby registrations of 20 February 1878 to 20 January 1878 has already been noted at
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,50875.msg288127.html#msg288127.

I will check my reference photos of Sowerby patterns 1230 and 1231 this evening and post my findings a.s.a.p.

Fred.

[Bernard C]

Fred — Sorry about that.   I hadn't seen your topic before.   But you must agree that it's better to say it twice than not at all!

Bernard C. 

[agincourt17]

I attach photos of Sowerby pattern 1230:

The image from page 3 of pattern book IX (1882).

Examples of pattern 1230 in blue malachite and purple malachite. Both of these examples have the Sowerby peacock head trademark, but neither has a registry date lozenge (and I have always presumed that the design was unregistered, until such time as I see an example marked with a lozenge).

Fred.

[agincourt17]

Bernard, your rectangular trough at the top of your pictures is definitely Sowerby pattern 1231, shown as such on page 3 of Sowerby pattern book IX (1882).

I attach photos of examples in green, blue and purple malachite for comparison.

(Permission for the re-use of the image of the purple malachite example on the GMB granted by jonglos).

Each of these pieces is marked with the Sowerby peacock head trademark and the registry date lozenge for 31 May 1877 (which corresponds to a bundle of three Sowerby design registrations – 310595, 310596 and 310597).

RD 310597 is Sowerby pattern number 1217 (the ‘parrot’ vase’), so Sowerby pattern 1231 corresponds to RD 310595 or 310596. Cottle correlates RD 310595 with Sowerby pattern 1224, and RD 310596 with Sowerby pattern 1231. Thompson does not give a precise correlation between the RD numbers and Sowerby pattern numbers.

I haven’t seen the design representations for RDs 310595 and 310596, and had assumed that Cottle’s correlation was correct until now. Perhaps if Paul S. sees this post, he may be able to confirm the correct RD for each pattern number by reference to the design representations from TNA at Kew.

Fred.

[agincourt17]

Sowerby pattern 1224 is a triangular spill vase, and appears on page 3 of Sowerby book IX (1882).

A blue malachite example is marked with the Sowerby peacock head trademark and the registry date lozenge for 31 May 1877 (as expected).

(Permission for the re-use of this image on the GMB granted by ercsdad).

Fred.

[agincourt17]

Sowerby pattern 1297 is shown on page 5 of pattern book IX (1882). The pattern number is the same whether the handles are open or pinched closed. The design is from Sowerby RD 319588 (registered on 20 March 1878).

Here are photos of an ‘open’ basket in blue-green malachite and a ‘closed’ basket in purple malachite. Both the example have the Sowerby peacock head trademark and the appropriate registry date lozenge.

Fred.

[agincourt17]

Sowerby pattern 1315 is shown on page 6 of pattern book IX (1882).

I haven’t seen a green malachite example before (but come to that I haven’t seen one in any malachite colour before).

I attach photos of a pale blue-green opalescent example (which is only marked with a peacock head trademark), a clear example with TM and lozenge for 20 February 1878, and an ivory  or off-white example (vitro-porcelain, I think, rather than IQW) also with TM and lozenge.

The Sowerby design registration bundle for 20 February 1878 covers 7 designs, RDs 310789-310795. Cottle correlates RD 318792 with Sowerby pattern 1291 (the inkstand which appears on page 5 of pattern book IX (1882),  but I have not so far been able to ascertain which one of the remaining 6 RDs from the bundle correlates with Sowerby pattern 1315.

Fred.

[Paul S.]

very nice pieces Bernard, and thanks for sharing.

Doubtless Fred has covered everything I was about to suggest........but am going to let most of my waffle stand as some may be of use.

As we all know, this type of manufactured swirled mixture of colours comes in a variety of shades, and they have been described variously over the years as malachite, marbled Vitro-Porcelain, slag, end-of-day, blackberries and cream glass.
Bernard's pieces can legitimately be called malachite, since they resemble quite closely the appearance of the mineral, although I don't think the others have a counterpart in the natural world, and it's probable that very few are genuine slag glass.
Just as a personal comment only I prefer the term marbled, if for no other reason than it's only the green form that looks like real malachite, and they seem to come in a variety of shades.
Most of the standard authors seem to use more than one description, which is at times confusing.

I thought it was 'bothery men' - I wonder if Wendy Cope knew of marbled glass.

Fred is the expert on these Sowerby pieces, but whilst waiting for his answer trust he won't mind a few comments from me.

1........ you are suggesting that your top item should possibly be correctly pattern 1230  -  and yet looking at reproductions of actual Sowerby catalogue pages, this design appears to be labelled as 1231, and this description is shown on separately unrelated pages from the factory, so would not appear to be a typo by Simon Cottle.
I will post a picture of the Kew image if and when I can find it.
It's possible that Sowerby patterns 1223, 1224, and 1231 are related to a single Registration  -  they all have idential design features - although different in outline shape?

2..........your bottom left basket matches Kew drawing for Rd. 319588.

3..........the helmet shaped (unlidded piece) is possibly Rd. 318789.     In the Kew Archives of Sowerby drawings for this date, this Rd. appears very similar to your item  -  but is shown with a lid, and there is another similar lidded design, but without foot, listed as Rd. 318791.          Simon Cottle lists these as a sugar and butter respectively.

Assume you can read the details of your lozenges, so you will know these details already.

[Paul S.]

coming back to the first of Bernard's items  -  can say that in the Kew archives neither of the images for Rd. 310595 or 310596 bear any obvious similarity to this open topped four posted box, so a little confused, and will need to spend some time on this one.      Am still of the opinion that there's possibility that patterns 1223, 1224 and 1231 are related  -  they just look too similar.
Certainly the Kew image of 310597 is the parrot on the spill vase thingy.

Tomorrow I post Kew pix of 310595/6, and you'll see what I mean.