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Author Topic: Sowerby Uranium Glass Chamberstick 14th September 1880  (Read 3576 times)

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Offline mhgcgolfclub

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Sowerby Uranium Glass Chamberstick 14th September 1880
« on: April 26, 2015, 05:24:10 PM »
For reference a Sowerby uranium glass chamberstick .

The candlestick is marked with a date lozenge for 14th September 1880 and also marked with the Sowerby Peacock trade mark.
I cannot remember seeing another one of these , or find any image of another one on a quick search.

Length 6".

Height 2.5"

Roy

Offline Paul S.

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Re: Sowerby Uranium Glass Chamberstick 14th September 1880
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2015, 07:53:44 PM »
very nice Roy  -  like the moulded snuffer  -  have you looked in either of Barry Skelcher's uranium books?

I'll go and check on the Kew archives to see if I have the original drawing submitted to the Board of Trade.

edit to add...........     appears as Rd. 355154 for the date you mention.          It may not be obvious to viewers of your pix, but the original factory drawing shows the shape as oval, and of course no mention of uranium.

will add the archive image tomorrow, probably.

have it now as attached, and had a look in above books but didn't see any chambersticks, although he does include several ordinary sticks in uranium.


Offline agincourt17

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Re: Sowerby Uranium Glass Chamberstick 14th September 1880
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2015, 07:40:26 PM »
Thank you, Roy, for showing this chamberstick, and thanks to Paul too for his swift production of the design representation.

It is Sowerby pattern 1535, and appears as one of 5 chambersticks shown on page 13 of the Sowerby Pattern Book XI of 1885.

The pattern book illustration shows it as a registered design, and surmounted by a cone-shaped snuffer (presumably of glass too), the only one of the group to be shown with a snuffer. I imagine that any such snuffer would have soon been easily lost or broken .

Jenny Thompson describes it as a ‘candlestick (bedroom shape)’ and Cottle simply as a ‘candlestick’. Cottle does not show a corresponding pattern number.

I too have never previously seen a picture of an actual example of this pattern, and can only presume that it is exceedingly rare. Unusual also to see a Sowerby piece of this vintage in uranium glass (the only other one I have seen is the later 1927 pattern shoe in green uranium glass), though some of the 1870s-1880s pieces are known in a somewhat insipid pale blue-green non-uranium opalescent glass.

Fred.

Offline mhgcgolfclub

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Re: Sowerby Uranium Glass Chamberstick 14th September 1880
« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2015, 08:35:52 PM »
Thanks Paul and Fred

For adding all the extra information and design drawings.

I agree Fred there seems to be very little Sowerby uranium glass of that age, not counting the IQW the only item I can really think of is the pearline type uranium Cauldron. Maybe we should start a list of early Sowerby uranium pieces

The candlestick was not on its own but was one of a pair, makes you wonder where they have been sitting for the last 135 years without being separated .

Thanks Roy

Offline MHT

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Re: Sowerby Uranium Glass Chamberstick 14th September 1880
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2015, 06:07:53 PM »
Very nice Roy

Interesting. I went through my Sowerby pieces and the only ones that 'glowed' green were the IQW and a couple of yellow 'giallo' pieces.

The other interesting thing is that an IQW 'Mortlock' candlestick did not glow. It looks like IQW but when compared with other pieces it is slightly darker and not such a yellowy/creamy colour.

But it looks like you can add Giallo to the list.
He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!

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Offline agincourt17

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Re: Sowerby Uranium Glass Chamberstick 14th September 1880
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2015, 07:42:43 PM »
Here are some photos of another Sowerby piece in UV-reactive transparent uranium glass (a distinctly emerald/ blue-green colour this time rather than the slightly yellowish-green tone of the Roy’s chambersticks).

It is a plate and stand in Sowerby’s 1102 ‘basket weave’ pattern, an unregistered design introduced in the late 1870s. The stand and the plate both bear the Sowerby peacock head trademark. (Permission for the re-use of these images on the GMB granted by Kevin Collins).

The plate and stand combination design seems to have been produced for quite a long period (I’ve seen examples in the 1870s-80s colours of white, black, pale blue and turquoise vitro-porcelain, Giallo, a rich transparent ruby (which I think is probably late Victorian), and iridescent marigold and amethyst carnival glass (so presumably from the 1920s or so).

This emerald/ blue green uranium glass is not unlike that of the Sowerby green uranium pattern 1927 shoe which first appeared (as an unregistered design) in their pattern book XI of 1885, so it may be that the pattern 1102 plate and stand and the pattern 1927 shoe in green uranium and both indicate a similar (but uncommon) late 1880s-1890s Sowerby colour.

Fred

Offline Paul S.

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Re: Sowerby Uranium Glass Chamberstick 14th September 1880
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2015, 11:27:01 PM »
not having seen giallo in the flesh, I turned to Barry Skelcher's books for information, and he does appear to have investigated the uranium content of this colour, in some detail.          Compared to Q'sIW, which is a pale straw cream, giallo is a strong attractive shade of custard  -  Manley shows examples of both, side by side, and the difference is pronounced.       Giallo, like aesthetic green and some blanc-de-lait, did once fetch big dollars, especially in the dolphin bowl shape  -  whether they do still I don't know.
Could be my imagination, but from the few pieces I've had, the detail produced, in Q'sIW, by the mould, always looks more crisp and well defined than in other colours or types of Sowerby glass.

Somewhere I have several pieces of what I think are Sowerby's rubine, which according to Raymond Slack was a deep red translucent glass, which the factory introduced in 1882  -  is this your "rich transparent ruby" Fred??
Of course, it may well have been a colour the factory continued for many years  -  am sure I ran down the pattern in Glen's CD catalogue - which is how I knew my pieces were Sowerby.               
Used to see the odd piece of rubine up until year or two back, but not seen any for a while.

I thought that prior to about 1920, this sort of red could be achieved (in pressed glass only I'm speaking of) by the inclusion of gold (colloidal) - so was this rubine produced with gold (I wouldn't have thought so), or was the colourant copper?

sorry, can't think what any of this has to do with Roy's u. chambersticks ;)



Offline brucebanner

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Re: Sowerby Uranium Glass Chamberstick 14th September 1880
« Reply #7 on: August 12, 2016, 05:21:34 AM »
Part of this bundle maybe?.

5 3/8th inches in length, 3 3/4 inches in depth and 1 1/4 inches in height.

No Sowerby peacock though.
Chris Parry

Offline Paul S.

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Re: Sowerby Uranium Glass Chamberstick 14th September 1880
« Reply #8 on: August 12, 2016, 07:12:38 AM »
this dish looks to be Rd. 355156 from small group of five Registrations allocated on 14th September 1880 - this one appears to have been designed as an unlidded piece - although some similarish pieces did have lids.            We may have discussed this previously - but need Fred to confirm if that is the case.     I don't have the time this morning to check, but hope folk will be aware that the presence, or otherwise, of these designs and Rd. Nos. can all be checked on the pressed glass section of the Board's Glass Gallery - a lot of which is the result of Fred's hard work.
Off hand I can't match the factory pattern No. with Registration details  -  will leave that to Fred.
Of course the Glass Gallery site isn't remotely a comprehensive list of Registrations  -  it covers only those we have discussed and photographed, and there are zillions of Registered designs we have not touched upon, but it's always worth a look, especially with a much discussed factory such as Sowerby.
I can post a picture of the National Archive image of 355156, if of interest, later today.

On the 24th of the same month there were a further three Registrations from Sowerby  -  Nos. 355627 - 29.

Offline agincourt17

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Re: Sowerby Uranium Glass Chamberstick 14th September 1880
« Reply #9 on: August 12, 2016, 09:34:12 AM »
Thank you for showing this, Chris.

it would seem to correspond to Sowerby pattern 5004, a sweetmeat/jelly, shown on page 45 of Sowerby pattern book XI (1885) - see photo.

The Sowerby design registration bundle corresponding to the registry date lozenge for 14 September 1880 - Parcel 1 is as follows:
RD 355154  Candlestick Pattern no. 1535
RD 355155  Butter dish
RD 355156  Dish
RD 355157  Dish
RD 355158  Dish

I think, Paul, that a pic of the design representation for RD 355156 would be a useful adjunct to this discussion, please.

I attach a photo of another piece with the lozenge for 14 September 1880 - Parcel 1, a purple marbled ?sugar basin  which I think may be pattern 5002 (shown on page 55 of pattern book XI, 1885). Oddly, though,  the year and parcel number signifiers have been transposed.

I also have photos of  two pattern 5002 creamers,  both also in purple marbled glass but, unfortunately, the lozenge on one is totally illegible, and the lozenge on the other only reveals the day digits '14' (which would match that on the 5002 sugar basin).

I would be grateful, therefore, if Paul were able to check and see if one of the RD 355154-158 bundle design representations matched the pattern 5002 sugar or creamer, please?

One might expect that Sowerby pattern numbers corresponding to this bundle would be in the very late '1400s' or early '1500s', but this seems to be one of the groups where Sowerby suddenly numbers its patterns in a seemingly illogical order.
 
Fred.

 

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