Topic: scottish door knobs handles

[bOBA]

Hi everyone. I recently bought these doorknobs. I have a small group of Vasart type weights, a corkscrew, gear shift knobs etc... I was hoping these may be a part of that group and I would welcome any comments regarding type and age and factory, as I am aware that there are many Vasart type weights which can be similar to some elements of Perthshire due to the canes being sometimes used at both. They came off the same door which is great, there is no number written under the footplate. Does anyone know if this is a dating point, as many are stamped. Many thanks,

Robert (bOBA)

[paperweights]

I can't answer your question about dating, but I am looking to purchase some Vasart gearshift knobs.  I gave the last one I had to my brother thinking it would be easy to replace.  He installed it in his restored vintage Morgan. 

[bOBA]

Thanks Allan,

I will contact you via your website re. gear shift weights, hopefully I can help.

Robert (bOBA)

[tropdevin]

***

Hi.  I think these are most likely Vasart.  Certainly not Perthshire.

Alan

[bOBA]

Thanks Alan, I am pleased about that. I did wonder if the centre cane in one of them may have been a deliberate butterfly. As soon as I saw it, it leapt to mind. It seems to be inside a prominent centre cane for one of them. This may just be a coincidence. Still, they are really lovely things.


Robert (bOBA) 

[KevinH]

Hi Robert,

For interest ...

The cane that has what looks like a possible butterfly centre is simply a distortion of a six-lobed "flower" pattern. I have the same cane within my own collection of Vasart / Strathearn weights, and it has slightly less distortion in one of the lobes.

I can confirm that the cane was in fact made at least as early as the Ysart Brothers (Vasart) period 1946-1955/6. Also I have a very close match to the canes in the inner row of the same doorknob. And the other two canes are also of a typical style of the Ysart Brothers period but I do not have an exact match for those.

Again, the the canes in the other doorknob follow the style from the Ysart Brothers period, but I do not have exact or close matches for those and they could just as easily have been made in the 1956 - 1964 Vasart Ltd period.

If you have, or can get, access to, a shortwave uv lamp it would be good to know how the clear glass fluoresces. If it is blue, then it is Vasart Ltd, 1956 onwards, or even Strathearn. If it is a shade of grey (definitely not blue) then it is Ysart Brothers period (or earlier) and would be, for me, the first confirmed case of a doorknob from those earlier years.

[chopin-liszt]

  I can't add any actual information, but they both just scream "Vasart" at me.
It's the pale colours, and the sorts of combinations of them.
I'm not going by any more than that.

[bOBA]

Thanks Kevin and Sue for your comments. I am pleased that the knobs may be later Vasart. I am surprised that Vasart would have used a damaged flower cane as a centrally important decorative cane for the paperweight but maybe it folded in the making. I have thrown a UV torch over this and my other possible Vasart/Perthshire paperweights and I am not really sure I can tell anything regarding blue colours, or steel, some are purple..... Thanks very much for the comments as I think these are attractive items and my knowledge in this area is pretty limited. I feel I know a little more.

Robert (bOBA)

[chopin-liszt]

Vasart really struggled to get hold of any coloured enamels whatsoever - their production got all caught up in the war and the essential austerity imposed then.

They could not really afford to "lose" any touches of colour at all, so canes such as that would still be used.

[Derek]

HI Robert

Just to echo what Sue has said - Vasart were in dire straits both financially and with  difficulty in sourcing colour. I have spoken at length about Vasart with Dave Moir who was an apprentice there from 1954.

Even then, 9 years after the end of the war he said what colour they could get came from Blythe Colour Works and Plowden and Thompson. The distinctive orange they used was made from Vitrolite tiles that was ground up in a corn crusher. by the apprentices.  The same method was used to make the cullet. The corn crusher had exposed steel cogs and Dave said the dust was terrible - very little health and safety in those days!

The paperweights were made entirely at the furnace as there was no glory hole so all the reheating had to be done at the mouth of the furnace and this accounts for the raised millefiori canes that are typical of Vasart paperwieghts. There wasn't enough heat at the mouth of the furnace to get the gather hot enough to be able to press the pickup flush with the ground.

The paperweights were annealed in a kiln that was heated by coke. Dave said there was no thermostat and the temperature in the kiln depended on the quality of the coke. The only way they could check the temperature was by gently sticking an arm in the kiln!!

Best regards

Derek