Topic: ID help sought for iridescent vase, poss. Walsh Walsh

[Mosquito]

Hello,

I'm hoping someone will be able to help me identify this beautiful iridescent vase. I believe it dates from about 1910. It has a handkerchief type bowl over a short ribbed stem and applied foot. Height is approx. 6 1/4 inches tall.

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-4465
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-4464
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-4463

It is a nicely blown piece, surprisingly light & delicate. The iridescence gives a slightly matt, rainbow lustre effect, much more subtle than the photos suggest. It certainly has some age as there is plenty of wear to the footrim. The base has a small neatly snapped pontil mark to the centre.

It is a piece I've had for some time but have never been sure of the maker. The iridescence suggests Walsh Walsh to me but I'm not greatly familiar with this type of glass.

Many thanks in advance!

Steven 

[Bernard C]

Steven — An interesting piece, and, as you intimated, quite likely Walsh, at least until I took a close look at your third photograph.  Here, at the join of the vase to the foot, you can just see the dip-moulded pattern on the main vase, which seems to be twelve? vertical bands of tight ribbing, separated by broad bands of plain, unpatterned glass.

If so, then your vase is certainly by John Walsh Walsh.   The general style is called Walsh Mother-of-Pearl, and comprises a tiny initial gather of opal glass, built up with several layers of clear crystal before being dip-moulded, here with the spaced rib pattern.    Note that this old use of the term Mother-of-Pearl has no connection with modern American collector terminology for air-trap, often abbreviated to just MOP.

The pattern is shown on Walsh registered design No. 582840 of 28th April, 1911.   It is not clear whether the pattern was part of the registration or not, as the registration was of just a drawing with no descriptive text.   The two published sources, Reynolds and Gulliver, describe the registration as of a vase or flower holder, confusingly ignoring the dip-moulded pattern shown in the drawing.  So it is possible that this spaced rib pattern dates from some time before the design registration.   However the registration confirms that the pattern dates from April 1911 at the latest.

Walsh Mother-of-Pearl glass was made well into the 1920s, and possibly later.

Thanks for showing us your beautiful vase.

Bernard C. 

[chopin-liszt]

 

Hello Stephen, I had a peek at your pictures, and saw that you have a Verlys Cabochon vase, which you say was produced in opaline glass only? I've seen it in amber. I bought it and gave it to my brother-in-law. It's that lovely glowing amber that has a pinkish tinge to it.

[Mosquito]

Bernard,

Thank you very much for your help and information about this type of glass. I've had another look at the vase but only see 9 bands of vertical ribbing rather than 12. Interestingly I picked up a small vase in a very similar finish yesterday which I hope to post soon.

Chopin - Liszt, Re. the verlys vase, the Gems/ cabochon pattern was produced in a number of colours. I have seen amber, smoky topaz & American dusty rose. What I meant was that opal glass was made in the US for only a short time of the production run, between the years 1938 and 1940. As I understand it, all coloured glass was phased out in about 1940 though the Gems pattern still continued to be made in colourless, part frosted glass (crystal etched), until 1951. Fenton reissued the pattern in 1968 in a vivid orange colour:
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-4469

Steven

[Mosquito]

Here it is, bought yesterday for £6.50; only 4 inches tall with an 8 ribbed wrythen pattern to the body. The pontil mark has been ground & finely polished. It has a similar iridescent appearence and feel as the larger vase.

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-4472
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-4470
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-4471

Thanks,

Steven

[Bernard C]

Steven — Nine bands of ribbing is fine.   I was doing it from memory, as I sold my only example of this pattern several months ago.

I wouldn't like to be positive about your small vase without handling it.

Bernard C. 

[chopin-liszt]

 

Thanks for the extra info. Steven! I shall have to check what it was I gave my b-i-l when I next see it. I do think it was a pinky amber, not a vivid orange though! All I knew about it when I bought it was that it was quality.

[Mosquito]

Hi Sue,

I've just checked 'Verlys of America' by Carole & Wayne McPeek. They confirm that US examples were made in Crystal Etched, Opalescent, Smoky Topaz, Dusty Rose and Amber. French examples may have been available in a wider range of colours as I have seen other French made patterns in both amethyst and green glass.

Your brother-in-law's vase sounds most likely to be amber, though Verlys of France also made a pink glass different from the American Dusty Rose (US made Dusty Rose is a fired on colour generally used only on selective parts of the design). Fenton pieces are normally easily identifiable as the colours are very different from original production and the finishing tends to be different; for example the rim on the Fenton Gems vase is fire polished rather than ground as on the original. The reissue is also not marked whereas most (but not all) originals are signed.

As an interesting link between the two themes of this thread, I'm sure I recall reading that Walsh Walsh owned the rights to the Verlys name in the UK, though I can't now remember when and where I read it and can't at present find any further details.

Steven

[Connie]

To add to this topic, from Fenton Special Order 1980-Present Fenton made items for the Holophane company begiinning in the early 1980s from Veryls moulds that the Holophane Company once owned on the 1930s but Fenton acquired in the 1960s.  These items were made for Holophane customers as Christmas gifts.  There were no marks on the pieces until the mid-1990s when a small cross-hatch design was put on the bottom.  Then Fenton began putting their own mark on pieces made for Holophane.

I think it is important to note these items were never made for the Fenton product line, at least not to date of the book which is 2003.

[flying free]

Thought you'd be interested to see this listing
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-KRALIK-LOETZ-OPALINE-VASELINE-RIBBED-FLUTED-VASE-NUMBEREDArt-Glassware-/221496261736?pt=UK_Art_Glass&hash=item339234bc68

An iridescent Walsh Walsh footed vase with ribbing and with engraved RD number 582840.
Descriptor of vase for when listing gets deleted - Shaped a bit like an art deco flower holder (those that have grills normally) but has a wavy firepolished rim so would not have had a grill. Has  a snapped off pontil mark on the base.
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