Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => USA => Topic started by: SCANDIMAD on December 21, 2010, 12:10:16 PM
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Good Day all you glass fiends, I was looking for something in my varied collection of glass items other than the Scandinavian pieces I already have a good knowledge of, and I have come up with this delightful bowl, I have had this bowl in my possession for some years now and I have never really tried to seek out its origins. As you can see by the pictures I have supplied here in this posting the bowl is of jet black glass, which a pattern has been ground away and the flooded with silver. The applied base I suspect being mould blown. I remember when I picked this bowl up for the first time my initial thought was that it was Russian, and possibly dated to around 1900-1920. There are no signs of a factory mark or any other markings. Tell me what you lovely people think. Any knowledge I could gain from your thoughts would be much appreciated. Regards Scandimad
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I suspect your black amethyst bowl is of U.S. manufacture rather than European & its either silver overlay or silver deposit. Overlay (at least in the U.S.) is made by applying a pierced and cut-out pattern of silver to the outside of the glass using an early cyanoacrylate adhesive and this is the method used to embellish the item while silver deposit is made by painting a pattern on the surface of a piece of glass with a mixture of ingredients such as borax, oxide of lead, white arsenic and powdered silver flux. After this is done, it is fired in a kiln to set the design. The piece is then placed in an electroplating bath, which fixes the silver onto the painted design but not onto the glass itself. Because of Xmas time I don't have time to get to my books, however I suggest you post this to the U.S. board for a possible ID using the URL below:
http://chataboutdg.com
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Thanks for the heads up Ohio, I've done what you advised and registered as a member and posted the article. I must just say though the silver itself is of thick enough gauge to take a minute scrape sample and do a metal test on it, that has proofed the silver as being of at least Sterling standard. This in itself would point to the piece being more likely either british or American as most of the europeon countries would normally use a lower grade silver like 800, 875 or 900 Looking at the bowl under a microscope it has been possible to detect that whatever the process of which the bowl went through in manufacture, the silver itself was either inlaid via template or the bowl was pressure blown into a mould already containing the silverwork, and then cleaned up in the polishing workshop. It would be nice to put a name and origin to this piece. Thanks for helping Regards Den
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Hi Den!
most of the europeon countries would normally use a lower grade silver like 800, 875 or 900
Not quite right. The galvanic method will necessarily create a 1000 overlay. That´s why Carl Spahr vases and some
Jean Beck vases are marked thus. :)
Here´s a Carl Spahr vase with galvanic silver overlay. Are you sure your piece isn´t galvanised a s well?
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Hiya Dirk, The picture of the vase you sent me sure looks like a very similar matching piece to this bowl even the inner pattern looks very much like this bowls, but would this galvanic process allow the maker to cap the rim in silver like this bowl or was it only possible to galvanise a flat surface. I must just say also the silver on this bowl looks and feels more than a 1000th overlay in thickness. Also this galvanised technique was used by many over the years, but had to be abandoned due to the health issus involved in the use of such dangerous chemical elements such as borax, oxide of lead and the very lethal white arsenic which were all used to complete the process of enabaling the silver to bind and hold on to the glass surface.
Also looking at the shape and overall design of this bowl compared with your vase, would you say the bowls design was Germanic, personally I would'nt. Like I mentioned in my first post when I first saw this bowl I imagined it to be nearer a eastern block or Russian creation rather than anything else, but as Ohio pointed out it could well be an American piece. There are no marking whatsoever, did Carl Spahr or Jean Beck sign or mark their wares?
Regards Den
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Unfortunately I can´t be of help concerning a maker. I was merely trying to point out, that the
grade of the silver is no pointer towards a certain origin for an item with galvanised
decoration.
As these items are dipped into a solution, the decoration can be applied to any part.
The vase I posted for example has a silver top rim, which covers the outside, top and inside of
the rim.
Not any items were marked. There are unsigned Beck vases, which can be identified otherwise.
Wether all Spahr items were marked is beyond my knowledge I´m afraid.
Hopefully someone more knowledgable will be able to help you! It is - even without an ID - a
lovely item!
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I see the bowl has been IDed as Lancaster / Standard's #1675 made in Lancaster, Ohio. The overlay no doubt was applied by an outside decorating company as we had numerous companies that bought the blanks from manufacturers, decorated them & sold them under their name. Ken
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Decoration could be by the Lotus Glass Co., Barnesville, Ohio, in the 1930s.
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Dear Ken, James, Suzanne and Dirk
I would just like to thank you guys very much for taking the time out, to get involved with the process of identifying this piece. Firstly, thanks goes to Ken & Dirk, for pointing out the techniques involved during its manufacture,and then Suzanne's supplied fact that this bowl has turned out to be a piece by Standard, USA (Who were owned by Hocking) and that possibly (Thanks to James)the decoration was carried out by another outside company possibly by the Lotus Glass Co. To me that was great team work. You should all be very proud of your personal knowledge of the subject.
Thank you all very much, I hope you all have a Wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year. My Kindest Regards Den (United Kingdom)