Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Unresolved Glass Queries => Topic started by: Roz on May 16, 2007, 08:39:55 AM
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Here is one of the items I hoped to spot at Gaydon to help me in identifying it.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7055
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7054
It turned up in a job lot, and I can't decide what is was intended to be. ??? The box part is 12 cms by 14.5 cms and 6.5 cms deep. The lid is 13.25 cms by 9.5 cms. The lid simply fits into the opening at the top of the box. The glass making the lid is 1 cms thick, and cut back to 0.6 cms where it is recessed to allow the lid to sit on the top of the box. The glass making up the box is as much as 0.8 cms thick in places.
Can anyone help me in deciding for what it was made? I have come up with cigarette box or jewellery box, but the lid was clearly not made for frequent removal and replacement. Also, can anyone suggest where it was made and roughly when?
Thanks in anticipation! :)
Roz
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Handkerchief box ?
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I hadn't thought of that one!
Any idea on age, anyone? Or any other suggestions as to intended use? It was amongst some nice glass household pieces (e.g. salt & pepper sets) which I can fairly confidently say are mid-20th century.
Roz
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Cigarette box seems unlikely, unless they were intended to lie the long way. I estimate internal length at 10cm which is too big for cigarettes... so some part of a dressing table set seems likely. King size are over 8cm but many cigarette boxes were made for the smaller standard size.
1920's would be earliest but post-war is not impossible either. The execution of the design is not high art and I would incline to a later period. But quality of how it is made overall has an impact and that is hard to assess from the pictures.
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Thanks Frank. I've lots of pictures which I can crop and chop. What part of the box would you need to see to better assess the quality?
Roz
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Not cigarettes, IMHO. The lids of such boxes were often recessed to act as ashtrays
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I think this is one of those cases where handling is needed.
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Thanks Christine and Frank. It seems that cigarette box is out, by common consensus. As to quality - it seems decent enough, but not terribly exciting. It's a clever piece of workmanship, though - the junctions of the curved sides with the flat ends intrigue me. The engraving is adequate, but not (as Frank says) high art.
I still like the suggestion of a handkerchief box.
Roz
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Hi Roz, does the image on the top remind anyone of Boudica?
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The temple in the background suggests Diana (the goddess, not the princess), to my mind.
Roz
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I think she's Britannia, who was a Roman goddess as well as being the personification of Britain, see here (http://www.answers.com/topic/britannia)
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Oh heck!!!!!! i always mix them up >:( i dont know why? it isn't difficult! next time in the shower remember to open head and get rid of the cobweb's (stupid woman :()
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Aha! Thanks Christine! Sue - no-one is stupid. I wasn't too sure who she was, just that she didn't look like Boudicca (who I am sure would not have worn half a dress - too cold in Britain!)
So if this female is Brittannia, would the box have been made for the Festival of Britain in (I think) 1953?
Roz
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Not Britannia - Britannia carries a trident and a shield emblazoned with the Union Flag. (I've just created a whole Britannia outfit for the current play so I know this character all too well!)
Roz, I'd say she is a goddess too, possibly Diana, as there were many temples dedicated to Diana.
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I'm saying she's supposed to be the goddess Britannia, the Romans weren't too hot on Union flags
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Unlikely to be Festival of Britain either as this would have almost certainly have used the official logo, as designed by Abram Games:
http://www.lundhumphries.com/pages/single/10463.html
You can just see part of the logo poking out from the left. However, it might very well be from that era.
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Better link is this one to the Museum of London:
http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/archive/exhibits/festival/index.htm
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Well I got the year wrong, for a start! The Festival logo does have a head wearing a warrior-like helmet, but it's not really that close to my Diana/Britannia's headgear.
If anyone else can add anything to what's been suggested already, I'd be grateful. I think the box may be going back on the question-mark shelf for a little longer.
Many thanks for all suggestions so far. :)
Roz
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Unlikely to be Festival of Britain either as this would have almost certainly have used the official logo...
Bear in mind that anyone avoiding paying a royalty fee could as easily produce a look-alike. Greek symbolism had a revival in 1950-60s period. (I think, or at least my parents bought a lot of such stuff then.)
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I agree, but was trying to point out that it was not an official FoB piece. I did also mention "However, it might very well be from that era."
Chance also produced the Hellenic pattern (Greek inspired) in 1961.
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I'm amazed that nobody came up with Pallas Athena?