Topic: 1866 whatzit-- Paperweight? magnifier? ID = Cover for medallion paperweight

[Paul ADK]

Frank:  I doubt it was soft, but as for flexible, I visited the Corning Museum many years ago and they had large glass springs on display that must have been compressed and released by thousands of visitors every year.  The museum suffered considerable flood damage some years back, but anyone interested in glass, Steuben in particular, that gets anywhere near Corning, NY and does not visit, deserves to be flogged.

[ian.macky]

Seems to have been a popular tile, did they produce many designs?

This is the only one I've seen so far.  Who knows who made it or when-- "Sandwich" is one of those terms used fairly indiscriminantly.   Presumably s'wich + early date hooked a bunch of people.  My two Luxfer skylight tiles are the only two survivors from a trashed installation-- once again, the wrecking ball just pulverized it.  That's why architectural glass is so much more scarce than decorative glass.  They were recovered from a dumpster (tip)!  Here it is:

The possibility of a totally glass house would seem to be realistic today.

You might be interested in  Dr. Willem van der Heyden's all-glass house of 1891, built in Meiji, Japan.  Pedro Guedes has written a paper about it.  Before-its-time is stating it mildly.

About the object, it reminds me of a bulkhead light diffuser as used in ships etc to bring light (normally sunlight) to the interior of a hold or similar space. The modern version are those light tubes that smart designers are using for buildings. However as this item as a depression then maybe it was used with an artificial light source.
Hope this text is illuminative and not diffusing the matter further.

Deck prisms!  Yes, predecessor to prism tiles, vault lights, etc.  It's  because I thought it might be a vault light that I bought it.  But, does not appear to be so.  It's not designed to be set in iron or concrete.  So far I've seen ONE original hexagonal deck prism on eBay, and I utterly blew the sniping (local computer clock wrong).  I grieve every day for missing the opportunity.  It hurts!

The stropper is very interesting, thanks for that.  Here's another type of glass I collect, often mis-identified (like this one):

GREEN DEPRESSION Glass REFRIGERATOR TRAY ESB Co RARE

No, it's not kitchenware.  Anyone care to hazard a guess?  The #7 appears to be the most common size-- I already have two, so didn't pursue it.

My Hayward Bros hexagonal pavement light arrived from Canada today!  My first H.B. light, and the one shown in their revolutionary patent application of 1871!

--ian

[Frank]

I presume the description 'refrigerator' is wrong, the feet look like battery rests that I have so is it a big one?

[Frank]

What is this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7311672995

[Frank]

You might be interested in  Dr. Willem van der Heyden's all-glass house of 1891, built in Meiji, Japan.  Pedro Guedes has written a paper about it.  Before-its-time is stating it mildly.

Can find no references on the net?

[Ivo]

What is this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7311672995

it is what dentists sterilise their drill bits in.

[ian.macky]

I presume the description 'refrigerator' is wrong, the feet look like battery rests that I have so is it a big one?

Very good-- it is indeed battery-related.  It's a battery tray; it would have been filled with sand, and a glass battery jar sat in it.  I have an early one where the embossing was right in the middle of the bottom where, um, you can't see it once the  jar is in place.  The old embossing is blotted out and it's on the rim now.  The early one also had ground feet, an extra production step they omitted in later models.  I haven't made a gallery of my other battery glass yet, in particular the battery legs are very interesting.  Did you say you have some battery rests?  The UK type are fairly different than the  US type.  Did you say you have some battery rests?    Have any pictures?

Can find no references on the net?

Presumably you tried and failed?  The answer is no.  There are great swaths of information that are not available online, huge libraries of paper yet to be digitized.

it is what dentists sterilise their drill bits in

There's another speciality for you: medical glass, or even more specifically, dental glass.  Has everyone seen the Biddle tray?  It's an unusual piece of Fry glass, a rectangular piece in their opal glass with depressions for tools.  I've been looking for one for years.  Soon after I started looking, one appeared on eBay, so I figured they weren't that tough and I'd watch it go by and see what it fetched.  Turns out to have been a fluke, there's not been another one since, just the one (it sold for $300).

--ian

[Frank]

They will be off to eBay soonish.



From left to right:

1x Unipart - U10 x1 - 1 1 1/16" diameter, green/aqua - Chipped along half of outer edge and centre button which might just be a mould snap. Base is corrugated.

Bottoms
2x B10 1 1/4" diameter - 1 pale green, 1 clear
2x B20 1 5/8" diameter - 2 different mouldings, 1 pale green/aqua 1 very pale

Tops
4x T20 1 7/8" diameter - 4 (3 identical one marginally different) pale green aqua
2x T30 2 7/16" diameter - 2 pale green

Will I get $300 for them? :lol:

[ian.macky]

Will I get $300 for them?

Possibly!  There are a few people who collect battery rests, tho mostly they stick with US ones.  You've got one there I don't have, the unipart in aqua (I just have clear).  The U and B and T codes I just made up myself, so noone will know what they mean unless you point them to my site.  Will you be listing them in the Insulators category?

--ian

[Frank]

I should think so, the listing does include a link to your site.