Topic: Derbyshire green uranium Dog ?

[Bernard C]

Dave — I was thinking (but forgot to note) pressed vaseline, so I didn't consider the BT elephant, the MW sphinx, or the Derbyshire winged sphinx, none of which are likely to be found in vaseline.   However a canary Old Rugged Cross that glows in sunshine seems to me to be a real possibility.

... and I seem to be guilty of an anachronism, or, more correctly, a prochronism, as Wikipedia tells us that The Old Rugged Cross wasn't written until 1912, by your countryman, the Methodist evangelist George Bennard.   So I wonder what the inspiration for this not-quite-upright chunky cross on a rock was back in the 1870s.   Has anyone any ideas?

Bernard C. 

[Frank]

as Wikipedia tells us that The Old Rugged Cross wasn't written until 1912,

Tut, again Wikipedia sjows its limitations as a carrier of populist knowledge not the depth or accuracy of traditional encyclopædias! Try Brittanica.

The Old Rugged Cross is a protestant/political 'thingy' (great academic term ) as a symbol of piety. The idea being that the upper classes are respected and the riff-raff who in turn should bow to them and nail themselves to the Old Rugged Cross so that they get lots of splinters and suffer properly for being such miserable wretches in the first place! It seems likely it was spurred on by the events of the French revolution. I think it also has to do with Malthusianism. No doubt the glass model represents a real rugged cross somewhere - if it was issued at a time of strong protestant influence it must have been condemned - as making it from glass is the antithesis of the concept and thus became rare.

From Wikipedia  Thomas Robert Malthus, FRS (13 February 1766 – 23 December 1834)

Lousy term to Google for... millions of pages.

The concept would have been very unpopular in the early 1900's as the proletarian revolution started to bite, it is in intriguing that the song was written at such a time as it effectively gave new meaning to the expression, burying the old interpretation through popularism.

Glass can certainly carry a political message but a souvenir just lacks the oomph of a popular song.

[Bernard C]

Frank — My apologies.   I don't really follow you.   I was just trying to find out where the idea for this chunky cross may have come from back in the 1870s.

Bernard C. 

[Frank]

Me too Bernard, it was already an old idea by 1870. This particular example is quite possibly a model of a real world one made as a souvenir.

The point of my earlier notes being that it is not very easy to get anywhere searching the web as the hymn tends to dominate results, old encyclopædia are more likely to give you your answer.

[mhgcgolfclub]

Bernard and Dave

My mistake I did mean Percival and Vickers not Greener, I know of one PV dog if an accurate measurement is needed, and Dave a Derbyshire Sphinx came up for auction in the USA last year and for unknown reason the right people failed to find it and he buyer only had person bidding against him and bought the sphinx in almost perfect condition for $900.00 dollars, I was sent a few pictures some of which are shown below, so it goes to show you can always be lucky as the item was in a colour catalogue and sold through a well run nationally advertised Auction House

http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9113
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9114
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9115

Roy

[Lustrousstone]

I'm no longer  :mrgreen:, as he's now living in Cheshire. Thank you both, you know who you are  :hug: :hug:

[Sue C]

Hope you got the joke 

[Bernard C]

Sue et al — There is a colour photograph of another vaseline dog in From Palace to Parlour, cat. no. 175, which looks similar to yours, is on an identical plateau with the gadroons stopping halfway up, but which seems to have a much shorter snout, and is likened to a newfoundland.   Reference is made to a photograph of a similar dog in Lattimore, which is missing from my little library, who describes his as a large collie.

I have a large question mark against the "probably Derbyshire" attribution for this dog in From Palace to Parlour, as "Probably" is rather strong — I would prefer "possibly".   One of only two attributions in the book I have queried;  the other being cat. no. 214, which I would prefer to see as "possibly S&W".

Thompson, p41, notes that the newfoundland dogs are "mostly unmarked".   I wonder what she means.   Had she seen a marked example, her text would have been more positive, so I suspect that she was just told of marked examples.

Bernard C. 

[Frank]

Now living-virtually happily in the Glass Zoo too with 8 super images

[Bernard C]

         

Click either image to enlarge.

Full set of images on GlassGallery, all with click main image to enlarge feature, via http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-20690

H. 5" 12.5cm, l. 7¼" 18.2cm, w. 4¼" 11cm, weight 1lb 13oz 823g.

I'm now sure that this fine black example and Sue's are both Landseer/Newfoundland Dogs by John Derbyshire.   Their bases match the Derbyshire Greyhound, so this gives us an approximate date for the Landseer/Newfoundland of circa 1874 — certainly mid 1870s.

Note the differences.   The black example has a slightly broader base than Sue's green example, and you can see from my base image (at the top) that the gadrooning under the dog's head mould line has been combined to give a smoother profile, all suggesting that there were initial problems with extracting this piece from the mould, and remedial work on the base of the mould had to be carried out.

Bernard C.