Topic: Mysterious silver overlay/cased vase

[sunshine2]

I acquired this beautiful vase in a shop some time ago and have been unable to ID it.  I took it to the "Antiques Roadshow" taping in Houston this last Saturday, and while 3 appraisers were excited to see it, none had any idea as to it's origin.  The overlay exterior is sterling, although it is not marked as such.  The glass windows are etched, the cream colored interior (porcelain?) was apparently poured through a hole in the bottom of the vase.  The bottom was then covered with a clear glass wafer base.  The only marking on this item is the number "115" etched on the bottom.  It is in wonderful condition with only some of the poured interior in the ruffle slightly pulling away from the glass.   I love it and would really appreciate any input about it's possible origin.  Thank you for any answers!  

[Frank]

Is it glass in a silver holder or glass with a coating of silver?

[Connie]

Could we see a picture of the bottom?

Is it marked Sterling?  If so, where.

[sunshine2]

I can't tell you how happy I was to sign on here today and see a couple of replies to my query!  Thanks so much for taking the time! The bottom of the vase is covered in clear glass.  Everyone that I've shown it to says that the outside is sterling overlay.  Indeed it tarnishes like silver and polishes like silver.  Oddly, it is not marked at all besides the number 115 on the bottom.  The cream colored poured material shows only on the inside and bottom.  It weighs nearly a lb.  Perhaps the vase was a prototype that never went into production.  Must have been a very labor intensive process!  I may never discover the history of my vase, but I will certainly welcome any and all thoughts.  Thanks so much!

[Frank]

I seem to recall that there was a US compant applied silver decoration to vases made by others and maybe they did the engraving too. Sure it has been mentioned before too.

[chopin-liszt]

It is lovely, it is mysterious, and I've not got a clue about it, sorry! All I can say is I don't think anything has been "poured" into it to make it.

[Connie]

I don't think that Sunshine is going to like my answer     But the minute I saw that white enamel? interior it made me think of a vase I have in my shop

http://www.grayhorseglass.com/items/357631/item357631store.html#item

That is the reason I asked if the piece was marked Sterling. Sunshine's piece is much more technically complicated but the white interior in silver just struck me as similar.

The quality of my little piece is quite good for something that was probably very inexpensive.

This may be a red herring but it is all I have to offer  :oops:

[sunshine2]

I submitted a (pretty tedious) reply earlier, but it's not showing up.  Perhaps it was too tedious!  Anyway, I do appreciate the thoughts expressed here.  I've surely enjoyed sharing this interesting piece.  I will love it no matter what.  Just to add a couple of things, I know how difficult it must be to adequately judge an unmarked item via pictures and descriptions that lack clarity.  There's nothing like being able to hold the item in your hands and inspect it in person!  In answer to a question, the cream colored material is sandwiched between the clear glass body and the silver coating.  There are no seams anywhere, but I can feel a very slight ridge under the silver, where the base of the vase was added at the wafer.  The glass body was apparently blown.  Those who have seen the vase surmise that the cream material was "poured" because of the hole in the bottom.  I can look into this hole and see the bottom of the vase body  as well as a space between the body and the cream material on the bottom (which is covered with glass that has a slight, smooth pontil indentation).  It looks like a process similar to the making of the old mercury glass vases...except that the silver is on the outside here...and no cork.   I get the feeling that the cream material was once fluid, since it has shrunk a bit and pulled away slightly from (under) the clear glass in a few places on the ruffle.  http://tinypic.com/9i5moo.jpg
The vase may indeed have been a collaboration between two or more companies.  The "Antiques Roadshow" appraisers thought that it was American, anywhere from turn of the century to the 1920's, valued it at from $400-600...I suppose simply due to the rarity and quality of workmanship.  Since we have a large German influence in this area of Texas, I am surely open to the idea that it may have an origin other than the USA.   I thank everyone for your time and for looking at my vase!  If I do happen to discover a definitive history for this lovely curiosity elsewhere, I will post it here for those who may be interested.   Thanks again!....Judy

[paradisetrader]

Hi Judy
Thanks for a very complete reply - far from tedious. Indeed the mystery deepens.
I can't comment on the base/foot or "hole"
But concentrating on the body and on the layers my thoughts were :
Gather of clear, then cream, then silvered, then masked and cut back to clear in the windows.
At some point I guess it was blown into a mold and the foot attached but my brain can't get round when those operations might have been done. The more I try to think about it the more complex it becomes.

[sunshine2]

I'm afraid that I have left more than a few folks scratching their heads over this one.  I have collected glass for as long as I can remember, ever since discovering a piece of nile green Greentown in my grandmother's cellar when I was 8 yrs old.  I didn't know then what it was, but she let me take the sauce dish home as a keepsake from her mother.  The intricacy and feel of it fascinated me, and I was hooked for life!  http://tinypic.com/9km98j.jpg
My dad was a B-17 radio operator, flew 25 WWII missions out of Horham, England, and I was a result of his homecoming.  A roundabout way of giving my age away while also showing an appreciation for my family connection to "over there".  I now have a LOT of glass, many reference books and an enduring interest in the subject.  I am so pleased to have found this site and hope to learn here as well as possibly contribute an answer now and then.  I have a few more places to take this vase, including the annual Houston Glass Club show next month. There will be dealers attending from all over the country.  I have never before seen anything close to the complexity of this silver vase...fascinating and frustrating at the same time.  I suppose I'm now safe in assuming that it was not a mass-produced item!  As I said, if I do discover it's origin, I will update here.  Thanks all!.......Judy