Topic: Pea-Moulded Fruit Set - c.1880-1900?

[Pinkspoons]

A departure from my usual safety-zone... a 7-piece (6 small bowls, one large) fruit set with pea-moulded decoration.

The glass seems to have a bit of age to it, with a bit of frit and some air-bubbles, and each small bowl is slightly different it diameter, ranging from 110mm to 117mm. The shapes remind me of Whitefriars' production c.1880, but I'm sure other companies were making similar set too.

[Pinkspoons]

Whitefriars has been discounted on the WF site, and Webb offered as a possibility.

One of the Stourbridge factories does seem quite likely.

[Pinkspoons]

The terribly clever folk at WF.com have come up with Thos. Webb's 'Fircone' series, c.1906, for my set. Can anyone yay- or nay-say this?

Google doesn't come up with anything on it. But I found that Bernard mentions the series in passing in this old thread: HERE

Many thanks.

[nigel benson]

Hi Nic,

I was going to comment when you put this on w/f's.com, but I wasn't convinced that the pattern was Webb's 'Fircone'. Unfotunately, the small picture profile does give that impression, but when you blow it up it loses the detail of the moulding.

When I first saw your photos I thought T. Webb, but which pattern? I've checked Steve Leslie's reference just to try and stimulate the ol' grey cells - but that hasn't helped. The shape of the bowls that you have do not conform to the range illustrated in the Lesley Jackson article in the Glass Association Journal, vol 5, 1997 - page 51. This doesn't necessarily mean that yours aren't, just that it hasn't been proved conclusively.

Let's see if anyone here has the information that you need........

Cheers, Nigel

[Pinkspoons]

In reality the moulding is a lot more pronounced than it appears in the photographs - especially on the small bowls. It's just hard to capture it in the shot against a plain-ish background.

If it helps, upon closer examination the 'dimple' pattern is actually formed by small bumps of glass on the insides of the bowls, rather than depressions on the outsides. The exterior surface is relatively smooth.

[nigel benson]

Nic,

The Fircone pattern is probably best described as rows of scallop shell shapes which alternate, or interlock, with the next row down, or up. The curve of the shell shape is downward. Hence the effect is the spins of a fircone.

I cannot make comment about the bumps/depressions without having a piece to hand. Unfortunately, anything that I might have to help with this one is buried in a crate (I know have have a decanter in the Fircone pattern, but that crate is right at the back of a group of stuff!). Hopefully the description of the pattern will help.

Cheers, Nigel

[Pinkspoons]

Nigel,

From your description of the 'Fircone' pattern I can say that these bowls are not from that series. The decoration is just a standard 'running bond' repetition of circular bumps.

[nigel benson]

Nic,

Ok, but I still tend toward T Webb.

Cheers, Nigel

[Pinkspoons]

Thanks. My inclination was towards Stourbridge too once WF had been discounted. I narrowly missed out on a Webb 1930/31 catalogue on eBay this evening - I'll have to tap up the GMB member who won it for information when they receive it. 

Also may be of note, but whilst the small bowls are smooth on the outside with the optic moulding on the inside, the opposite is true of the large bowl.

[Frank]

It will end up in the Glass Catalogue along with another from the 50s